Season 2011-12 Fan Articles
Kenwright ruining The People's Club
By Matt Chesterman :: 19/07/2011
42 Comments (»Last)
Over the last few weeks and months I have been closely but quietly monitoring the progress and rumours and opinions surrounding our club. A club which was once described as "The Peoples Club".
Although I have been concerned previously, and always had a hint of jealousy over other clubs and their spending powers, I have been happy with how the Moyes era has progressed Everton Football Club. When David came in, we appeared to be going nowhere and now we have consistently been in the top half and competed with other clubs.
Despite not being flush with the money and marquee signings over the years, we had always seemed to have the ability to sign a good player, spend bit of money, and appear to be progressing. The signings of Yakubu (many years ago now), Fellaini, and Arteta amongst others always gave us that bit of excitement going into a season that we had these new players to look forward to.
Now not only is it nice for the fans to look forward to new players but the replacement of deadwood or older players is essential, not only to remain challenging for Europe, but to remain in the top flight.
I must say however that right now I am VERY VERY concerned about what us happening with our Club. The reasons this has suddenly hit home are set out below:
Firstly, we have no information coming out of the club. No-one appears to be letting the fans know what is going on or what the plans are. If I remember correctly, towards the back end of last season, senior players were coming out to say they were expecting a number of big new players at Everton this season. This has not happened, and Moyes seems reluctant (weather on orders to remain silent by BK or not) to comment on if he has money to spend.
At no point has any Director or other senior member of staff tried to reassure us the fans, the heart and blood of the club, what is going on. If this truly was The People's Club or The Fans Club, we should know what is happening, what the true financial situation is, what BK's real plans are for the Club. Quite frankly, I am have had enough and this ongoing saga with EFC is making me lose any confidence in the Club I love.
What is BK up to? Why ? despite a number of other clubs (Blackburn, City, Sunderland, Villa, West Ham, Liverpool) all finding new investment ? have Everton have failed to do so? Now I know not all these buyouts have succeeded, but surely very few of them are in a worse place than Everton right now.
I think everyone knows we have a good side (or at least starting 11) and, yes, we have finished highly within the league in a number of recent seasons. But what happens when we lose the likes of Fellaini, Arteta, Baines and Cahill & Neville come to the end of their careers? How are we going to replace these players if we can't buy one single player now?
I feel that there are a number of questions that need answering: Why are we not able to find buyers? Why are we not able to invest in players? What are we going to do when we have to replace players? Where has the money gone from Yak, Yobo, Vaughan deals?
We sell players, move people off the wage bill and still appear to be unable to finance any deals for new players. For the Club to remain competitive we have to renew deadwood, update what we have etc. Now I am not saying we need to do a Man City or copy Liverpool and spend millions on anyone and everyone, but we do need fresh faces. And the buck stops with Mr Kenwright.
Quite frankly I think is about time something is done; somehow we need to force BK's hand; somehow we need to take action and put pressure on BK to do what is right for our club. We as fans need to make sure Bill Kenwright knows he is not wanted or welcome at Everton Football Club, and if he is a fan, he needs to do what's best and move on.
It is no thanks to Kenwright that sides like Stoke and Bolton have more spending power than the once great Everton Football Club.
Reader Comments (42)
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2 Posted 19/07/2011 at 15:43:01
What is the saying? I'm bored with this question.
3 Posted 19/07/2011 at 15:45:35
As far as making BK "Do what's right for the club" ? Well you have me on that one, no-one can, it appears, make him do anything. He lives in his own little bubble of self appreciation; he refuses to even acknowledge there is a problem at the club. His silence is damning to the point that he is acting like a spoilt child, sulking because he has been refused the latest must have toy.
4 Posted 19/07/2011 at 16:01:45
Blackburn have been told by the banks to start paying back the overdraft and the owner at Birmingham has been nicked for fraud... but they have both been bought out!!!
The reason we have heard nothing from the club is quite simply there is nothing to tell; no-one's made a bid for any of our players except Yobo and we have no money to buy any... What would you like them to say??
6 Posted 19/07/2011 at 16:21:37
7 Posted 19/07/2011 at 16:39:55
Elstone is not lying when he says that 85% of our income is re-invested in the players, that is the existing players which therefore means we are paying far too much in wages. Our strategy is unsustainable!
There are 2 ways in which we can generate funds for transfers, first is the dream of new owners willing to plough money in at the own expense (it could happen but seems unlikely); the second is inside our control, and is to generate profits.
How, well we simply have to sell some of our players and move the higher paid of the wage bill, bringing in younger lower paid talent.
It's a risk but frankly we don't have a choice!
8 Posted 19/07/2011 at 16:43:50
9 Posted 19/07/2011 at 16:50:20
Amen brother.
Would people rather receive the mundane Neville soundbites or silence? I know which I prefer.
10 Posted 19/07/2011 at 17:14:04
Much as i dislike Kenwright i'd rather we spent nothing than continued to pile on debts by taking loans we can never pay back.
Basically, nothing looks like its gonna change so i don't see how a fan revolt is going to help, its not going to magic up investors and its not going to make Billy sell if he don't want to.
11 Posted 19/07/2011 at 17:59:04
12 Posted 19/07/2011 at 18:17:13
Craig do yourself a favour if Dispatches surprised you, look up BCR Sports, look up Green's involvement as a non director (Rooney sale and Wyness's silence), think about the wages saved from the departure of Gosling last summer and Pienaar's wages and Yobo's wages for a season and Yobo and Vaughan's wages from January to the end of the season plus the fee and saved wage from Vaughan since his sale and how many players we have bought.
FFS my cousin's son was bought by Stockport County who aren't even in the league anymore so even they have spent more money than Everton.
Expect no signings, expect nothing whilst Agent Kenshite and his friend of the club Green are at the controls.
13 Posted 19/07/2011 at 17:48:41
I still say a focus other than incompetence (dire as that is) is needed to flush Billy and co. to the surface.
14 Posted 19/07/2011 at 19:04:51
Maybe Bill is actually trying to protect Everton instead of selling to someone from the far east with only short term personal goals in mind.
15 Posted 19/07/2011 at 19:35:14
16 Posted 19/07/2011 at 20:03:01
I bet he doesn't even know the words to Z-cars!!!
17 Posted 19/07/2011 at 22:23:53
Personally, I'm happy with what we have ? at least there will be no need for a 'settling-in' process!
18 Posted 19/07/2011 at 22:47:34
I would still prefer our squad to that of Stoke or Sunderland. We know we have limitations but we also know we have the ability and the experience to finnish top 4-7.
21 Posted 20/07/2011 at 01:06:10
Absotively, Dean. We shouldn't even hope for better, let alone expect or demand it. After all, there's clearly no room for improvement in the performance of players, manager & coaches, or of our Board ?thank goodness they're not interested in selling the club, but will instead maintain their commitment to providing the leadership & drive to continue moving this club forward as they have for the last few years.
22 Posted 20/07/2011 at 07:45:18
Yes we are still better than the like of Stoke and Sunderland but the issue is while we sit still accepting our lot they are improving their squads each year.
You can only tread water for so long before one of those hungry ambitious clubs catch us and push us down the table.
It won't happen this season but if we continue to happily accept the board's current strategy it is a certainty for the future.
The moment we start accepting mediocrity and not thinking like a big club the sooner we will become a little one.
23 Posted 20/07/2011 at 09:08:49
We all want Kenwright gone, we all want the fabled billionnaire but it is wrong to suggest that we are all happy with where we are now, we have just realised that no amount of bitching or moaning on a forum will change the fact that we have a dope of a chairman who is skint.
24 Posted 20/07/2011 at 09:18:29
We are branded a selling club because.
We sell players to survive and service our debt.
Not because those players are surplus to requirements and improvement is needed in the respective positions.
25 Posted 20/07/2011 at 09:28:20
New day, some old anti-BK, sack the board, we have no money.
Pick another subject FFS!!!
27 Posted 20/07/2011 at 09:56:02
Anybody with anything to say has already said it, probably a hundred times over the past few years.
Personally I cant wait for the football to start.
28 Posted 20/07/2011 at 10:19:31
You are right - this is not a new subject. But for many of us this is a major problem that is, in my case at least, scaring us witless as we see an inevitable decline with no strategy from the Board to stem it.
Worse yet, there are no answers or communications from the board and everything they try goes tits up or brings no tangible benefit to the club (eg Park End development, hiving off of retail etc etc).
WIth that in mind, when we ask the questions and no answers are forthcoming, what are we to do? Shrug our shoulders, say "oh ok" and move on, reassured by silence and being ignored?
So until we get answers, we should continue with this type of article, sharing these concerns with fellow blues and spreading the word that things must change, whether this is an old issue or not.
29 Posted 20/07/2011 at 11:20:28
I agree with you. There are - it seems - some new regular visitors to toffeeweb, and the more they know about these matters the better (myself included).
Evertonians4Change, The People's Group and Trust Everton are all driving towards change at the club (in different ways and with different goals).
The latter may soon ask people like myself, Chris and Matt (OP) to - in a way - buy into the club.
The more we know the better. If others know these subjects inside out, there's no need to read the post or the replies, no?
30 Posted 20/07/2011 at 12:45:51
What the fuck would you like your fellow blues talk about?
How great it is having no money to even pay the wages of a loan signing?
How brilliant things are drifting for from one Stadium fuckup to another (Kings Dock->Dest. Kirkby->Park End Development)?
How fantastic our chairman has been during the 11 years of his reign in bringing in new investment?
Or how about the subject of the scrapping of AGMs (they were overrated anyway) and the general excellent lines of communication with the fans?
Finally, a great topic could be the exciting businessplan/strategy for taking the club forward our board has so clearly set out?
Take your pic - i'm sure someone out there will write a nice little article just for you.
32 Posted 20/07/2011 at 13:05:10
33 Posted 20/07/2011 at 13:47:01
34 Posted 20/07/2011 at 15:43:28
Read what i wrote. Those other clubs sell players and then spend the return on OTHER players.
We sell players because we have to in order to BALANCE the books.
There is a world of difference between the two.
The other big clubs will STRENGTHEN.
We just get WEAKER in squad numbers and quality.
35 Posted 20/07/2011 at 16:51:07
Did we not secure Tim Howard off the back of the Rooney deal?
Sure, not every penny was spent on players but we did strengthen using the money from those deals.
36 Posted 20/07/2011 at 17:22:10
37 Posted 20/07/2011 at 19:47:03
Just because you think something does not make it fact. Your comments are a little adolescent if you want my opinion, which is what I was stating. I still believe what we have is better than what you percieve to be better.
Shay Given, well he was a good keeper but that does not maen that he will concede less than Howard. AS for several sides overtaking us, well they have not done so in the last five years but apparently according to your view, that s irrelevant.
I don't know this Pavone character, has he set the prem league on fire to date? Well anyone can speculate but that does not make it fact, does it?
Name the four or five teams, then we will see at the end of the season.
38 Posted 21/07/2011 at 08:25:33
So you think that buying Howard due to the sale of Rooney is strengthening ?
Where did the rest of the Rooney money go ?
39 Posted 21/07/2011 at 12:01:51
The bubble will burst. A lot of clubs could burst with it. Look at villa, they had money thrown at the team and ended up with a bunch of players who have all jumped at the chance to move on because they are not doing any better than previously.
Move on.
Support the team, the board and the people.
40 Posted 21/07/2011 at 12:18:03
41 Posted 21/07/2011 at 13:03:02
The teams will start again from scratch and a level playing field may ensue....nurse. nurse
42 Posted 24/07/2011 at 20:06:28
As for Bolton and Stoke spending more ? one, I don't think so (wage costs included); two, who will finish higher? We will; three, no sane man would swap our squad for either of theirs.
You just like whingeing and have no contact with reality.
43 Posted 25/07/2011 at 21:04:37
Also, given the names we are being linked with, I'd rather keep the players we have than sell Jagielka or Rodwell to obtain say N'Zogbia.
44 Posted 26/07/2011 at 01:13:23
The Americans across the park who have just let Dalglish spend £100m?
Yeah,let's keep BK 'in control' and watch our club stuff a long painful death under this so-called 'True Blue'.
45 Posted 26/07/2011 at 23:20:35
Downing? I wouldn't have him at Everton. Always thought he might be worth a punt, but he's never stood up to the hype and is going to be just another Joe Cole. Not worth the money. No way, and he won't drastically improve them. Too many midfielders. Doglead's going to have fun juggling that lot.
Let's assume the league finishes Utd, City, Chelsea, 4th really is up for grabs. Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal... Same old same old. But, if they finish 6th, you think the yanks will give them another £100 million?
46 Posted 26/07/2011 at 23:29:13
I actually think the new ones over the park may have something about them.
BUT.... The american economy is seriously in a lot of trouble. The banks won't be shy asking for any money back.
47 Posted 27/07/2011 at 01:05:03
I'd have any of them ahead of this clown Kenwright we're lumbered with. I litreally take any of them just to se the back of BK. I detest the man.
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1 Posted 19/07/2011 at 15:37:32
I have supported EFC since 1948 and have NEVER experienced a period when we have no money to buy or compete in the transfer market.
Every club MUST have some sort of budget to buy players when needed because these are our assets.
We lent out a whole football team last year basically to reduce our wage bill and we brought in no one.
There are teams in divisions BELOW us who are active in the transfer market.
We have good gates, better than most clubs and we finish higher than a lot of the clubs who are actively trying to strengthen their squads.
WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE??? I cannot accept the situation and I am angry as well as frustrated!!