The Mail Bag
What about beyond January?
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Just thought I'd join the debate about January transfers, Destination Kirkby, and the sale of Everton Football club.
First of all, I would like to say that I am huge fan of Bill Kenwright and Davey Moyes but I am now getting concerned with both of them. Moyes said when he arrived at Everton he would not buy anyone who he may class as 'not being good enough to improve the squad', which is quite simply defined as common sense.
Which brings me on to Louis Saha; every Evertonian and United fan will tell you Saha is world class on his day, which quite frankly never happens, due to fitness and injury. David Moyes knows of these injuries to Louis, so why did he bring Louis here? Again I'm a huge fan of Louis and Moyes but this move never seemed a wise one, and this has most certainly backfired now as we barely have a striker available. (Van der Meyde can also be counted in this bracket.)
The answer: buy another striker and sell Saha. As ever with Everton, things aren't that easy, unrest at boardroom level and lack of money has dominated the headlines over the years at Goodison, whilst 19 other Premier League clubs break their transfer records.
The January catastrophe brings me to finances/funds. There is no doubt that Kenwright loves the club but I do question where the money from gate receipts and cup runs from last season has gone? We have spent big over the summer e.g., Fellaini but, compared to the finances of other clubs, it's only a few pennies, especially when you consider we are looking at breaking the 'monopoly' of Chelsea, United, Arsenal and some other team.
Again the answer is, buy new quality players, which again leads to the same old story ? How, with what money, and who?
Destination Kirkby is one alternative. I know every Evertonian including myself would love to see Everton stay in Liverpool; however, I voted FOR the move to Kirkby as it seems the only alternative, as Liverpool City Council will quite simply only accomadate for LFC - even though it seems raising the funds for their ground and even unrest at ownership level is well documented as putting a strain on their ground ideas, but still the LCC will only help them.
Destination Kirkby now seems the best option as it will provide us with more money through gate receipts as the stadium increases in capacity (rumoured 55,000). Every Evertonian must also realise that Destination Kirkby may also give us the option of further expanding the ground, which in my opinion is the reason we're moving from Goodison in the first place ? lack of space to manouver.
My final point is a short one, which the answer lies with the Board, and is also open to debate between Evertonians. Bill wants what's best for Everton, e.g., financial stability and Champions League football. The media is generally full of rubbish; however, we have been linked with a few 'takeover bids' which the media have strongly suggested are true but then Bill and the board say they're not. The answer... who knows?
Paul Bernard, Posted 29/01/2009 at 11:33:09
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Kenwright should have stepped aside years ago. He is holding us back and I for one would bet that the club is NOT up for sale while he is still at the helm. Saying something is one thing doing it is another and with Kenwright?s track record I would say it?s another bluff.
LCC won?t conduct business with Kenwright anymore coz he fluffed the Kings Dock project which in all honesty he should have walked the plank after that disaster. But still to this day he is allowed to get away with murder and his "watch this space" codswollop.
All talk no end product ? that sums up Kenwright?s reign.
But to compare current corporate facilities and current capacity with all its obstructed views against a brand new (be it middle class) stadium and being surprised that in the current economic climate people choose not to pay 100 quid to take the kids to sit behind a pillar, that’s just unfair. I love Goodison Park, but I am not blind for its current flaws. I am sure that if it was a state-of-the-art stadium we would sell out most matches (except for the away section of course).
Anyway, this guy reckoned that in this day and age, Gate reciepts make up very little of a prem clubs revenue. He went on to promise, that if his team were promoted to the prem he would not charge current season ticket holders a single penny for their season tickets next year.
Its been established that if 50,000 people turn up for every in Kirkby, the club would only make £6 million a year. Most people believe if the club moved out of the city, it would struggle to get the attendances we get now.
Kirkby will kill this club.
Our CEO is mentioning the the restricted views today and they are ridiculous in certain places and have to be addressed, but believe me 32,000 against Villa meant people never had to pick a restricted view mate and that was just one of several home games. I have never heard of anyone I know state "I was going to go but they only had obstructed views so I pissed them off" ? if they did then in my eyes they never wanted to see the blues strong enough, they would take one of these seats next Wednesday so why not any other game?
The inquiry is moving along, the objections are coming in thick and fast, BUT Tesco are probably one of the only companies in the current economic climate who can develop Kirkby. The company planning to redevelop Skem must be praying that it goes thro which will save them millions. Despite what they say at the inquiry.
This Government needs Tesco and it need Kirkby to be regenerated. Ask yourself this question: When did politicians do anything that was not in their interests first and formost?
Everton will be kicking off the 2110 season in Kirkby ? unless you know better. It makes me sick ? for £78m Goodison could be made into a super stadium.
I think the mentality is that these players will be cheaper, but may also miraculously change their habbits... VDM, Jacobsen, Saha, Pistone, Valente, Davies... and even Lescott ? Lescott being the only one were this approach has worked.
As for your comments on Kirkby. They are straight out of Philip Green?s scandalous propaganda leaflet and to this day remain unsubstantiated nonsense.
You?re probably right, at the rate things are moving, Everton probably will be kicking off their first season in Kirkby in 2110.
Fortunately, by this time, Kirkby will be well within the boundaries of the sprawling Mersey metropolis, and the transport plan plan will be a piece of piss, as we?ll all be flying there in hydrogen powered flying cars.
The Liverpool franchise will have been moved to Ulaan Bataar for tax reasons (local support for the club will therefore rise by 3% against current levels), and the cybernetically preserve head of Rafa will ocassionally splutter into life to blame Alex Ferguson and the World Police for the conspiracy that has meant that LFC have STILL not won a league title since the 1980s.
Sorry, off at a bit of a tangent...
Plus as it?s all down to the inquiry now - pointless.
I have though been following the inquiry and am interested in who?s saying what and and how it all sort of..um..?works?
To be honest, It?s all a bit dull.
I?ve always liked movies about court cases - the debate and point-scoring, argument, counter-argument etc and I suppose I was hoping for a bit more of that.
The truth is, the whole thing lacks the drama of say a juicy court case.
(fair enough, different process, an inquiry not a court case)
Those moments you get in movies when a lawyer says..
"AHA! You said it was on Wednesday but the reciept shows CLEARLY it was a Tuesday!" (and everyone goes "Ooooh!!")
..don?t really happen.
Also, unlike in a court case, the term ?evidence? seems almost void in this process.
There are so many instances when council (for example) for the combined authorities will say something like "..and how is that finance to be raised?"
And the Everton feller will answer "that is confidential" or someone asks him..
"By your own figures, Isn?t it true that supporters could have to wait up to 90 minutes for a train" and the answer will come back "That?s not how we see it".
It?s all very wishy-washy and at no stage on any day (as far as I can remember) has the chair said "can you be more precise?" or "You MUST provide figures/evidence for this claim" or "your refusal to answer questions properly is making you look like a right shifty twat" ("OBJECTION! Leading the witness..er towards the truth!")
The first couple of weeks, when I read the official version and the Keioc reports, I thought, considering Everton want it so much, so much of what they have put forward is...well, piss-weak.
But now as I?m more familiar with how this thing works, I think given they?re (apparently) getting such an easy ride, maybe they think less (truth?) is more
I?ll be happy to concede my reading of this process is complete bollocks....IF Kirkby gets the heave-ho.
If it goes in favour of Everton/Tesco, consider me wise BEFORE the event.
I want none of the above but is it too much to ask a club of Everton's stature and position right now, to sign a couple of decent players! There is a lot of shit going on behind the scenes that would be enough to break your heart, never mind go wor or or or........
You may well be wise before the event...The scripts from this quasi-investigative process indicate that it may indeed be a rubber stamping process..
For instance, the investigation of the enabling fund ? the result of two days' cross examination [sic] ? was that nobody knew how it worked or were willing to divulge the information.
Now, obviously the guts of the proceedings are concerned with the outline planning remit of the boroughs... but you would?ve though that if they are going to spend a significant amount of time examining the funding of the stadium ? that someone would, at the very least have explained it!
The current climate alone suggests that it?ll unfortunately get the go ahead ? but 12 angry men it most certainly ain't!
My prediciton is we?ll make one signing each summer as long as Kenwright?s in charge unless we sell someone. The money for transfers will be funded from TV revenue ? that?s when we always sign people, when the SKY money clears.
I think I am agreeing with Steve above when I say it would be a bit shocking in the current economic context if the inquiry was to go against this development. We are now probably in the worst recession for a century, and one of the only companies in the country with any cash - Tescos - wants to spend some of it on a huge development in the increasingly depressed area of Kirkby.
And the Government is going to say, "no thanks, you are infringing some planning regulations and maybe lowering the sales of some shops in Liverpool city centre which are probably about to go under anyway..."? I don’t think so. Gordon Brown quite rightly would sell his mother to try to spark some economic activity.
Where that leaves Everton is hard to say. In the current environment I’m not sure where the £80M odd is going to come from. Tescos is the company with the cash, not us. Perhaps it really will come to the point of how much Tescos want Kirkby - and so how much they are prepared to help us. Of course if Tescos are hurting badly enough (Lidl etc. are certainly biting into them) they too may want an excuse to walk away from Kirkby.
We are skint
No cash for improving the team
No planning permission for Bellefield
but...
’’The Daily Post understands the loss of between £8m and £10m will not impact on the proposed move, as the club will now find the cash from other sources’’
If this isn’t another official fabrication - big if - why aren’t the club raiding the other sources for the team? Talk about arse-about priorites!
This case is perfect. £10M which the club expected to use for Kirkby has disappeared. Now, what do you expect them to say (especially in the middle of an inquiry)? Option one: "Well, that’s us fucked then! No way we can afford it now!" Option two: "This will not impact the proposed move, and we will now find the cash from other sources...". Option two perhaps?
Does this mean that this cash really exists or they have any real idea at this stage where it is going to come from? Of course not. Does it mean that the supposed cash could be used to buy, say, Aaron Lennon? Nope. Does it mean that some dreadfully evil lie or fabrication has just been perpetrated? Well, not unless you believe we are all living in heaven under some saintly requirements for absolute honesty and truth-telling.
I still think if the club had been open and honest and said, as Moyes has recently, that we are brassic and we can’t afford team strengthening they might have earned a bit more respect from the fans
As a battle-scarred survivor of both Whitehall and the private sector, I don’t think I’d like to mix in your business world, though
That may be just me and the result of having had honesty and decency beaten into me on a regular basis by Jesuits in my youth
Take even our old Davey Moyes. He’s asked at his conference today about Cahill, what should he say? Perhaps he knows that Timmy almost certainly won’t play tomorrow. Should he be a good Jesuit and tell the truth? Really?
Or perhaps he thinks: it will be better for us if I leave SAF guessing a bit. Maybe I’ll throw in some doubts about Fellaini too? That will leave him without a clear idea of what to expect. He’ll have no idea what to prepare for.
In my Catholic upbringing I remember something about really ’venal’ (bad) lies, and ’white lies’. All I am saying is that in the real world there really are a lot of the latter. I suppose I will stand corrected by those of you who only ever tell the whole truth and the absolute truth. Any takers?
Most Evertonians want
Kirkby thrown out
Kenwrght out... anyway possible (& legal)
Redevelop New Goodison Park
Without DK it will be incredibly hard to see anyone stepping in to remove BK so which do you go for?
For me it would be BK (and Goodison) as despite his failings at least his heart is in the right place ? unlike Kirkby.
And surely in the modern economic climate a new stadium outside the city is quite a big gamble for a club with no money?
I am slowly finding myself week in week out hoping more that someone seriously looks into a ground share for Liverpool and Everton. In the here and now it seems to me a way forward that needs serious exploration.
As for the transfer window that about to close. I can’t say I am not gutted about the fact we could well bring no one in. Driver from hearts i like as a player and if it is true we were interested, I wish we could have found the £1.5mil-2mil to sign him. If we don’t even have that, it no surprise loan signings won’t come off as even they need a fee these days.
But I suppose, on reflection, 6th in the table, some grand players at the club, things could be a lot worse.
Gordon Brown has promised to come to Goodison and wave his magic wand over the place. As soon as he?s back from Davos, he?ll be on the plane to meet with Kenwright and the Everton board. He aims to make Everton?s regeneration a top priority for his government and is sure to back Terry Leahy?s vital involvement.
Next week he?s going to rebuild the Great Wall of China out of toilet rolls.
I’m sorry Neil I want my club to act with proffessionalism and dignity whatever bluffs and mindgames there playing and to be honest they really are third rate at it.
I also see your spouting the same old crap without any real substance.
By the way never you responded to my last post on the whats wrong with LCC thread, I think that speaks volumes to me Neil.
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1 Posted 30/01/2009 at 07:13:22
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I do agree we need this option but £75M or whatever The liar has to fund this stadium could easily set the ball rolling on the gradual redevelopment of Goodison, our average this season will not exceed 34,000 and is that not the capacity during any redevelopement the ground would have ? FACT is any move Kirkby to will reduce that average even more ,so just where are these extra 20,000 fans coming from?and dont get me started on the corporate seats, we have one of the poorest fanbase in the land we cannot sell the few we have now, lets progress slowly, not gamble with our heritage, fanbase and in this climate our finances.