The Mail Bag
The People's Club my arse!
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I've never written in before but I do read the contributions on Toffeeweb with interest.
The main theme of many postings is frustration with the way the club is run. I know how hard it is to run businesses and feel some of the criticism is harsh - however every time the club deals with the media the PR is a total disaster.
This week the club website acknowledged that there had been a call from shareholders for an EGM. You expect any mature business to make a quote such as "the club always welcomes the chance to work with and answer the concerns of its shareholders and indeed all supporters and will ensure the meeting is arranged asap."
This approach at least gives the impression that management doesn't look down their noses at the 'simple' fans.
What have Everton carefully worded then? ?The Club can confirm that on Friday we did receive a petition from shareholders,? said Mark Rowan, Head of Media and Communications.
?There will now be a process of authentication and validation of the names on petition against the share register. Once we ascertain the accuracy of the names then we have 21 days from receipt to announce a date for an EGM."
In other words, we woudn't rule out that these people are crooked and have fixed the application!
Pathetic from people that should really know better. However, I think it illustrates clearly the way Mr Wyness views the fans. The bids for players we have no chance of getting, the loan taken out days before the vote to buy a big name and the 'free' stadium and 'deal of the century' quote all show that there is a view at the top that the ordinary fans are at best naive and at worst dishonest.
Let's hope the authentication process validates things!
Mel Jackson, Posted 22/07/2008 at 12:04:33
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I would assume that it is standard practice to validate any petition presented to a business, especially one from sharehholders, otherwise any Tom, Dick or Harry could present one to them.
Standard business practice to ratify that any such petition is genuine, agreed absolutely.
But to use that as the basis of your public response, oh no. That is a private piece of work that has no place being mentioned in the public domain, yet alone as an official response. It does say everything that the senior management think of the supporters of this institution. Perhaps it was meant to!
Perhaps now, crunch time, the gloves really are off, not the pussy footing around that has been conducted so far.
First reported response to the petition from a club official that I saw over the weekend quoted something along the lines of "we will be happy to consider and entertain this course of action". Not a mention of the fact that under legislation the board was legally bound to call such a meeting. It was, like everything with these current custodians, like they were doing us a favour and we should be grateful for it.
Sorry, 30 years an active blue or not, I am getting very, very fed up with the current state of affairs and I am coming close to voting with my feet and removing this constant agony and antagonism from my life. Never thought I would say it, and of course it wouldn?t last. But it sure will until these current clowns that are in charge are gone and stop being cynical and taking myself and thousands of others for granted in the most cynical and insulting ways possible.
The watershed of my entire life is that close.
It was already made public before EFC has a chance to respond to it.
The PR men need a good boot up the arse but can’t bring myself to fully blame them for this one.
There confirming that they recieved a petition and there confirming its accuracy, nothing more and nothing less.
They’ve not said " Hey we dont believe you fans, so where going to check just to see if your lying!!!!"
You know what next week can’t come any quicker for me and I hope we can move on too other subjects was we know about the new staduim because this is beyound a joke and its getting pretty boring....!
Granted, they’ve made mistakes before and will no doubt do again, but this is hardly something to be outraged about is it.
Sometimes it?s not what is said, but how it?s said.
Believe me, I?m not looking for reasons to knock the Board. I just want to see our Club run properly, but seemingly every day there is another bungle or error of judgement.
I?m fed up with it and I?m fed up with the lies, total lack of balls, inability to understand its own customer base, surrendering to LFC while we skulk off to the suburbs and obscurity. Nobody is perfect, but these people are on another planet and they won?t or can?t see it.
If that does turn out to be the case the phonies should be named and shamed.
Is there a law about providing false information in such circumstances?
since when did fulfilling your legal obligations amount to a " bungle "? As for PR, it wasn’t exactly sincere of those presenting the petition to trumpet it to the media now was it? Yet you still criticise the board for anwering the media’s questions about it in a very formal way. Why did the petitioner’s see a great need to go dashing off to shout from the rooftops that they had presented a petitition calling for an AGM ? It’s hardly an earth-shattering piece of news. For what it is worth, I had hinted at this course of action some weeks ago on other threads and after mentioning as much a few times I was told not to be boring ! !
"Oh come on Steve, Bill wouldn?t deliberately run his investment down, it?s not to his advantage," I keep hearing the apologists cry. Absolute bollocks, he is in a corner and can?t afford what needs to be done (how? why?) and is blundering from one incident to another in the biggest example of crisis management I can ever remember seeing in a top flight football club - Leeds United included. Wake up guys before it is too late! Stop being in denial!
We would appear to be in deep trouble not becoming of an outfit that has been best of the rest for 3 out of the last 4 years. How many of you blindly think that will continue to be the position this season if current criteria remain?
Still, never mind eh boys, roll on 31st August and a few deadline free transfers and loans that would make Rod Belfitt, Tiger McLaughlin and Stefan Rehn look like world beaters.
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1 Posted 22/07/2008 at 14:58:19
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I think that all Evertonians are becoming less forgiving of the Board, but can you blame us? Nothing ever seems to change and there is an underlying tone that suggests they think we should just pay up and shut up.
Wyness is extremely cynical in his approach in my opinion, but it appears it has spread to others as well. A journalist I know, with no particular axe to grind, not an Evertonian, says he used to enjoy his visits to to Goodison and the term People’s Club seemed very appropriate. Lately, however, there is a big time Charlie attitude amongst some of the staff that he finds quite insulting. Not the playing staff or coaches, just people he has to deal with in the course of his job.