The Mail Bag
Fake World Cup Bid Theory
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Less than a year ago, Bill Kenwright told shareholders at an EGM that he "didn't want to be here next year". We were then told that he had employed Keith Harris to help him find a buyer. A few short weeks ago, Robert Elstone (or was it Ian Ross?) was assuring us that Everton will have built a stadium in time for 2018.
Have I missed something... and does this mean Harris has been called off?
Bill has fucked up royally with both King's Dock and Destination Kirkby. What is he planning next ?
Now what concerns me is the prospect of Bill Kenwright turning down what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to extend the Goodison footprint in favour of pressing on with one of his hair-brained schemes. Let's face it, if the council offer it then it would leave Kenwright in the unique position of not having any excuses for investing fuck all in Goodison Park.
Are his plans serious or are they simply a tool to deflect a possible offer to extend the Goodison Footprint (an offer that would mean they would actually have to spend real money) until such time that they offload their shares? The lack of a genuine World Cup bid would suggest the latter.
If Bill Kenwright turns down an offer to extend the footprint, I propose we chase him from Goodison Park a la Peter Johnson.
David Johnson, Posted 05/01/2010 at 02:12:38
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When is it going to sink in that finding a site is NOT the fucking problem here... the problem is finding the money to fill it with a stadium!!!
The DK option (like it or not) offered a stadium (like it or not) for the relatively small outlay of £78 million by the Club. It would cost more than that to redevelop Bullens Road FFS which is shortly going to be required.
The footprint means fuck-all... it’s the shoe we have to worry about FFS.
Jesus Christ I do wonder sometimes.....!
None of these decisions are bill’s to make anymore.
The only way we will get money spent on us is if someone else takes over the club. Which under the ridiculous terms the club is being sold under is highly unlikely.
The refurbishment of the Bullens will not cost £78m. This was an estimate done by the company who had a vested interest in Goodison being construed as unfit for purpose.
Can you rewrite it or rephrase it or something cos I’m a bit lost on it.
Arsenal have been well run and succesful for years. They have resisted buying big in order to ensure trophies so they can pay for the stadium which generates lots of extra revenue.
Everton will NOT generate that revenue because we are not one of the BIGGEST CLUBS. We are a substantial club with substantial support. If we built an amazing 65,000 seater it would be half empty every week except for Derbies and United etc.
If Kenwright borrows big to make the stadium happen then we are bust! The EPL is run upon debt and the chickens always come home to roost.
Unless somebody like Abramovich comes along then it will not change. He will never get his money back from Chelsea, in fact he has converted most of the debt into shares. Either we get a mega rich egomaniac with nothing better to do with the cash or we live with what the board do.
The EPL is a sickening joke which pays players far more than the clubs can realistically afford. If your company did that you would be out of a job very quickly.
Forget the pipe dreams and try to be realistic.
He wasn’t there as it happens as that was the last ever EGM before he disgracefully blocked them.
As for Keith Harris, he supposedly asked him back in August 2008 to find a buyer but, just 3 months later, at the DK inquiry, it came out that none of the major shareholders were looking to sell or dilute their sharesholding so the club was never for sale and Harris was just a smokescreen.
As for "chasing Kenwright out a la Peter Johnson", well "Kopite" PJ would have been chased out long ago had he even attempted some of the stunts "Blue" Bill has managed to pull off.
Go out and make a snowman or something man!!!
The deal could be tied into the problems we have tried to offload the old training ground at Bellefield which is still worth millions despite the downturn. The council may want this area for affordable housing.
Just a thought. My preferred option would always be to redevelop Goodison — a 50,000 stadium we can afford with better players on the pitch is the priority. GP could be improved and redeveloped for under £40million.
It begins a cycle of poor play on the pitch and financial trouble off the pitch. I don’t want Everton to be the next Southampton. And just how much more money would we stand to make by renovating Goodison? In my opinion, too much risk, not enough reward.
That said, I would love to be able to keep Goodison. I think the stadium is part of the club and I would be sad to see it go. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is if we get bought out by a billionaire.
The council meetings kept being interupted by Orville shouting ’I hate that dock’.
There was always a strong possibility the stadium would be called in by the government, as anyone in the property development game will tell you, but BK didn’t legislate for this, which is why Wyness had to go and why we are now back to square one and have wasted millions in the process (which could have been invested in the team).
What was it like to score on your debut in 3 competitions and then get swapped for a cart horse like Rod Belfit?
How you must have chuckled as you then proved the Cat wrong by breaking into the England team not once, but twice and even scoring on your debut for them before winning shedloads of medals at Anfield after a transfer to LFC.
Upon returning to Everton, you were past it, but luckily Andy Gray replaced you, and now some 26 years later, you have popped up on ToffeeWeb, baffling us all seemingly knowing the agenda for next Monday’s meeting.
I’m as confused as Rod Belfitt when given a ball and an open goal...
Oh, I get it... because the lying twat said so, it must be true then, silly me.
Dave Johnson is actually trying to make a good point, the liar will be shown up again if the council offer to do something for us regarding GP. Don't forget, Dave, the liar said we had the £78M. Tesco Terry was only giving us the land.
So if you can build a new stadium (like it or not) for £78M, then you can redevelop an existing one for the same money (like it or not). Don't believe everything you hear, Dave.
Btw there hasn't been a decade when this famous football club hasn't won something (apart from the 40s, when there was a bit of a war going on). Oh and the Kenshite years, the noughties.
Another first for our beloved chairman and manager, just thought I would mention that as well.
Was the venue for the EGM particularly shabby?
Still only half a ground I admit but it would still be GP. Figures are based on the alternative proposals put forward 3 years ago by Goodison for Everton.
A lot of people expected Kirkby to go tits up — as it was a piss poor idea from start to finish.
@15k capacity £78M = £5.2k per seat... well past the average cost per seat, given that a modern stadium. For example, the Stadium of Light is deemed International Quality for under £1k per seat.
You just hate the whole Goodison area and would, it seems, rather be anywhere else...
OVER TO YOU, TOM HUGHES!
The amateurs at KEIOC accurately predicted the call-in for an inquiry and the eventual thumbs down for the scheme, but either all the money the club spent on "experts" failed to pick up on this risk or the Board chose to blunder on regardless of the advice they received.
Get real will you?
As for you telling someone to "get real," well that is a brilliant wind-up coming from fantasist such as your good self.
Didn’t BK say that there was provision for a second tier when Park End was built?
Didn’t Randy Lerner enquire about purchasing us before settling on Villa?
If BK has no money to invest and merely borrows on assets and guaranteed incomings, couldn’t someone else with more expertise do the same job more effectively?
Keith Harris IS still retained to seek investment in the club... I spoke to him myself a few months ago. Suffice it to say any sale is complicated and it is being handled by Earl and Green.
The Bullens stand will NOT cost £78 milllion or more to redevelop. GP is NOT about to fall down NOR be closed down as any new regulations do not apply to existing structures.
DK was NOT going to cost £78 million — it was going to cost £130 million and it was assumed that the retail element created would be worth £52 million. All academic because it never stood a chance anyway.
DK was NOT our only chance for a new stadium — that was just propaganda put out by the club.
GP cannot be redeveloped for £40 million; however, it is not widely known that a team of top engineers put together a scheme to redevelop GP as a "world class stadium" in 2001 for.... you guessed it — £40 million. I reckon costs have gone up quite a bit since then but Tom Hughes did calculate that GP could be redeveloped for about the net cost of DK.
We could add a tier on the Park End for £15 to 20 million and that would create an extra 8000 seats and that for me would be the logical way forward. We would then have a capacity of 48500 and, when revenues and circumstances allow could develop Bullens the Gladys Sstreet to convert the restricted view areas into something worthwhile.
If it was not the planning, it would have been something else; we cannot organise a piss-up in a brewery, nevermind a development on the level it was.
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A jar of cockles?
A well run project should be able to stop at any point during it’s lifespan if it fails to meet it’s original scope, which included transport and off-field income streams, in order to achieve the basic premise of being financially viable. Not using basic foresight to identify risks such as transport and these off-field income streams during planning smacked of irresponsibility and incompetance of the highest order.
The club invested literally millions of pounds on advice from a biased supplier who was bound to promote the project with it’s vested interests. Don’t forget the project failed through it’s blatant disregard of planning rules and regulations, something which existed prior to it’s inception and not through the supporters and KEIOC who campaigned against it.
Whether you like or dislike the chairman, this was his ultimate decision and the failure rests solely at his feet, whether that was driven by the true "owners" or "controlling interests" at the club is a matter of opinion but one which seems to have a lot of credibility too.
The reality is that Tescos are probably the most powerful business organisation in the United Kingdom (for good and ill), and have a pretty good track record of getting what they want. It was very reasonable to assume that they would get approval.
It’s political interests which determines such things, not trivialities like planning policies. KD was rejected because the Government decided that it had more to gain from supporting the LCC and other threatened councils than the KMBC. KEIOC did not influence the result, but the LCC surely did.
By far the best starting option is increasing the capacity of the Park End which should have been done 15 years ago. I actually prefer the idea of making it a much larger one tier stand holding approx 16,000, plenty of land behind the Park End and this could also create enough space for 1st class corporate lounges, maybe even a megastore and museum? Imagine the noise generated from a stand bigger than the Kop! ...
Just speculation I know but there have been preliminary plans drawn up for a one tier stand. I’m sure it was costed at £22m. I wonder how much we can get for Bellefield if LCC want it?
Accepting the size of Tesco as some sort of ability to influence politics and the law of the land is a tad silly and the fact it wasn’t just LCC that lodged formal complaints but all surrounding councils... Neil, if you must use the facts then choose them all.
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1 Posted 05/01/2010 at 14:50:57
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