FAN ARTICLES
New Money for Everton

We currently generate revenue from season tickets, merchandise sales, media coverage, sponsorships, corporate venue hire, online members to EvertonTV, etc etc... And this is all very good and most welcome as these commercial activities generate a lot of cash, especially with Everton Two opening up (brilliant naming by the way; I can see them all spitting feathers). But it's nowhere near the amount of revenue generated by the big 4 for doing the same, so in that respect it could always be better.
So, following on from my Club Everton article, inspired by the fact it's working for Club Wembley, I would like to suggest that any fans with ideas of how to generate new forms of revenue come forward to offer such ideas to see what we all think. I know there are lots of fans who come on ToffeeWeb to have a nosey around but not contribute anything. So if you think you have an idea to make new money for the Club, why not suggest it here?
I'm talking about the kind of thing that no other club is doing at the moment. Imagine the thought of buying a flat screen telly or home insurance at the checkout in Tesco 20 years ago. "It'll never happen".
I've got 2 ideas that I've managed to submit to the new commercial director, Simon Webster, and Bill Kenwright through some cunning investigation. Here is the reply from BK about them:
--------------------- From: xxx Sent: Fri 05/06/2009 18:49 To: tony Subject: Money ideas for Everton Dear Tony, Many thanks for your email! Fascinating stuff!! I will send your email on to Robert Earl and Robert Elstone who will probably have their own comments. I am sure they will get back to you. It is always good to hear from Evertonians who want to do their bit to help stabilise the club financially. Many thanks Best wishes Yours Bill K ---------------------Well, at least I got a reply so I know he's read them. I've suggested that he run them by our friend Philip Green for comment. I will submit the ideas to TW if they think these are rubbish ideas but will keep quiet about them for now as the competition may steal our thunder.
I've also just had an e.mail response from Simon Webster with promising feedback that the ideas "look very interesting". He's said he will have a detailed look at them and come back to me with comments, so I will keep my mouth shut if they are considering the proposals."
If you believe you have a really good idea that may be compromised by posting on TW, why not submit to Michael Kenrick as the guarded custodian using the Feedback page or contact the Everton commercial department direct about it.
Get your thinking caps on.
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I have a good idea, sell the club to someone who has a few quid, and actually cares enough about the club to invest in it, build it, and run it properly, make money out of it, but don’t bleed us dry for there own financial gain.....
Where exactly is this thread going?
Dancing on ICE with East 17.
We ain’t a fashionable club, never have been, never will be- but thats the way I like it. Thats why I listed to stuff like Nine Inch Nails, New Model Army, Bowie etc, and not the shit they play on MTV.
Cheap overheads (we could pay them peanuts) and surely a massive global audience.
Bill K. - Himself
The Golden Vision- Jason Donovan
Howard Kendall - James Gondolfini
Duncan Ferguson - Ronnie Corbett
Bernie "the bolt" Wright - Johnny Vegas
Barry Horne - Aled Jones
and finally, you never see them in the same room together:-
Paul Rideout - John Barrowman
and featuring Colleen Rooney as The Toffee Lady.
It could make millions.
Here?s a quiz question: Who were the first team to have sponsor on their shirt? And for a bonus point, how much did the Club in question make out of it? I wonder which clever clogs thought of that one.
Oh, and the first to but billboards around the ground?
Oh, and the first to sponsor the match ball?
I’d still like to see monkey tennis - perhaps Peter Ried and Peter Beardsley cold be captains?
Be afraid... be very afraid!
When dealing with big brands, it?s always about making a small amount from the big numbers game.
Only time will tell... if DM were starting his job this year, would he see loads of Everton tops everywhere and coin the phrase "The People?s Club"?
With this money we buy 15 average journeyman players for £30m thus leaving us with £120m.
We also let Moyes go to Wigan for £5m and bring back Howard Kendall for a 4th stint.
Why not sell stuff that everyone can buy? We have a number of astute businessmen connected to Everton (Green, Earl, Elstone - even BK has a thriving luvvie company). Everton has facilities (offices, networks, billing systems etc) so everything is in place to diversify and have a range of non-football businesses all contributing profits to the club.
A risky strategy as they might not all be profitable, but if you keep doing the same things you will always get the same results. We need to do something different to gain competitive advantage.
How many Everton fans are there worldwide? Let’s just pick a figure and say 60,000 for the sake of it. Do you reckon a third of them could afford an extra 100 quid a year? OK, so follow what I’ve seen a few amateur clubs do and start a "Friends of Everton" Trust (call it whatever sounds best). The 20,000 pledge 100 quid a year over, say, 5 years renewable (I’ve seen people do this in local communities and pledge $1,000 per year). This is a cool 2million quid per year.
The trick is to have some kind of recognition system.
OK, many people don’t have the moolah to afford this but sure as ’eggs is eggs’ plenty do.
Oh, yeah, I say a "trust" so this comes with rules and one can be that it isn’t used to pay a bonus to the CEO or owners.
COYB
?They? estimate that world wide Evertonia numbers 900,000 ? at 4 per family, call it 200,000.
We each put in the aprox cash equiv of one current ?proper? share say £1,500 min ? all the rich buggers can put in as many multiples of this as they like, but you only get one vote.
That's me, you, Uncle Steve in Brisbane, the b-i-l in the US, Terry Leahy and uncle Paul McCartney and all. A sizeable total will ensue, limited only by the lack of ambition of all the comedians.
There are enough Clever Trevors on this site with enough of the required boxes ticked on their CVs. I hold my hands up and say I haven?t got the brains to do it, but I have got the brains to know it needs doing.
Those also serve who can only (at a pinch) put their hand in their pocket to the tune of £1,500.
Too many people only seem to know the tune that goes... "People's Fund, you?re avin a laff!"
Make Everton TV free.
Push hard to get Everton games broadcast live online (legally, anyway).
Ideas for injecting some cash:
Let fans and supporter groups buy a stake in the club,
I’m sure a lot of revenue is generated by this.
Bob Parrington ? there is a way of getting £100 off a global fan base with them being freely willing to part with their readies. All will be revealed.
Pete Gunby ? OK if they legalise it!!
Derek Thomas ? I take it you are suggesting that 200,000 fans buy a share in the Club at around £1500 each. Would this be a share issue? I?m no expert on this and hope during the next mega economic boom time we could ask the fans to spend this kind of money.
Robbie Fabes ? I agree to some extent on EvertonTV. I?ve been tempted to subscribe and the only thing putting me off is the fact that I would end up investing even more hours in relation to Everton. It?s bad enough trawling TW. I think if they even gave us some proper teasers to encourage us to sign up, I?d end up doing it, but now my train of thought is ? I?ve got to get some paid work done.
John Roberts, Simon Kirwan, re stadium naming. I?m sure the Everton board know about the Emirates deal and this will be built into any business plans they have. Out of the £750m, how much is being used to service the loan on the build over the next 20 years? Hicks and Gillett will probably tell you.
I recently got my second shirt, the white away strip, from England again midway through last season. You should have seen me wear my shirts in a sea of Mancs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool supporters who switch allegiances from one ?top 4? club to another faster than I can change socks!
Started supporting Everton in 86-87. Couldn?t catch a live game for the life of me but got hooked after seeing a snippet (about 10 sec) highlight of a game they played. To this day, I am not sure whether I chose EFC or it chose me!!!!
Right now every EPL game is shown live or delayed on our Satellite TVs and I catch each EFC game live or at the very least delayed or recorded. This post I have made doesn't have much to do with the current thread but I couldn?t help myself after seeing, once again, how much we all really care about the club. Come next season I will do my bit and buy as many EFC shirts and souvenirs that I can get my hands on! And then one day I will realise my dream and watch them in person at Goodison Park or Kirkby.... doesn?t matter where they will be!
For now, fellow toffees, rest assured that every match day their is some guy in Southern Africa, Zambia waving and jumping around madly urging the boys and DM to match on and make history!
Now before you call the men in white coats ? people pay £100 to have a star in the sky named after them/a loved one! So why not the People's Wall on the People's Stadium??
It will have to have clear values and strategies and would be organised along equitable lines of one fan, one vote for electing a President and agreeing a constitution. The mega rich fans can do the right thing and chip in to help raise the initial funds. I think Real Madrid and Barca are owned and run in a similar way.
I know the club is trying to do this, but mainly in the States where for obvious reasons it won?t take off big time. It should be focused on Europe where the potential is much greater. I for one would consider being a ?master? franchisee for Central Europe if the club were willing to broaden its horizons and head east.
Also, sell the shirts that the players have worn post-game ? signed of course and in a lovely frame.
With Setanta about to bow out, there may be a slight opening for this, but I don?t know the ins and outs but I doubt it possible at this point in time.
Would be a top idea though, just imagine the amount of people in the UK and the Rest of the World that are Blue through and through but have to watch shitty online feeds or awful MOTD highlights.....
However, this will not be our direct responsibility...as the premier league own all the tv rights to all the games. We may make more out of it...but we would not be able to do it ourselves.
I think this could be a matter of time because if market forces demand it, we get it in the end. Remember the days of all games being played on a Saturday at 3pm, well market forces knocked that into touch. I?m sure someone is monitoring the traffic on these crappy live match feeds to demonstrate the global demand for such a service.
But then, if all Clubs do it, will the big four get the most subscribers, the most money and hence the biggest competitive advantage over the competition. But as a fan, I?d love nothing better than to watch every Everton match live on the telly every week.
Main characters are:
William (Bill) Kenwright, an unassuming, bespectacled producer of amateur theatricals. In 1939 he is working in Droitwich on HMS Pinafore. Due to a major cock up in the Admiralty he is given command of the oldest rustbucket in the Royal Navy ? HMS Everton.
Davy Moyes, a pragmatic Scottish engineer much given to emerging from the engine room, wiping his hands on an oily rag, saying, "She?ll be awright noo, Sir, if ye can keep the revolutions doon a wee bit. The ould girl?s nae as young as she used ta be."
Ben Itez, the swarthy entertainments officer of a swanky Norwegian cruise liner, who is given to casting aspersions about HMS Everton when they are in dock together. He will rue the day when the Yanks come into the war.
Old Ma Noblett who lives in Walton. She has seen and remberered it all. Through flashbakcks we will see the launch of HMS Everton into a Mersey full of spars, jibs and masts. She weeps by her fireside, while knitting socks for the troops, as she recalls the better days of long ago.
Andy VDM supposedly a Dutch national who we suspect of being a German spy.
Minor characters: Man in Pub - Howard Kendall. Belgian refugee - Fellatio. Plucky but dim Northerner - Phil Neville. Yank who saves penalties (and the day) Tiiiim Hooowarrrrd!
Adolf Hitler - Alex Ferguson.
It has come to something now.... Kenwright and the board have the fans looking for extra revenue to assist the club. Does anyone know how much has been spent on consultants and the likes for the cowshed????
Or fans buy some of the players, for example: we find 15,000 supporters willing to part with £2,000 quid each as a loan to purchase a share in a player(s) - £30 million with a view to increasing (or breaking even or a loss) their return when that player is sold.
Billy - this is not an initiative from BK. I managed to get some ideas to him and that was his reply. I approached him as a fan looking to be pro-active and do something to help My Everton.
Believe me, the amount of working time I?m spending on all this would have bought me a few season tickets already in commercial terms, but I?m prodding Everton with ideas to capitalise on.
So, to the point of the post, have YOU got any ideas or do you just want to steer the debate to finger pointing and moaning a la Alf Garnet, West Ham fan. If the former, please contribute. If the latter then spend your time elsewhere.
And by the way, once I post the 2 suggestions that Everton are considering, you will see this is definitely NOT about the Club saying hey lads what about this: "for £ XXX you can have XXX with the EFC badge on it".
I would play for Everton for nothing, but obviously never good enough. So I?m trying to use the little bit of nouse I?ve picked over the years to up to point out the obvious to MY Everton. Like many Everton fans, I would like to feel more part of the Club even if by contributing positive ideas and comments that may get heard.
"Listen lads, we need £5million towards buying XXX player for £10million. Click here to put your money in if you also want us to buy this fella."
Then in the terms and conditions of the ?shopping basket? it says "you will get your money back in full if we do not sign this player" OR "if we sell him, (for whatever amount) you will get the percentage return on your contribution".
Christ. Have we changed the face of the football buying / selling market. The fans get to put their money where their mouth is. If you want a player the Club can?t afford, then show some balls like the Club?s owners have to and "Show me the money".
By the way anyone, I?m really easy to contact directly. Just do a Google on my name to get bored to tears.
How many people own Rock of Gibralter (Sir Alex?s horse). Would stud rights be taking it too far. (Sorry, it?s getting late.)
Any contribution would probably have to be considered a donation to the club. Don’t know really, legal issues are not my thing.
I believe these supporter/membership annual schemes usually suffer from fatigue as time passes. It would be difficult to keep coming up with a large bit of wedge year after year, especially if already paying for a season ticket.
The lottery idea is interesting. You could gear it towards purchase of "chances" for weekly prizes, monthly prizes and perhaps a grand end of season prize. Season ticket holders could enter for each as they wish at the beginning of the season, or purchase more at a later date. Individual ticket purchasers can buy however many chance they want for that week. There could also be prizes geared toward Evertonians around the globe, with chances bought through Paypal. Easy. It would all have to be done without cheapening the Everton name, but every bit helps.
I like the brick idea. Maybe you could have a tiered pricing system depending on location of the brick around Goodison. Top honours could go for a placing near/around Dean’s statue. Now that is something I would definitely consider.
In a time when everyone is paying a fortune to exercise because of either vanity or because they are health-scared or guilt ridden, this is the money maker.
Many blues (and others if they had good facilities) would leave their current gym to do the same in an EFC one. They would attract women as much as men, kids too. Done on franchise model so we don?t have to invest.
Ged - yes. In Britain we?re all becoming fatties. And this gym thing is working for Duncan Ballantine. The great thing about gyms is that you take a monthly / annual membership off people. They are happy to pay because it will force them onto the treadmill with the attitude "I?ve paid a bloody fortune for this, so I?m going to get my money?s worth". We?ve all done it. Plus, why go to an Everton gym ? big screen telly?s with great Everton goals, player interviews, match highlights, Z Cars etc. Maybe create a job for a few old pros who aren?t media darlings as personal trainers in said gyms, or provide them with a franchise. Apparently, in the 70s it was common practice for the big brewers to give ex players a pub to run as it was sure to attract punters. Same idea here.
Maybe a direct contact with the Board is required by fans with professional experience in this kind of thing. A number of fans have suggested this or similar.
The other point is, with Destination Kirby in the balance, you would probably alienate a large percentage of potential investors based on whatever decision is made. My personal feeling is that, if DK gets the knock-back from the government enquiry, then big ideas like this may gather a head of steam.
The Everton Board of Directors are publicly sticking to their guns about DK, but they surely must have discussed alternatives. Only history and minutes from boardroom meetings will tell our grandchildren.
But it?s another idea and you never know in football!!
Simple but effective, worked for Tesco... (oops sorry to mention their name).
Also, Everton ISP, Everton mobile phone network, Evertonbay and of course monkey tennis.
And thanks again for posting. Maybe Michael could publish some figures on the viewings this article has received?
Knowsley Council, with the collusion of the Government Office of the North West, passed a resolution on May 6th allowing Tesco to divert Knowsley Brook from the area where the stadium and car park are going to be. Trees have recently been removed and work will begin be on site within the next two or three weeks ? maybe even this coming week.
Mind you, if you had put £100 on AvdM then you could kiss it goodbye... but that's gambling and owning the left foot of Cahill sounds more exciting than putting in to the kitty for a racehorse.
Also, could we buy stakes in Academy players ? invest in Rodwell anyone?
STOP PRESS: That arsehole Andy VDM is gone ? what a start!
COYB
I suppose you could have the option to put the full £500 back in the pot as a sort of accumulator. If you do it well enough you could end up with a portfolio of players and pin your pension on it.
Shall I call Joanna Lumley and ask her to go see BK and propose it ? no-one can say no to her, it seems.
Ask him (and his board) to sell their shares at the going rate but only bank the amount they initially paid for them. The added ’value’ would then be gauranteed for the managers transfer kitty.
Not too much to ask for the ’greatest Evertonian who ever lived,’ is it? :)
I won?t be holding my breath!
The fact he took the time to call says a lot in my opinion about the new regime at Everton. I will write up a summary of the conversation and run it by him first out of basic courtesy before posting here.
1 Posted 11/06/2009 at 15:54:40
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