Everton fan's view: After years of excuses it's time for Bill Kenwright to let go of the clubBy Joe Jennings"The time has come for Kenwright to accept that his performance as chairman has been unacceptable," writes Joe Jennings, editor of the School of Science Everton blog
Joe Jennings: Bill Kenwright is clearly a likeable man, but it's time for him to go
Following an insipid performance in last season’s Premier League, coupled with what is currently one of the lowest levels of transfer activity in the country, revolt is in the air at Goodison Park and Evertonians appear to have ran out of patience with the most unsuccessful board in the club’s history.
When Bill Kenwright and True Blue Holdings had their bid accepted to purchase the club on Christmas Eve in 1999 from the controversial Peter Johnson, Evertonians rejoiced and lauded him a saviour.
Kenwright promised that he didn’t have endless cash to plough into the club but he did have a plan.
Sadly, almost sixteen years on and having not invested a single penny into the business, Kenwright and his board have lost both the trust and respect of a growing section of the passionate fanbase.
The theme has been consistent throughout Bill Kenwright’s reign at Everton: failures and broken promises.
Everton Kings DockThe first stadium that never was: Artist's impression of the King's Dock site
When the club were pursuing a stadium move to the Kings Dock on the banks of the River Mersey, Kenwright assured everyone for over two years that Everton’s contribution of just £30m was “ringfenced”.
The money never materialised, with disgruntled former director Paul Gregg having pushed for the board to entertain a reverse-mortgage package to secure the move. Kenwright didn't agree and Gregg was eventually bought out in 2006 by Robert Earl with the Kings Dock dream having long collapsed.
In 2004, after Wayne Rooney lit up the European Championships in Portugal, Bill insisted that he would not be sold, “not even for £50m”. Rooney was eventually sold to Manchester United on deadline day for a meagre £10m upfront.
Kenwright on Rooney: "He will not be sold - not even for £50m”
Come December 2004, Kenwright was coming under increasing pressure. At a stormy AGM, he paraded Chris Samuelson in front of Everton shareholders, and claimed he was going to invest £30m into the club through the Fortress Sports Fund.
Kenwright claimed that “the money will be in the bank on Monday morning”. Suffice to say, the cheque never cleared and Kenwright refused to explain where Samuelson disappeared to or why the deal broke down.
In December 2007, on live television prior to Everton’s UEFA Cup fixture with Zenit St Petersberg, Bill Kenwright claimed that Goodison Park “would not soon not pass safety tests” in a cheap and disgraceful effort to gain support for a controversial stadium move outside of the Liverpool city boundary to nearby Kirkby despite a significant 41 per cent of Evertonians having voted against the move.
Despite the litany of failures overseen from his board, Bill Kenwright is clearly a likeable man, and it’s entertaining when he’s telling yarns about holding Eddie Kavanagh’s jacket as he invaded the Wembley pitch in 1966 and travelling to Goodison Park on his Uncle Cyril’s handlebars.
Goodison Park: The grand old ground is well over 100 years old
Sadly, as proved with the club’s unforgivable attempts to move to a retail park in Kirkby, it becomes very serious when he’s jeopardising a 137 year old institution.
It is difficult to see how Evertonians, with the history of broken promises and failures, can still trust Bill Kenwright and this board.
They have spectacularly failed in their efforts to sell the club, despite Kenwright insisting that there is "no better salesman for Everton".
Kenwright's pursuit of the man, company or consortium to purchase the club has left more questions than answers.
Artists illustration of the proposed 50,000 capacity stadium for Everton football club at Kirkby, Liverpool
Why have all of Everton's peers and indeed 'smaller' clubs either received significant investment or been taken over? Why have dozens of "interested parties" disappeared and what exactly is the club's asking price?
Evertonians have been incredibly patient throughout Kenwright's trophyless tenure.
We have adopted the role of luckless bridesmaid with good grace whilst our rivals have invested both in their playing squads and their infrastructure.
Now however, that patience is wearing as thin as Roberto Martinez's squad. The tide is turning and the dissenters are growing by the day, with newly formed fan group @evertonboardout having gained close to 2,500 followers in little over two weeks.
Chairman and manager: Kenwright with Everton manager Roberto Martinez
The time has come for Bill Kenwright to accept that his performance as chairman has been unacceptable and to let go of the club.
The board should seek to appoint an autonomous group of professionals that will undertake the identification and selection of potential buyers of the club who will oversee the sale to the potential owner who can best demonstrate the resources, ability and a genuine desire to take the club forward on both a commercial and football level.
Everton, as a club, have zero assets left aside from the players. Goodison Park is mortgaged to the hilt based on future season ticket sales and the club shamefully do not own the megastore, and are tenants at our own training ground.
Commercially, the club continues to woefully underperform, with total income of £12m in 2014 highlighting just how reliant Everton are on the broadcasting money. This is a direct result of the club's business model - asset utilisation in place of investment; they've sold everything and outsourced everything they can to ensure they don't spend a penny in place of speculating to accumulate, the tried and tested route which all successful clubs use.
Everton’s board appear unable to address the issue of operating a 20th century stadium in a 21st century environment; having failed twice to relocate to a new stadium their third attempt is now following a well-worn path with equally well-worn excuses, the failure of which is common to everything this Everton board attempt: a lack of finance.
The conclusion is inescapable: this board’s position is untenable due to their inability to promote any semblance of a business plan for the future, an inability which condemns Everton to continued stagnation.
And, believe me, that stench of stagnation hangs heavy around Goodison Park at the moment.
Source : Daily
Bollocks Mirror
