OUR LETTER
Dear Sir/Madam
We are writing to you on behalf of many Everton fans that are growing restless, frustrated and angry at the current goings on with the board at Everton Football Club. We started a campaign on twitter, to start making journalists aware of the unrest at our club. Every year David Moyes, who is doing an excellent job of keeping Everton in the top half of the table under the restraints, has to wheel and deal and settle for second best in terms of transfer targets. However, the overall picture is a lot more concerning for Evertonians, and we want the media to start investigating and reporting in more depth what is going on at the club. We the fans need a voice and a lead to put pressure on this board with the aim of getting them to start being open and honest, and ultimately to let someone else have a chance of running the club.
This letter will outline many concerns and issues we have with the board and the reason we are asking the media to get involved is because the club simply does not speak to its fans. AGM’s were cancelled, shareholders meetings are few and far between and any questions that do manage to get asked of the board are brushed aside and are not answered. In the mean time, we have to put up with a chairman and a board that are clearly out of depth in running a major football club. With all due respect to other clubs in the Premier League and acknowledging that no one has a divine right to be top of the league, we feel we are being left behind in the modern game. 20 years ago, when the Premier League was formed, and Sky was set to begin a new era of top flight football, only one team had won more top flight titles than Everton. We had average attendances to rival anyone in the league, and had just come off the back of an 8 year period of 2 league titles, 4 FA cup finals, a European trophy plus countless other awards and tribulations.
Since then the club has stagnated at best and we have watched other teams outspend, outshine and out think Everton football club.
More importantly than this, we have missed out on a lot of opportunities to progress, and particularly in the last 8 years under the stewardship of Bill Kenwright. Bill is a self proclaimed Evertonian, and this seems to cloud people’s judgement on the job he is doing. Not just the fans, but the media too, who see Bill as a people’s man, when really he is just a showman. His profession says it all, actor! We are going to highlight some concerns and issues we have, to alert you to the gross mismanagement that is going on. We will do this in as close to a chronological order as we can
The biggest mistake, and possibly the most unforgivable issue with Kenwright dates back to 2003, and the Kings Dock Project. We had a magnificent chance to build a state of the art stadium on the banks of the Mersey and in a prime location on Liverpool’s waterfront. See link below
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3009397/Evertons-stadium-fit-for-a-king.html
Note the phrase ‘we will not let this chance pass us by’
All Everton had to do was find £30m. £30m that would have set Everton up to a potential lifetime of guaranteed income and progress. Here lies the issue. Bill Kenwright told the fans that this £30m was ring fenced. However, when the time came for Everton to prove they had their share of the money, it simply was not there. This is the link which shows quotes how Everton found getting that money problematical, and so the dream of this stadium ended
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/2940481.stm
How can finding £30m be problematic if it is ring fenced? He has always refused to answer these questions. Imagine where Everton could be now, with a 55000 seater stadium, which would also have hosted concerts, banquets, conferences etc… for the measly sum of £30m. The dream died and no questions were asked. Kenwright said he would learn from the experience.
This led to the high profile power struggle with Paul Gregg which dragged the clubs name through the mud. Gregg, a multimillionaire and a friend of Kenwright for over 30 years, agreed to help his friend buy out Peter Johnson in 1999. But he fell out with Kenwright and sought help, and he found it in the shape of Robert Earl, Planet Hollywood founder. Robert Earl bought out Gregg’s shares, but note the following article which claims Earl had no interest in providing funds for Moyes, or any interest in the search for a new stadium. This is a promise that has actually come true for once from a board member! So, what is his role then? What is the point on him being on the Everton board? He is still there now, and the only time we have ever heard of him is when he got Sylvester Stallone to attend a match in 2007, not one penny invested.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/6072510.stm
Moving on, and we look at some more facts about that era, which include some famous quotes from our chairman.
In June 2004, Kenwright said he would not entertain the idea of selling Wayne Rooney even if we received a bid for £50m. See article below
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/3822981.stm
Rooney was sold 2 months later in a deal worth £20m rising to £27m. Why make statements like this only to back down 2 months later? If Rooney wanted to go that doesn’t matter, it was a cheap deal and it broke Everton fans hearts.
Kenwright apparently ‘desperately’ sought investment in 2004, and the infamous fortress sports fund was set up to be our magical saviour and it all looked rosy, see link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/3822981.stm
We were told the money would be in Everton’s bank by Christmas 2004. However this deal fell through and no explanation was ever offered. Why? Why did another deal fall through? In 1 year we lost Kings Dock, we had a public fall out at board level, we sold Rooney and an investment opportunity fell through. No questions where ever answered. Just ignored until forgotten.
Around this time in 2004, Everton appointed a chief executive, Trevor Birch, whose objective it was to find investment or ways of getting investment into the club. Six weeks later he resigned, with no official explanation, but rumours of a rift with the board after having seen the state of the finances, he told Kenwright to sell the club, plus other alternatives where dismissed. Again, it was brushed under the carpet and another embarrassing episode forgotten.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/e/everton/3901225.stm
A quiet couple of years, mainly due to the miracle that Moyes performed in getting Everton to a 4th place finish in 2005. Even at this time, when we had one chance to try and push on, we played a 2 legged champions league qualifier having signed one new player, Simon Davies. We kicked off without a recognised left back and eventually lost to Villareal over 2 legs. We went on to finish 11th and the chance of progress was lost. This season was followed by the start of the farce that was the Kirkby project. This materialised from 2007 and this was the first evidence of public fan unrest with the board, with the KEIOC group (Keep Everton in our City), opposed to the Kirkby move, which was set up to provide opposition to the move and to prove the plans where doomed from the start.
Everton claimed it was the ‘deal of the century’, and had to come up with £78m to fund their bit towards a project involving Tescos. However a lot of fans were unhappy with this potential move as it would have pushed Everton out of the city boundaries. So, Everton decided to put the matter to a vote. Out of the fans that voted, 41% said no to the move, with a lot sitting on the fence. This was surely too large a number of fans to ignore? But the people’s club again ignored a large proportion of their people and pressed ahead with the move. The move fell through anyway, as KEIOC predicted, and it therefore added to the failure of the Kings Dock project. People might say at least they tried, but both projects increased debt due to borrowing for legal fees, architects etc…and both projects ultimately failed. Another bit of proof, if needed, that the business acumen of this board is not up to the task of running a big premier league club.
Since then there are numerous other promises or statements which have failed to materialise. This list gives just a snippet of some of the things from the start that have been said that have either failed to materialise, or that kenwright has gone back on
“I’ve not got the big money, but I promise to find investment” – Bill Kenwright January 2000 after acquiring EFC. Still waiting 11 years on
“The NTL deal is secured” – Bill Kenwright September 2000. The deal fell through
” I wouldn’t sell Rooney for £50m” – Bill Kenwright June 2004. In August he was sold for a deal worth £27m
“The fortress money will be in the bank in the morning” – Bill Kenwright speaking at the EGM (remember them?) September 2004. The deal collapsed and was never explained
“Kirkby will be a world class arena, effectively free and with the best transport links in the UK” – Bill Kenwright speaking at the AGM November 2006
“If we don’t leave Goodison soon the place will lose its safety certificate” – Bill Kenwright December 2007
“David will have cash to spend this summer” – Bill Kenwright May 2009. We spent nothing until the sale of Lescott.
“Joleon is not for sale” – Bill Kenwright August 2009
‘’David will have cash to spend this summer’’ – Bill Kenwright, May 2010
As you can see, these are not just over dramatic headlines we are making up. It is there in black and white to see. And if you conduct some more research you will probably find some more hidden gems. However, the biggest concern for Evertonians is the lack of investment or the lack of takeover, and indeed, what is it exactly that the club want, and how much do they want for the club. That is if the club is for sale in the first place!
For example, on August 26th 2010, this piece in the media was released
Kenwright says that there are people out there who have looked at buying the club but then never show up with the money. So, every potential investor who ever has in interest in Everton gets to the final stages but never come up with the money? Really? If that is so then why? Why are people not showing up with the money? Who are these people he claims where interested? From saying there are no buyers out there, to saying 4 or 5 buyers came close but they ALL disappeared without a trace? they all just suddenly disappeared conveniently? Was it due to the amount they were asking, or where they even there to begin with? No names where mentioned, why not? Surely there is nothing wrong with telling us who they were. He had no problem naming the fortress sports fund after all. It all doesn’t add up. We are treated as fools and there is never any honesty.
The last time we heard from Kenwright was in April this year when he again told us there were three interested parties. See link below
So where have they gone? Co-incidentally this was the same time the club where advertising season tickets, so maybe it was to lead us into a false sense of security that something is happening?, or again, have they disappeared into the sunset without coming up with the money? It all needs exploring, because surely there is something not right that so many people are interested but then are never heard of again. As said, are we asking too much? Is the club for sale?
Jack Hayward, former owner of Wolves, sacrificed everything for the love of his club. Like Kenwright, a lifelong club fan, he realised he could not take his beloved wolves any further and so for the sake of the future of the club, sold the club for £10, on the proviso that whoever took the club on, injected £30m into the club. Hayward invested millions into wolves but wanted no return. A superb gift from a football man. Wolves are now ready to build a new stand to increase capacity to 30,000 plus. They are in a position of not having to sell, have a £0 net debt, and have a wealthy owner in Steve Morgan. Now nobody is expecting Kenwright to do that, not at all. But it does make you think doesn’t it? If Kenwright is such the big blue he proclaims, surely after 11 years a solution would have been forthcoming by now? Food for thought
There are so many issues and concerns that never get answered and it all boils down to the fact we have no communication with the board whatsoever. Evertonians have more pride than just marching up and down streets and protesting, but it’s getting to a point now where frustrations are ready to boil over. All these issues are facts, and to say we are the peoples club at the moment feels a little bit two-faced.
We would like this to get some attention from the media, some reports and investigations into the goings on of the once great Everton Football Club. With all due respect to the Bolton’s, Wigan’s, Stokes etc… of this world, we are a big club. 9 times champions of England, founder members of the football league, massive tradition and massive support. We have a manager in place, and a nucleus of a decent squad, but it cannot go any further under this regime. The reason we have had good finishes is down to Moyes, not down to the investment in the club. The media have helped with the likes of Liverpool’s situation, Man United’s situation etc… but nothing ever gets said. It is time for answers and it is time for change.
We are run by a board with a complete lack of vision. For example, we have no assets anymore as we have sold everything off. The new training ground we have, Finch Farm, has been sold and we lease it back. We also lease the club shops that we have, which as an FYI is the only place Everton fans can purchase merchandise due to a deal with kitbag. No high street stores are allowed to sell Everton merchandise. Even the club shop in the corner of the Gladys Street end is permanently shut now, even on match days! How is this the peoples club, or the best for the fans? As the club motto states ‘nothing but the best is good enough’. Does the board really abide by our motto? I don’t think so. Evidence also suggests not.
Last summer we had the Dan Gosling affair.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/07/dan-gosling-everton-free-agent
He shot to fame with the blues for scoring a last minute winner against Liverpool in an FA Cup game. He was waiting for a contract to be offered in writing, but it never came and so his agent looked elsewhere. This angered the club who said they had a gentleman’s agreement. But who has a gentleman’s agreement in modern football? If you want the kid, you get him signed up! Simple. Gosling went for free and cost us around £4m, his estimated value. It also cost Plymouth some precious money from future sales revenue. The player and particularly his agent are clearly not blameless here, but it should never have got to this situation, and it was another epic fail from the Goodison hierarchy.
The latest debacle is a project behind the park end stand at Goodison Park. Last year, Everton announced in conjunction with one of its partners, Kitbag, that it was to open up a multi-story complex which would house corporate hospitality, a museum, a café and a restaurant and that it would be of minimal cost to the club. See link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-10876811
Great, a lot of fans thought, a step in the right direction. But yet again, the development has stalled and could even have collapsed, and the club has offered 3 different excuses as to why this has happened. KEIOC talk about this shambles in this piece on their website
http://www.keioc.net/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=344&cntnt01returnid=15
At the time of writing this, half the wall around the park end has been knocked down when work started, but has since just been left there.The errors keep mounting up and it’s only a matter of time before it will catch up with them. There are also continuous rumors from ‘In The Know’ people who claim the involvement from Philip Green is increasingly influential. This is rumour of course, but it is something that needs investigating and there is no smoke without fire.
The revenue streams are not good enough for a club our size either. A kit deal with Le Coq Sportif and a bright pink away kit highlights how they consider fans feelings. How many men going the game would buy a Le Coq Sportif bright pink kit? I cannot remember seeing one, put it that way. We are never involved in prestigious pre-season tournaments, also a chance to raise the profile in different countries, why not? We have the most famous and favorite player in Australian history playing for us in Tim Cahill. Do we have club shops in Australia, or links to improve communication with the fans over there? Not a chance. How about America through Tim Howard and Landon Donovan’s excursions with the blues? Not a chance. The forward thinking is just not there.
The ambition of the hierarchy just does not match ours. We are losing a young generation of football fans as it is 16 years without a trophy now, the longest period in the clubs history. We are over 3000 season tickets down on sales this time last year. The die hards will continue to go, every club has them, but a lot of the general public are giving up now. Some people are refusing to go now as they will not go and spend their money on a club that is not showing ambition. We have no transfer budget every summer, it’s constantly sell to buy. We have to sit back and watch club after club take over us (at least financially) and now enough is enough.
As my dear old dad says, it’s us he feels for, the younger lads. He has seen us win titles and cups and even watched a world cup game staged at the then wonderful Goodison Park. It really is heartbreaking to hear of all the triumphs and great sides, from the holy trinity to Kendall’s marvels, who I can just about remember, but our younger fans won’t.
There are some fans groups that have been set up with the aim of questioning the board. KEIOC (Keep Everton in our City) http://www.keioc.net/, were originally set up with the aim of opposing the Kirkby move. It now runs much deeper than that. Its members have reached over 3000 now, and some great research and insight into the workings of our club have been conducted by the sites founders, and can easily be tracked for views and opinions. A piece by one if its members can be seen here in the Liverpool Echo in February.
Another group has been set up called Evertonian’s for Change; they have their own website and a Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/EvertoniansforChange?v=info which keeps fans up to date with their goings on.
We know people support Kenwright too, but feel this is more a case of better the devil you know, with some of the failed takeovers that have happened in the premier league. We are aware of the risks a takeover will bring. However we also believe that keeping this current board is a bigger risk than what any take over may yield. Being cheap and nasty with no future vision will catch up with us in the end. It may be when Moyes leaves, or it may be a poor season. Either way you cannot continue to punch above your weight for too long, and rely on your manager to over perform year in year out. Kenwright insists that we need a billionaire, but all it takes is someone to come in with good business acumen and a vision with aims of increasing revenue, and be open and honest with the fans, which this present board clearly are not.
We look forward to you investigating and reporting on this, and feel that if we have the media behind us running with this, we will be able to put some pressure on the board to at least give us some answers, or ultimately stepping aside and let someone better equipped take over our club. We do not like doing this, but we will do whatever it takes to oust this board. We are aware that certain media outlets are close to the club, or even ‘friendly’ with certain board members, so we will be monitoring how this gets reported. However we offer you the chance to be open and honest with us and approach this from a neutral perspective. If you investigate properly, you should get a fascinating report out of this, with a growing bandwagon of fans backing this campaign who are now growing tired with the same thing year in year out. No future, no vision, no ambition, no money and no communication.
Over to you, look forward to your response.
The Peoples Group
The People's Group 
I think this is a very well constructed letter and it highlights BW’s failures and lies perfectly, I wasn’t aware of at least half of them, like I have commented on FB he is more interested in Broadway than Football and that’s were he would rather invest, so Bill if your reading this do us all a favour and let someone else take over the helm who can take us to another level, Obversely you have tried and failed, stop avoiding our questions and give someone else a chance…
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but not all Evertonians share your desire for change. Yes we’ve made mistakes including a couple of poor big money signings by Mr Moyes but I wouldn’t sack the manager & I wouldn’t swop a genuine supporter as chairman for some American or Arab who has fuck all affinity for our history.
We don’t want to move from Goodison & we don’t want to pay more for tickets. If we paid the players less, most of them would piss off. We haven’t got the money to spend/waste on greedy mercenaries. I believe Bill is doing his best & I don’t want to be the new Man City. Your idea of moving into the world of fat foreign capitalists owning our club is not my aspiration. I’m happy challenging for Europe even if we can’t win the league. I’m happy young players get a chance at our club, I’m happy watching the shite increasing their debt & still failing to win anything & I’m happy to wear a pink shirt if it helps.
Get behind the team.
John, we are behind the team 100%. Who mentions sacking the manager in the letter?
Would you be happy when we get relegated or go out of business if we let this current board stay in control.
Stop living in the past John, football is a business and about time Everton were run by proper businessmen.
I can’t stand these I wouldn’t want to be another City or Chelsea, balls of course you would. When your winning things it doesn’t matter what others think of you. We only say we wouldn’t because with Kenwright refusing to let go which is what he is doing we will never even be another bloody Blackpool the way we are going!
I admire the spirit of your campaign – though make sure you are all squeaky clean if you are playing with the media. However I think a wider issue is that many fans are increasingly sick to death of the state of the game and the overpaid players who milk it. So that leaves people with a genuine moral dilemma – do we follow your campaign and press for more money (from somewhere/someone) to pour it into the pockets of so called “stars”. I am very sure the sight of players driving through Walton in cars worth more than local houses is making many of us turn away from the game after years of being ardent fans. If it takes someone 3 years to earn what a player at The Peoples Club earns in a week then something is very very wrong. I know that is the game these days and if we are to succeed we need to invest and pay the insane wages. But sadly I feel if we do, I will cheer when a trophy is lifted – but have a bucket close by from when my brain kicks in and I throw up.
Yeah a good bit of action research and I do feel that we, as a club, are in need of wholesale changes at board level. I didn’t renew my season ticket last season and was pestered, like most people on the email list, to renew and then come Christmas to buy a ‘half season ticket'( my Mrs almost fell for it as a present).
I’ve voted with my feet, wouldn’t it be great if more people did, but you still have supporters who think more about their ‘never missed a game for x amount of seasons’ records; I have some friends in this category who will be outraged at the suggestion.
Banners and leaflets are all well and good but the only way to hurt the board is to not attend games and demonstrate outside the ground on match day instead (never gonna happen).
Guys, Really well put together letter. Many good points. What is clear is that we need open, honest debate with current board, shareholders, fans groups, etc about the future of the club. Bill Kenwright has done a great service to the club in my opinion. But it is clear from your interview, and today’s on Sky Sports, that running the football club has become to much for Bill and he has taken us as far as he can.
What are the alternatives? That is the key question we need to discuss.
It is important we explore all valid options for a new stadium and new buyers but we are right to tread carefully. Too many clubs have jumped straight into bed with rich buyers who have no interest in the football club. Birmingham, relegated. Newcastle, relegated. Portsmouth, relegated. Villa, no more advanced than Everton to date. Liverpool, a series of nightmares until Henry arrived. QPR, Ecclestone only interested in a profit (apparently achieved today according to BBC).
Would be keen to get involved with the group as it seems you have a sensible agenda, rather than the ‘death threats’ crowd with no sense of reality and willingness to discuss alternatives.
All i can say is what a tremendous article! Well written and thought out, highlighting what we all already know but bringing it to the forefront of our minds…
I completley agree with this article and cannot wait to not only get rid of kenwright but the whole board, they clearly have taken us as far as they could and i fear unless change is soon the the plunge into the abyss will speed up rapidly….this is what my head says, of course my heart just wants OUR club back were we belong!
Phill
If AGMs in the plural have been cancelled and not held at all then the company is breaking the Companies Act and those running the company can and should be prosecuted. All you have to do is make the officials at Companies House aware of this, and they will conduct the legal matters for you.