An Open Letter To Sir Terry Leahy

Note: This letter was sent to Sir Leahy on 23rd August and a request for its publication was made to Bluekipper the following day. To our knowledge it wasn't posted on that site, but given its high standard and measured tone we felt it deserved to be read, hence its airing on ToffeeWeb, albeit a week late.

Today is the final day of the momentous vote to decide where the next chapters of Everton FC?s illustrious history will be written. Your open letter to Evertonians was one of the most compelling I have read on the thorny issue of the proposed ground move, but many questions still remain unanswered. I thought about approaching you at the Crystal Palace pre-season friendly when I saw you leaving with (I presume) your two sons, but I think it better to respond to your open letter with one of my own.

Like you, I have been an Everton fan all my life. Like you, I was first taken to Goodison in the 1960s, when my dad would leave our shop on Ince Avenue, Anfield and take me across the cemetery to the place that holds so many great memories and such history. Also like you I have lived and worked away from my home town for many years, and throughout those years in Southport, London, France, Germany, Edinburgh and Dublin, before moving again to England?s South-East, I maintained my season-ticket and ?lifeline? to Everton in the town where I was born (to quote a line from some of the city?s most famous sons).

But it is not simple nostalgia that made me vote against the move to Kirkby. Indeed, I voted in favour of the King?s Dock stadium along with 86% of those polled, (even becoming so enthusiastic as to submit my suggestion for the new venue?s name...how naïve I was!) and remain convinced that the future lies away from Goodison Park.

Equally, I accept your financial arguments for the merits of the Kirkby scheme; certainly you state your case more clearly and coherently than the club has done. However, I wish to make a few points and raise a few questions of my own.

First of all I have to say I am saddened by the club?s disingenuous attempts to imply that anyone voting against the Kirkby move is somehow conspiring to see the club left behind. It was equally unimpressive that your own organisation had to make a public statement contradicting the Everton CEO?s claims that there was to be a direct financial contribution by Tesco to the stadium costs. Any intelligent observer must realise that your principal concern (notwithstanding your lifelong love of Everton) must be for your shareholders? returns and you make the ?win-win-win? argument for Knowsley, Tesco and Everton very persuasively.

Nevertheless, my concern remains that Everton?s position in the proposed new development would be as a mere ?bit part? player. Indeed, word from the club suggests a dwindling amount of parking spaces within the proposed retail landscape, prompting fears that it will be akin to Bolton?s dreadful Reebok ?experience? or Middlesbrough?s ?popular and well-positioned? Riverside.

To my mind Everton?s business strategy is unquestionably a ?me too? model; chasing the corporate hospitality dream whilst engaging in savage cost-cutting. Virtually all the club?s real estate has been sold off, whilst out-sourcing has been the panacea for addressing most of the other corporate challenges. Whilst I can appreciate the lure of JJB Sports?s advance cheque, for example, can anyone show me any evidence of a higher profile for Everton, either in Liverpool itself, or anywhere else? I listened intently to a presentation by Everton?s catering partners but after six or seven abortive attempts at trying them out for myself last season I have now given up the dubious delights of boosting club coffers through consumerism.

But business success is also about growth, as you know better than most. Yet Everton?s efforts here remain substandard given my sorry experience in trying to treat my oldest two children and a couple of friends to the Marquee hospitality at a League Cup tie last season. Equally depressing was the tawdry recent letter to my 15-year old son about loyalty points for his credit/debit card expenditure. And as for the shameful ?chest beating? when club turnover (boosted by the Rooney sale!) meant ?we have broken into the top twenty most profitable clubs worldwide?, well, the less said, the better. Now the club proposes to ?reward? what has been recognised as the Premier League?s most localised, most public transport-reliant support with a move away from the city?s heart, to an area with vastly inferior transport infrastructure.

As with any organisation, the problem is often a lack of ?joined-up? thinking. Well-intentioned initiatives can often have unintended consequences. Clearly the club wishes to expand its corporate hospitality and business seminar revenues, yet is it realistic to expect this hitherto latent demand to suddenly spring up in Kirkby, rather than closer to the business districts of the city?

No doubt Everton?s business leaders have considered this, and probably plan to offset any potential shortfall in corporate revenues with those from hosting concerts. My question, though: Why would major promoters choose a stadium in Kirkby when there will be a much bigger one available in Stanley Park; closer to the city?s transport links and its hotels? Of course, this too, will have figured in the business planning, and it may be that our target market is those bands with a lower profile?unless, of course, they plan to play the King?s Dock?!

Self-evidently the club lacks ?first mover? or ?product excellence? advantage as a foundation for its strategic planning, although David Moyes?s excellent endeavours still give me cause for optimism. Indeed his steady upgrading of personnel and his dedication to coaching and fitness excellence demonstrate commendable focus and purpose. However, ?Everton in the Community? is a shining beacon in what the club does, and even a cursory glance at the Premiership?s top ten youngest goal scorers appears to illustrate another key strength.

One of the reasons that Mr Moyes?s ?People?s club? reference reverberated so strongly within the fan-base was because it connected club and supporter, implicitly acknowledging the symbiotic relationship.

Contrast this with the heavy-handedness of ?Don?t let Everton get left behind?? and the blatant rubbishing of the KEIOC group (concerned supporters voluntarily giving their time with no financial gain or incentive riding on the vote?s outcome) and the recent ?Loop? proposals, whether directly or indirectly, and you begin to comprehend the depth of the schisms which have emerged.

Of course it is right to cite the financial imperatives and to urge that we vote with heads not hearts, but even the best businesses will struggle in the wrong location. As you know better than most, it is essential to give your customers a positive experience and to make it easy for them to get what they want at affordable cost.

Yet, if you were to ask fans which of the newly developed stadia they prefer, what would they say? For me it would be Arsenal?s Emirates stadium and Southampton?s ground at St Mary?s. Part of the reason is that both are very close to the site of their predecessors, with the resultant familiarity and support infrastructure part of the experience. Contrast that with Reading, Derby and the afore-mentioned Middlesbrough and Bolton, and the problems of ?transplanting? football grounds become painfully apparent.

In a recent Sky Sports survey of the away fan experience, Everton was second only to Newcastle in terms of how enjoyable was the whole trip. Since Goodison, particularly the Bullens Road side, is clearly cramped, dilapidated and out-dated, and nobody can enjoy that lung-bursting climb to the pinnacles of St James? Park, there are clearly factors at play other than the mere bricks and mortar. Whilst in the Premiership era away fans are a mere token of the game?s traditional spirit of rivalry and competition (and interestingly, amongst Everton?s ?core? away following the no-voters are an overwhelming majority) football clubs would do well to heed the views of those fans who are likely to be there in the bad times when football?s current cycle of popularity hits a downturn.

Then again, that pre-supposes that the clubs? decision-makers really care about how tortuous the journey to/from the ground may be, or how well-served the area is with transport links, pubs and places to eat. Of course, if the hidden agenda is to force people to congregate and eat and drink at the stadium as a ?Hobson?s choice? then the remote retail site may have its (financial) merits. Leaving aside the (admittedly huge) construction costs though, how can an out-of-town stadium compare with the likely future revenue generation of a more centrally-located arena?

Where will Mr Wyness find his free-spending corporate box-holders? What is the projected demand for meeting rooms during the week in Kirkby? What impact will the extra journey time to and from Kirkby have on the supporters who come to Liverpool for the week-end, let alone for the rest of us who attend all the matches? You mentioned that Tesco looked at over 30 sites, but did not specify in what context these were screened. Were they all for this joint venture with Everton? Mr Wyness went on record to state that Everton looked at ?over 16 sites?, whatever that means. Many of us would like to know more detail regarding where and when.

Similarly, we have been presented with various financial assumptions on behalf of Everton?s Board, many of which appear ill-founded. In particular, the likelihood of raising £50m from the sale of Goodison and new stadium naming rights seems highly optimistic. The CEO has been quick to dismiss Liverpool City Council?s recent statement about the Bestway site, highlighting the potential planning issues and citing inadequacies in the transport infrastructure around Scotland Road (one of the inner city?s main arteries!) whilst avoiding the very real probability that similar delays may yet occur with respect to Kirkby.

From my simple layman?s perspective, Kirkby would not appear to have anything remotely like the necessary infrastructure to cope with the constant influx to one of Europe?s biggest supermarkets, still less to accommodate the doubling of the town?s population whenever Everton play.

Personally, I also have major doubts over the ?Loop? site, but cannot believe that in a city with so much urban decay something closer to your own company?s Great Homer Street project cannot be made available. Mr Wyness asks why the Bestway site should only now emerge as an alternative to Kirkby, but did not Everton and Tesco announce a moratorium in which to study the joint venture with Knowsley council in confidence? Moreover, surely any leading businessman would accept that the property market is a fluid one, with opportunities coming and going all the time?

Sadly it sums up the way in which we Evertonians have been treated during this process. I think Mr Wyness severely underestimates both the passion and the intellect of the fan-base. Perhaps he just fails to appreciate the peculiar mix of affability, cynicism, passion, militancy and creativity that is so evident in the city where we, and Everton, were born.

Sadly, I think a narrow vote will go in favour of this move. I am not among those who will refuse to go; I will always follow my team. Nevertheless, for reasons beyond the simply emotional it will be with a heavy heart. I hope that your acumen and city ?roots? will be brought to bear to ensure that my fears for the future are not realised. Unfortunately I think that the combination of the lack of a clearly-defined strategic blueprint and a woeful misunderstanding of what goes to make up a huge traditional core element of our support will prove to be a major error of judgement in the long-term.

Mr Leahy, you said yourself in your open letter that ?I may not always like it, but I?ve learned to trust the people closest to issues to make the best judgement.? Let?s hope that those Evertonians who live in Kirkby yet deem it an inadequate, unattractive site for our club are wrong. As my good friend Paul Wharton (himself from Kirkby) quipped: ?They promised us a penthouse on the waterfront, now we?re getting a council house in Kirkby.?

Please prove us wrong. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Klaassen

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