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What More Could Everton Do?

I?ve read on here a number of great things our beloved club could do, to both more involve and/or communicate to the fans and supporters; however, we are often left annoyed at the lack of communication back from the club.

I hope to be able to alleviate some of that annoyance as, after much trying, I have the contact details of someone who seems interested in resolving any complaints, issues and ideas.

An example of this is this morning I read on TW that the Wolfsburg friendly was listed incorrectly and my contact was able to change this in less than 30 mins.

I would now be interested to see if we can make our great club even better by getting further ideas and issues implemented or resolved. Please can you make your requests and see how far we can go...
Alastair Bates, Warwick Posted 16/07/2010 at 10:47:36

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Graham Holliday
1 Posted 16/07/2010 at 14:57:06

I emailed the Media Team to suggest they add contract expiry dates to the player profiles section of the website.

They never got back to me, but I suspect this is because I emailed them the day before the Dan Gosling story broke!

Reckon it would be beneficial for them though, maybe someone might have emailed the club to tell them if the info had been in the public domain!

Alex Kociuba
2 Posted 16/07/2010 at 16:02:01

Surely the best suggestion is for a "What More Could Everton Do?" section on their website. All the suggestions get sent to your mysterious helpful club contact.

Alex Kociuba
3 Posted 16/07/2010 at 16:04:19

Unless, of course, Alastair, you are from the club and this post IS the What More Could Everton Do? suggestion effort :)

Chris Wilson
4 Posted 16/07/2010 at 15:50:51

I don't get to experience a full season at Goodison like a lot of you guys, but I do hear some folks complain about their experience; concessions running out of products, inadequate restroom facilities, rude and disinterested stewards and staff. Now some of those things like the bathrooms probably can't be corrected, but the club can control (at least I think they can) the concession and souvenir stocks, and they can certainly hire enthusiastic staff members that are helpful and polite.

James Flynn brought up Major League Baseball as a comparison to the EPL in another thread and I've always thought the two sports paralleled each other. It made me recall the one time I got to see a game at Yankee Stadium. I don't remember the stadium facilities ? what restrooms were like, if the paint was peeling, if the seats were comfortable; I remember the concession guy launching hotdogs with pinpoint accuracy to fans in their seats, singing songs and telling jokes; I remember and still have the souvenir cup that I got with my soda, and I remember the Yankee cap I got at Yankee stadium ? the only place you should get a Yankee cap.

The club should do what they can to make the matchday experience memorable because the club needs the fan revenue and, if you can't rebuild Goodison or build a new stadium, then make sure I have a friendly person directing me to my seat, make sure that I'll be able to get a Cornish pasty at halftime, and make sure I'll be able to buy my Everton jersey in the shop.

Gavin Ramejkis
5 Posted 16/07/2010 at 16:31:46

The concessions in the Park End are a shambles, many fans get up early to get a half-time pint knowing it will take them most of half-time to get served. I gave up counting the times they have ran out of simple things like sausage rolls less than two minutes into half-time, having been lucky enough to get near the front of the queue.

Other items they sell are inedible ? dogmeat pie, anyone? I say dogmeat as the smell alone would put me off eating it. I've simply given up on refreshments at half-time, bringing my own flask of coffee with a good nip of Bailey's in it. The concessions are done on the cheap and it really shows.

James Flynn
6 Posted 16/07/2010 at 16:25:22

Something Chris said brought an idea to mind. The parallel to Goodison in baseball is The RedSox Fenway Park in Boston. The similarities are dramatic. Fenway is a century old stadium, that up until about 9-10 years ago faced so many of the concerns and complaints about Goodison. Run-down, poor food, surrounding streets not fan-friendly, no room for expansion/new stadium.

Now, there remains no room for a new ballpark. Like Liverpool, Boston is an old city with real estate at a premium or already occupied. But all the other areas were addressed (food, service, cleanliness, streets surrounding Fenway Park, etc). So the Red Sox didn't move an inch but turned the park and immediate surrounding area into an enormous cash cow. And not over so many years. They did it right away.

So, my suggestion is for ownership to look at, and use as a template, what the Red Sox did with Fenway Park.

Of course don't stay around anything Red Sox too long. We have enough "Whoa is me" here at ToffeeWeb already. If starting at shadows and whining about the team constantly are diseases, Red Sox fans are definately carriers; the biggest pack of cry-babies in sports. Bar none.

However, ownership turned a major financial disadvantage of a shithole stadium, into all but permission to print money. Super impressive and Goodison is basically Fenway Park up to about the year 2001.

Jay Harris
7 Posted 16/07/2010 at 16:54:41

Alastair you could certainly help me.

I contacted evertontv support after logging in to say I could not get Everton TV to work and with the Aussie games as advertised coming up I was anxious to get it on.

Now that was over 5 days ago and I know my annual subscription is due about now but every other year it has renewed automatically.

If I miss the 3rd game tomorrow and it is a renewal issue then I won't be renewing so that will be another dissatisfied customer.

My email for direct contact is orchard25@hotmail.com.

Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

Mike McLean
8 Posted 16/07/2010 at 17:22:21

Alastair... the use of the word "restroom" in connection with the G P bogs had me rolling in the aisles. Thank you for that.

Trevor Lynes
9 Posted 16/07/2010 at 17:15:56

The total ineptitude at how the 'Gosling' fiasco was allowed to take place has STILL had no explanation from EFC. The money he was worth should at least have been given to DM to use for team strengthening. SOMEONE must have had the responsibility of taking care of the club assets (ie, the squad members) and making sure our great club would not be left with so much egg on its face... but then again, the usual stupid events that seem to ensure our season gets off to its normal poor start kick in, and the supporters are left in the dark.

We are always short of squad members due to injury or failure to replace players who have been allowed to go and I have never seen any other Premier League team start a season with a bench of teenagers as was the case a couple of years ago.

If the writer of this article has access to 'someone' who is prepared to answer this type of question... then I for one would LOVE IT!!

Chris Butler
10 Posted 16/07/2010 at 17:23:02

I'm sorry but why would you want to buy food or a pint in the ground anyway? The pints are warm and the choice of food isn't the best. You can hardly complain about catering or pubs around GP. As I've said, a trip to GP nowadays is unsatisfactory on many levels. Just writing this piece makes me think of what proper lager should taste like and what a warm very expensive Chang tastes like. Everton need to get their act together.

Brendan O'Doherty
11 Posted 16/07/2010 at 18:45:46

Alastair,

It was me who mentioned the erroneous Wolfsburg listing, so well done for getting that changed before someone pitched up at GP for the game. The whole web thing needs looking at though, because it can be a nightmare experience at times. Often the links to the articles are wrong, and pages are missing.

Similarly, ETV support can be problematic as Jay was saying above. If you have a problem they send you one of their template e-mails with details of steps you can take to rectify your issue, but it often appears that they didn't bother reading your e-mail to them properly.

Finally the catering and queues for it, which invariably mean you miss the start of the 2nd half of matches. On Cup Final day last year, I turned up at GP for the 'live screening' as I couldn't get ticket for the final. It was a baking hot day so I thought I would treat myself to a nice cool pint of Chang before the game. It was advertised at £3.80 for a 660 mL (plastic) glass, which is a good bit over a pint. What I got was a glass of warm tinned Chang (not even chilled despite the 30 degree heat), filled up to the three-quarter mark, and the other quarter was frothy head. £3.80. Disgusting. Never again.

Tony McNulty
12 Posted 16/07/2010 at 19:59:29

Trevor (#9)

It only just hit me: maybe no-one at the club has yet realised that Gosling has gone.

Alan Clarke
13 Posted 16/07/2010 at 20:44:30

James Flynn, you sound like a Liverpool fan when you go on all high and mighty about the Red Sox. I follow the Red Sox and there are a lot more parallels than the ground like losing our best players to our nearest rivals (Ruth and Boggs). The Red Sox are a great team who have spent many years in "the basement" because of inept management. The Red Sox fans, similarly to Everton fans, know their history and know where their team belongs and are rightly pissed off when they're not where they should be ? competing for major honours.

Alistair, how about Kenwright starts telling us why he fucked up on Gosling's contract? Perhaps he could tell us more about why he made that ridiculous 'exclusivity' agreement with Tescos? Maybe, Kenwright could explain why he's never found any investment... and what the hell is Green's involvement in our club?

James Flynn
14 Posted 16/07/2010 at 21:08:05

Alan (13) - Really, that's what you got out of my post? When you're sober in the morning, re-read it.

Alan Clarke
15 Posted 16/07/2010 at 21:31:12

James, you're always bitching about the Red Sox on here. Nearly every post you write relates to their "Whoa is me" fans. As a follower of the Red Sox, I just thought I'd stick up for their fans.

James Flynn
16 Posted 16/07/2010 at 21:52:23

Alan (15) - Re-read your Post 13 to make sure. I'm sure. I'll go back and forth with you when you're sober. Rather, I'll respond to your posts tomorrow.

Dick Fearon
17 Posted 16/07/2010 at 21:54:36

Should Everton's ? or, for that matter, all other clubs' ins and outs of the cat's arse be officially and truthfully known, there would be a greatly reduced role for web sites such as TW. Just imagine what kind of a dry demystified (is that a real word) world we would have. I for one would not wish for a world where everything is presented as cold hard unarguable fact.

Wayne Berson
18 Posted 17/07/2010 at 00:48:45

James / Alan, I'm sure there is a Red Sox site somewhere for you to debate this! :-D

Again, I can't wait for the season to start again.....

John Daley
19 Posted 17/07/2010 at 02:44:49

Could you ask your inside man to get Yakubu fitted with a gastric band?

Derek Thomas
20 Posted 17/07/2010 at 02:54:10

Dick Fearon and others, ANY cold had fact aka the' truth' would be welcome.

We are the ultimate mushrooms.

I am off to SunCorp Stadium tonight and I shall view the whole thing: pre-match, the game itself, and the post match.

Item 1: there is only one program for the tour games and it covers all three matches.

More anon...

Tony Ateman
21 Posted 17/07/2010 at 10:35:36

What does my head in is that the volume of Everton TV is far too low. OK, I'm deaf as a post. Pump up the volume, it spoils my experience. Anyone finding it too loud can always turn it down.

Tony I'Anson
22 Posted 17/07/2010 at 10:29:51

Alastair, a number of trusted TW contributors have copies of documents I presented to Everton to consider last year. It involved risky plans for business fans to get involved with hard cash and "do more" than debate on TW. I was informed after some months that the ideas would not be progressed by Everton, which is why the documents were circulated in the highest confidence. They involved "risk", but with this comes potential great rewards too.

After circulating the proposals to a small number of fans, the feedback was generally postive but nothing has happened since. Feel free to ask Michael to forward to you, so long as the details are not posted anywhere. We don't want our friends across the park using them as part of their "Spirit of Shankly" efforts.

David Hallwood
23 Posted 17/07/2010 at 13:16:46

James, once again an interesting piece @ #6; it is always beneficial to know the experiences from another country.

The trouble with this country is that it isn't a 'can do' country like the USA ? more ?no chance?. It would appear that the only option left to us is to redevelop GP. Now that isn't a bad option, however the footprint needs to be expanded, and right away there would be complaints and objections from all and sundry.

One of the ways of doing this would be to buy up some of Stanley Park and divert Walton Lane, however there would be an immediate response of either ?You?re proposing to divert a road!!? and you may as well ask for a parting of the Red Sea; or Stanley Park has been here for x amount of years and you wish to desecrate it? The only other option would be to extend into Goodison Road, and the terraced streets that run off it, and every one of us, regardless of age would be dead and buried and the objections would still be flying thick and fast.

This is the main reason why I was reluctantly in favour of DK because, as James points out, Liverpool is an old, settled city where space is at a premium and it?s difficult to find a location that is a) suitable and/or b) would not be hit with a flurry of objections.

Where do we go from here? ? Pass.

Simon Jenkins
24 Posted 17/07/2010 at 16:55:20

Trevor (#9) and Tony (#12) - Darren Griffiths briefly broached the Gosling situation during commentary on the Brisbane vs Everton game today. He said that he can only repeat what Moyes said, in reply to a journalists' question on the subject the other day: 'The club will make a statement in due course'.

This may well be due to an impending appeal, that the club may or may not be about to submit.

The fact that Gosling's squad number has been given to Magaye Gueye and that Gosling isn't listed in the squad list for next season suggests that the club are aware he has left, aren't too thrilled about it, but are not yet commenting for rather sensible reasons.

Henry Jones
25 Posted 18/07/2010 at 00:23:45

Alastair;

I am a fully qualified contract solicitor having worked at one of the world's largest law firms.

I know Everton have been using a law firm in England which has just been made Insolvent. Proof that the firm wasn't the best to use! I now work for myself but would happily help my Club (Everton) improve in its legal department and perhaps start an in-house team as the current solicitors have provided very poor advice and support up until now (see Gosling for example).

Pease pass on my details as I'd be glad to help (henrydylanjones@yahoo.co.uk).

Furthermore, I'd like to add that the matchday experience can always be improved, especially for the young supporters.

I'd also llike to see an improvement in the Executive Away trips (previous seasons ? European trips) as I tried and tried to take clients on an Official Package but received no support or returned phone calls from the Club. Thus the Club lost out on further monies as per the everyone else's comments.

James Flynn
26 Posted 18/07/2010 at 00:43:57

Wayne (18) - Of course you're right. That bunch is just so easy to tweak, I couldn't resist. Notice how he completely ignored what I was getting at to do the very thing I said those fans do? Hahaha.

What's not a joke, though, is the incredible turn-around the Red Sox ownership did with a facility and situation so like Goodison's.

Alastair asks for suggestions. I think making the "Entire" Goodison experience a good one be uppermost. Certainly, that starts with a competitive team. Of course. But we have one.

Deferential service, good, available while I'm sitting watching, eats? These should part as much a normal part of going to the game as seeing grass on the pitch and players running around on it.

James Flynn
27 Posted 18/07/2010 at 01:18:57

David (23) - I haven't been to Goodison, of course, but even with the sometimes-necessary hyperbole adjustment applied to what's said in ToffeeWeb, it seems the amenities at the Park aren't what they should be. And if that's so, which I don't want to think, it's almost a sin sports-franchise-wise.

I mean outside of our jobs, where do people block out a specific time every year, then go to voluntarily in huge numbers to sit together, watch something, and willingly pay to do so? If you think about it, where really besides team sports.

If ever there are 10s of thousands of folk ready to spend money, it's at sporting events. I hate to think the EFC Braintrust isn't taking full advantage of this. Remember, we supporters love the idea that the money we spend supporting the team goes into making the team even better.

I suggest the Boston Red Sox facility situation to Alastair because it's essentially the American twin of the Goodison facility situation. "Pockets to let" doesn't apply. Fixing the amenities isn't overhead, it's investment. Especially at Goodison when Moyes have assembled the team ready to do some things in 2010-2011.

Ron Marr
28 Posted 18/07/2010 at 04:31:31

Boston Red Sox are the only MLB in a population area (New England) of 10 million plus. It's easy for them to sell out the stadium and they get a huge chunk of change from local cable tv (same as New York). Within a ~40 mile radius are Everton, Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan, all competing for entertainment pounds.

I've never been to Fenway Park but I was an Oakland As season ticket holder for 20 years from 1986-2006. The Oakland Coliseum was ruined when the Raiders moved back to Oakland and built Mt Davis. Anyway I would put up with the crap stadium but for the ownership. The As majority owner is John Fisher (Gap, Old Navy etc.) who according to Forbes is the 3rd richest owner but unlike Steinbrenner or John Moores "provides" very little money for the team for new players.

Anyway, I'm really excited about the upcoming season; FSC had a replay of the January game against Citeh yesterday. I've got the Blackburn and Fulham games still on my Tivo.

I hope we can sign Landon Donovan. I'd like some more speed to back up the defense, maybe Onuha, he's supposed to be one of the fastest defenders in the league. Maybe Lescott is available for a couple of mill. ;-)

Stephen Kenny
29 Posted 18/07/2010 at 09:30:23

Alastair,

One thing that always occurs to me on match days is the appearance of GP from the outside. The cladding around the ground makes it look rough as fuck and would be relatively cheap to sort out and present a much fresher image.

Everyone is quick to push the 'tired old stadium' bollocks but inside our ground is full of character even if some of the toilets are a problem, and the pies aren't great. We should really start to market ourselves as a club that upholds English football traditions and isn't selling out to foreigners etc, and tidying the old lady up would really help with this.

Stephen Kenny
30 Posted 18/07/2010 at 09:44:13

It was a massive wrench not to address that post to Master Bates!

Michael Brien
31 Posted 18/07/2010 at 15:09:07

Stephen ? some interesting comments about Goodison. I agree with what you said about the character of our home ground. This was brought home to me from talking to one of my friends who is a Gooner; he has told me that, although The Emirates may have a bigger capacity than Highbury (although originally Highbury could hold 60,000+), he still wishes Arsenal's home ground was Highbury ? more character!!!

A redevelopment over a long period of time, incorporating some sort of Everton museum, might be a good idea. And the possible recladding/redesigning of the outside of the stadium would be a good starting point.

Alastair Bates
32 Posted 19/07/2010 at 08:39:21

Just reading through some of these and I have already got answers on some:

Alex Kociuba (2 & 3); No unfortunatly I dont work for EFC however much I would love to, like so many on here.

Trevor Lynes (9); I too wanted to know about the lack of info regarding Dan Gosling and had an idea it might be to do with a legal stance and I was correct as the official answer is "On Dan Gosling we cannot make a comment until so advised by our legal representatives. News agencies are not involved in the process ? as the Club (in certain circumstances) anything we say or do can have an impact." God knows what impact as I don't think many fans would welcome him back if the appeal is upheld and we would not get much value for him as clubs understand we have to just get rid of him.

Jay Harris (7); I hope it got sorted but will ask the question.

Working my way through some good ideas. On the catering side I pretty much think that the club like so many others have sold / rented the areas to catering companies and have little influence over stock levels as the catering company will have stocks they can not be throwing away. Please, this is not me saying what happens and that they should not do more, it's just a thought and I will ask the question.

Gavin Ramejkis
33 Posted 19/07/2010 at 08:55:12

David (#23); on the Bullens Road side you have a school earmarked for closure and at the Park End a scabby car park which could both be encroached upon with extended building, the latter with greater ease even incorporating underground parking to replace that which is there. This would make the Park End a triple-tiered stand of significant size and incorporate greater hospitality to replace the crappy marquee... Christ, even a hotel given the footprint. The trouble is twofold: money... and the will to do it ? neither of which are present in the current board who have in black and white stated they are not willing to invest their own money into the club or dilute their shareholdings to raise revenue to do so.

Alastair Bates
34 Posted 19/07/2010 at 08:54:14

I?ve now quickly read through all the posts and predominantly the area of concern is GP. Not surprising really as it's the reason the hierarchy want to move, and the fact that Robert Elstone confirmed to the Kirkby enquiry that the club has invested little if no money in GP since the Park End was built. I'll forward a roundup of comments regarding GP to my contact to get at least a response.

With regards to the specific issues from Brendan O'Doherty (11), Jay Harris (7) & Tony Ateman (21) regarding evertonfc.com & evertontv, I will specifically ask if these are known issues and to get them resolved as these sound like quick wins for the club.

For those of assistance, Henry Jones (25), and business plans, Tony I'Anson (22), I will direct my contact to yourselves and ask if the club has looked into these avenues.

Thanks all and keep them coming.

Tony I'Anson
35 Posted 19/07/2010 at 11:02:34

Alastair, Everton said they were not going to pursue the proposals direct to me over the telephone. I'm easy to find if you want to email me direct.

Eric Myles
36 Posted 19/07/2010 at 11:47:00

Alastair, one thing you can do is to remind them of the 15 days time limit on the Gosling appeal. Wouldn't want to miss out on him TWICE, would we?

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