Liverpool Echo's Dominic King
This is a copy of a recent email I have sent to Dominic King at the Liverpool Echo, I also sent a carbon copy to editor Alastair Machray.Dear Mr. King,
I will freely admit that I am not your greatest fan. In fact, I will go as far as to say I believe that you are in Everton's pocket. You may not like this reputation that you have developed amongst some Evertonians but it is well deserved in my opinion. I appreciate that you are not an Everton supporter but you should at least respect those who read your work and do not give them misinformation or biased spin ? they are after all, your bread and butter, the sole reason you find yourself in such a privileged position. Many people would love to be Everton correspondent for the famous Liverpool Echo.
This is a prime example of the biased spin that I am referring to: Being sent to Coventry is a perfect experience
Today, the following piece was published in the Echo:
Why Kirkby is the Everton?s only choice
This article has incensed me. You could have easily replaced "EXCLUSIVE by Dominic King, Liverpool Echo" with "PRESS RELEASE by Everton Football Club" seeing as it is remarkably similar to this piece in the Daily Post:
Robert Earl: Why Kirkby is right for Everton FC
This is simply lazy journalism; it is an insult to your readers and it is merely an Everton FC press release with a bit of nonsense about Everton's newly-appointed director Robert Earl's seating arrangements at a boxing match thrown in for good measure. This is entirely irrelevant to Everton. I have no idea why you felt the need to headline that article 'Why Kirkby is the (sic) Everton's only choice?? Did the club's spin doctors choose this title for you?
I ask as it is very similar to the Daily Post article, too similar to be a coincidence anyway. When the article contains a direct quote from a newly installed director stating that the club have received a multi-million pound cheque from Tesco, it is simply not the right headline to use! It is blatant pro-Kirkby spin and you should be ashamed of yourself for publishing it!
Why was the headline not something akin to 'Tesco to give £55million to Everton' or 'Tesco secures £55million for Everton'?
It would have made a bigger impact, undoubtedly would have sold more copies of your newspaper and above all give the impression that you and your piers at the Echo are actually giving a fair, balanced and unbiased view of events.
The last time an Everton representative (Keith Wyness) went on record and said something similar to what Mr Earl has said, Tesco refuted it. If what Mr Earl has said was not to be taken at face value and he didn't actually state Tesco were handing over a cheque and he was suggesting the value to Everton of Tesco's contribution to the scheme was £55million then you should make this crystal clear in your article. This is exactly the type of misrepresentation and lack of information that has lumbered Everton fans with the prospect of a stadium in Kirkby in the first place!
You are meant to be a professional journalist and several thousand people read your articles, both in print and on the internet everyday so you should not be publishing such biased articles. In my opinion, if you wish to lose this existing 'brown nose' tag that you have acquired then you should portray a balanced view of affairs.
These are my suggestions that would make an interested read. I doubt that you will use any as you seemingly have your own agenda.
Publish findings from Knowsley council regarding the Kirkby move that will affect fans ? they can be found here at http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/resources/22248...nsportoct07.pdf
Here are some examples of what you will find:
- Fans will not be allowed to park their cars within 2 miles of the stadium during a match day.
- The park and walk sites are to be situated around 30 minutes walk away
- 45% of fan's journeys expected to be made by car then walk the rest of the way
- 6% are expected walk up from their home
- 49% of fans are expected to use public transport (the highest percentage in the country bar none!)
- Fans are expected to stay in the stadium as long as possible to ease traffic congestion outside of the stadium.
Why not publish the findings from the transport expert Everton employed?
- The 3,500 retail car park will be for retail use only and football supporters will be fined at 'least £100' to deter supporters from parking there.
- Kirkby train station currently caters for up to 4,000 (8% of attendance) people per hour. The station will not be redeveloped as the price of redevelopment cannot be justified based on the number of matchdays per season.
- The entire road system in Kirkby will be covered by a residents parking permit scheme to stop illegal parking.
- All cars (apart from shoppers, those using the MSCP and those with the resident parking permits) will not be allowed into Kirkby. The closest they will get to the stadium are the industrial estates around the town. Spectators will then have two choices, walk to the ground or wait for a bus.
- Over 200 new bus journeys will need to be added to allow fans to get to the game as the train service is inadequate for so many supporters.
I am sure that Steer Davies Gleave group would be happy to answer any questions you or your readers have seeing as the company are on the club's payroll for the project. They, like you, have a duty to keep the Evertonians and Kirkby residents informed. They can be contacted at http://www.steerdaviesgleave.com/contacts.asp
In addition, please report answers to these questions:
- Why was Savills' Chris Potts, effectively an estate agent, a. invited, and b. allowed to answer questions regarding the Scotland Road site at the AGM? Any answer he had would have been a conflict of interest as he is paid by Everton to develop the Kirkby Stadium. Had he not dismissed the site then he would not be earning his fee.
- Robert Earl stated at the AGM that he has already invested millions into Everton. What exactly has he done? Did he loan Everton the money to purchase Yakubu? Was this an advance on the future stadium naming rights fees?
- As an Echo journalist you will have seen the HOK report, why not obtain a quote from an employee of HOK regarding the Scotland Road site? At the AGM, the report was dismissed; the top table stated that the report was flawed and the author (who was privately paid by a third party) told them so ? this is unlikely as it would be a conflict of interest. Is this the case or did the board lie to the shareholders? It is your job and duty as a reporter to report such things to the public.
- Put forward the ten questions in the KEIOC newsletter to the club and publish the answers in your newspaper. These can be found at http://www.toffeeweb.com/season/07-08/news/keiocnews_1.pdf as most were ignored at the AGM.
- Ask the Everton Chairman if he lied to Everton supporters at the AGM or if he lied to Setanta News immediately after the AGM. He lied to one of the two. Bill Kenwright, during the AGM said "Plan B will be to look again at [redeveloping] Goodison Park and I suppose that the Scotland Road site would have to become a plan C." Immediately after the AGM he spoke to Setanta Sports News and declared ?Kirkby is the only option for this football club at the moment ? there isn?t another one.?
- The cost of the Kirkby Stadium has risen from 'effectively free' to approximately £80million. Ask the board if they have £80million to spend on a new stadium, why don't they spend it redeveloping Goodison Park and ask how much redevelopment they would expect (seeing as they have reportedly looked at all options in depth) for that amount of money.
- Confirm whether or not Everton FC have decided to build the megastore into the stadium as it was present in the original pre-ballot renderings but not in the recently published retail park renderings that were published once the ballot was over. If the megastore is no longer part of the plans, why not?
Your bias towards the ground move astounds me. Your co-worker Everton supporting Greg O'Keefe commented on his Gwlad Tidings blog that his recent articles (confirming existence of HOK report, mentioning 71 houses will be demolished in Kirkby for new stadium and Bestway stating their site will still be available should the Kirkby plans derail) gave the Echo a more 'well balanced' perspective presumably because of this biased nonsense that you manage to have published!
I await your explanation as to why you consistently publish biased articles relating to the Kirkby Project and implore you to publish the traffic consultant's findings for the current proposed stadium, confirm whether a cheque from Tesco actually exists and finally ascertain why Bill Kenwright felt fit to lie to either shareholders or Setanta Sports.
Yours sincerely
Louis Platt
Reader Comments
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A great article, at least if we all had the facts we could make informed choices over whether we did trust the board. The Echo as always are a disgrace.
Its not journalism at all.
I found your article interesting but verged too far towards a personal attack on someone trying to do a job in a difficult environment....
I’d love to see the response if you ever get one.
I think she might have had an answer from
Avid Reader.
I always find Dominic Kings articles and reports a great read and once again because the remaining few ’no’s don’t like the facts they want to shoot the messenger - lets see how many thousands of angry blues will be protesting the move today.......I make the point (yet again) that if the fanbase ’out there’ away from small massageboards and forums were against the move we would definately know about it, not just some whiners on the t’internet.
As for the Echo in general (I know this article is primarily about Mr. King) has been well balanced lately in its coverage and STILL the fanbase doesn’t get stirred into anger like the ’few’......
By the way come and join us in the directors box lads loads of empty seats on Wednesday by us!!
an were gonna fill a 55,000 seater stadium we can?t even fill the fuckin directors area!! Open your eyes lads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He has never said a bad word about anything Everton from team performances
to ticket policies and for a man who is head journo on the local rags for us that is wrong.
Most of the questions were asked at the AGM and they remain unanswered.
Just because a lot of us are not prepared to get vocal at the moment does not mean we wont as things develop.Dont presume to know the minds of others, you dont know anything lad.
Yes we need to be looking at getting this type of fan into our ground but this is going to take a good few years and moving miles fom the fastest growing city in europe is hardly going to help the cause is it?
You’ve been saying for months that the fanbase will wake up to the doom ’n gloom of the nightmare of Kirkby, in the meantime the rest of us have moved on as will be evidenced yet again today.......
This brings me to another thought. How is a major football stadium even remotely compatable with a retail development unconnected to football, I for one wouldn’t be doing my shopping there on a matchday so I would suspect that more and more of our games will be moved to evening and Sunday kickoffs, Tesco will certainly not be happy about any disruptiion to trade.
I’m so pleased you’ve been banned from Bluekipper.
I would suggest you seek counselling as there is clearly something amiss.
Anyway, great news about ASDA.If Tesco really want to develop Kirkby they’ll have to do it without the stadium proposals.
KEIOC
Spend your Saturday afternoons spouting nonsense if you want the rest of us went to the game
As I predicted earlier today with an earlier post Evertonians simply are not protesting against the move - could that be - shock of all horrors that they’re in favour of the move? Well the evidence of the ballot and the legendary couple o’ dozen who did protest back in September would suggest that is the case - most of the rest of us are ’content’....
That very Orwellian description says more about the ground move issue and information flow than perhaps you realised or intended, Gerard.
I?m really not sure why you think it is a good idea to belittle your fellow Blues and to sound like you believe everything you are told by the cluib. It?s certainly not helping those of who think that, in our financial circumstances, there is actually a good case to be made for Kirkby.
quite simply, I just dont believe you, In fact I dont believe anything you say
Your a fraud
What you say about Madden is also spot on, sadly, and the No side (as we all know) has its black sheep too. Now... seconds out!
Shock! Horror! The Echo publishes a piece which supports Everton’s position! Is this really anything new?? The Liverpool Echo can publish what it likes, if you don’t like it, don’t buy the newspaper, simple! It’s called Freedom of Speech....
After all, no-one is saying that you can’t write what you have written above, are they? Or is the problem because you don’t agree with what was written in the Echo??
If you want these questions answered, why not ask them yourself? Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll get an answer...
Talking about 50,000 to 75,000 all going in and all coming out at the same time as the shoppers... Or are we going to be forced to play all our games every Sunday night when there's no shoppers about? I would also Urge all Evertonians NEVER to read the ECHO ? It's a Manchester production..., FUCK IT OFF.
He got banned from Bluekipper, re-registered and got banned again after less than 10 posts, so stupid he is.
Don?t get worked up about him anyway folks - he works for Steer Davis Gleave, a project partner on the Kirkby Proposal.
Watch him protest his innocence.... bless his marksy slippers!
Maybe just maybe i’m a blue who attends every single home match (just a couple of aways) and though I will shed a tear for the dear old lady when we leave sees absolutely no problem with a move just 4 miles away to a scouse heartland - in this case Kirkby but i’d have been equally as comfortable with Bootle or Huyton too. Go further away from these places (Cronton, Speke, Switch Island etc) and the accent in some cases then i’d have had a problem with the move too but we arn’t and i’m delighted.
I’ll say it again Madden, your a phoney
You are a prize p*ick!!!!
A well reasoned article with many questions unanswered and genuine points raised. Half truths and misinformation abound when it comes to getting to any sensible conclusion. Who do you believe, well, without the full monty of info, who can you?
Those who voted Yes do not have access to the information, they have a different perspective in that they wish to ignore any information that doesn?t sit with their view. Mr Madden take note, you're not the face of Everton Football Club or its supporters, so stop mouthing your bile against those who want information to make an informed decision. You're happy with the decision you made then I suggest you buy a big screen and watch future games in Kirkby because that's as close to the ground as you will get . You have your view and I respect your right to make it, but so do we.
As I asked in previous posts, if Kirkby failed where would we suddenly go (no other options???) low and behold, redevelop GP or even the loop site.. not my words: BK's own.. Does that mean actually either case has still validity? Of course it does.
When it comes to getting ones view across to change the way people think, apathy abounds with the many. But you cannot put out a persons passion or belief. Tell me, do you see any people who are "passionate" about moving to Kirkby? And before people say, money talks and passion is just aimless chat, BK is passionate about Everton and his money has talked. Not the way we all may have wished but let's be honest we have stability and a good side, give the man and the board some credit.
But that doesn?t mean they should not be taken to task and need to justify their position. The move (IF it must happen) is not about this season or the next ten.. its about identity and belonging. IF we had to move I would love to see the loop site come into being. But that's my view because its close to the city center, iconic, and it would eclipse LFC through its location.
Where do you live, Goodison Rd ?
People just dont risk making themselves late for the match, so they can post here, they’ve got all week to do that.You’ve already shown yourself on numerous occasions to be an habitual liar, think anyone believes you now ?
i am only going with what I read on these web sites , in the pubs and people I meet to say its far closer infact I have only met 3 yes voters 2 of whom dont know I know they voted yes , infact it appears to me they are frightened to let people know this which is so wrong , its their club and their opinion.
The fact is if the club came out and spoke to us , asked our views and answered our questions without the use of lies and patronising contradictions , you would get far more people coming round to the idea.
As for the small protest so far , we all know we are a lazy bunch, the 10,000 none voters showed that, but due to the clubs history of cock ups , quite a few are just not expecting this to come off, if the green light is given these protest will become bigger but it will be too late then.
As for that article today about kenwright, what the fuck does he know about our club Mr Dunn ?
Does he know that we dont own our own training ground now , sold all our assets , borrowing more and more and that Mr kenwright was on the board with Dr Marsh and PJ ?
davie moyes has saved his bacon big time although he does deserve credit for being patient with him when people like myself were getting impatient.
The Liverpool Echo is a local rag and if you don’t like what the guy writes about EFC then don’t fucking read it! Somebody said above "He has never said a bad word about anything Everton from team performances to ticket policies and for a man who is head journo on the local rags for us that is wrong.". Head journo? Do you think that poxy paper has got a team of people writing about Everton? Try only journo for us!
Stop whinging about small time editorials and lobby the right people.
Madden, you must be a wind up merchant. I’ve read many of your posts on this site and some have had some sprinkles of validity, but you seem to have got lost in a world of petty wind up posts. Give it a rest mate!
Fucking conspiracy theories about whether Madden is posting during games and then claiming to be at them are pathetic as well!
Unfortunately, we will never know the full story because we don’t work for the club, KBC or Tesco. They shouldn’t have given a vote to fans as it has just become a stick for both sides to beat each other with. This is not Yes v No, good v evil or dark v light. It is opinion and opinion only. Please can all sides stop being so rightous, it’s sickening.
Take a leaf out of Neil Pearse’s book and consider both sides of an argument, regardless how certain you are of your own opinion. Nobody has all the facts and that is the fuel for this fire. As soon as people run out of facts, they turn to slandering the other side and it turns into petty insults.
"Please can all sides stop being so righteous"
I suggest you read your post again,
Pot kettle and black . . . . . . .
Posting at 1:42pm does not preclude attending the match, and living further away than Goodison Road.
I leave my parents’ house at 2pm in Fazakerley, and get to the ground by 2:45pm.
Similarly, I get back there by 6:30pm, which leaves plenty of time for a post timed at 6:50pm.
I can’t believe that people are so desperate to rubbish the opinion of anyone who’s in favour of moving to Kirkby that they’re using this as evidence that he can’t be a true Evertonian by not going to the match (Erm, have you forgotten the recent revelations that 2 of the editors of this erstwhile website don’t attend, either!!)
Just because you don’t like what he says about moving to Kirkby doesn’t mean he’s a wind-up merchant, a RS supporter, or a pr*ck.
I recall similar accusations being made against Tony Marsh on many an occasion, which were met with righteous indignation from his "supporters" that he was showing passion in his support for Everton - oh, but, of course, you agree with him... silly me!
Not everyone agrees with you - get over it!
Why not attemt to answer the questions instead of spewing shite at us. Is it no doubt the dwindling readership of the Trinity and Manchester Weekend Echo are still of the same intellect as yourself.
Soon it will gain the same infamy and losses as the Murdoch Sun on Merseyside.
i can also tell you that Scott McLeod who used to be the Echo?s Everton correspondant and now works for our club, is a big Manc.
Most detractors cannot respond to the substance of your main points, so they name-call or skirt around it. Well done for presenting the questions directly to the media machine that has helped float the Kirkby boat!!
If you read the clowns past post you’ll know where he comes from and that he cant get to GP in that time
Quite simply he didnt go. This is the guy who constantly speaks on behalf of "99%" of Evertonians ! Your right I dont like what he says, hes a liar, though what any of thst has to do with the editors of this sight is beyond me
You also say I always agree with Tony Marsh, show me where, I dont even know the guy
if your going to come on gobbing off. at least know what your talking about
Please point out where I said that you always with Tony Marsh. Please tell me why you have to know someone to agree with their point of view.
If you’re going to come on gobbing off about any of my posts, at least know what you’re talking about...
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1 Posted 08/12/2007 at 05:04:15
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Here we have an issue that stands to greatly affect the city of Liverpool, a decision that over 40% of Everton’s core support doesn’t agree with, and more double-speak and moving goalposts from the Goodison hierarchy than you can shake a stick at. Yet the only dissenting word that springs to mind is David Prentice’s criticism of the one-sided nature of the ballot back in July.