Season 2011-12
The Mail Bag
LFC Echo
Having just browsed the Echo online to see which players we haven't signed yet or if we still exist, given the paucity of column inches we recieve, I notice the Echo is doing one of it's legendary 24 page color pullouts again. Now we all know it won't be about Everton, don't we, yes it's called we won it 5 times, the redshites 5 euro wins, perhaps we should ask the Echo can we have one saying we won it 0 times because we were banned due to their thuggery.
Now, the point of this email ? and I have asked here previously ? can someone in the city please start a complete boycott of this paper and the Daily Post until we get some proper and fair coverage? The Echo were very quick to jump on Hicks and Gillette, and yet nothing negative on Kenwright destroying our club ? where is the balance?
A lot on here have accused Evertonians of apathy, some have said we have more class than doing demonstrations like the Sons of Shite did, and that's fair enough comment, but at least do something!
Unfortunately the masses follow the media, so if the media (The Echo) is forced into addressing the Everton issue by the fans boycotting it, then we have a result. This will then turn the blind ones who still think Kenwright is some sort of knight in shining armour, who saved us from PJ ? really?
£20M-ish in debt when he left; now £48M up to £85M depending on what you believe ? despite having spent jack shit on the ground or players, and also selling off or mortgaging every asset we have, plus selling virtually every player we have received a bid for... yes, he really saved us, didn't he!!
Please all Evertonians stop buying The Echo and the Daily Post, write letters in telling them why, sit back and wait for the reaction, when suddenly half of their readers stop buying... it will force them into doing something.
If you miss reading the footy pages, I will personally give you an update each day about Everton: Today we bought no one; stay tuned for tomorrow's update...
Thomas Williamson, Posted 08/07/2011 at 02:57:48
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
First, the Echo covers LFC more because, in the grand scheme of things, they are bigger than Everton. People around the world know Liverpool, they generally don't know Everton. Of course they're going to get more media coverage. It's like the New York media covering the Mets as much as the Yankees. Not going to happen because one is much more famous and wins a hell of a lot more than the other.
What exactly would you like the Echo to cover regarding Everton right now? One team is signing many players, the other is not. One is creating news, the other is not. It's their job to cover the news, and appeal to the story that will get the most readers. If people weren't interested they wouldn't be filling their pages.
And then on to comparing Hicks/Gillette to Kenwright. Sorry, not a fair comparison. Kenwright has his faults, mostly not being rich enough to buy the players Everton's supporters want. But he did not leverage the club into hundreds of millions in debt over just a year or two, leading to the team failing to qualify for the Champions League. Kenwright has Everton in debt, just as every club is, but it just isn't the same situation at all.
"Selling virtually every player we have received a bid for" ? just stop it. Everton actually has quite a strong core and is hardly constantly selling. But don't let facts get in the way of your ridiculous rant.
No, he's not a saviour, he's a business owner who isn't as rich as we'd like. But go ahead and try to drag the Echo down with you because you want them to leave their pages blank until Everton makes some news. Which, as you write in the last sentence, hasn't fucking happened.
Good God, you even live in Florida. It's not even your local paper but you still want to boycott it. Why don't I start a boycott of your Florida paper because they don't have enough LA Lakers news?
I`m not sure if you`re aware of whats going on over here at the moment, but the once noble profession of journalism is being dragged through the mud.
A disproportionate percentage our press is run by a foreigner who has managed to sleepwalk the British public into making him rich and powerful enough to have a succession of prime ministers in his arse pocket. Families of murdered children are going through further torture due to the actions of the people in his employment; no questions were asked.
Now we hear the families of young lads who have given their lives for this country are having their grief and privacy invaded. WTF?
Sure the Murdoch flagship sank yesterday, but rest assured another tatty little rag peddling the same tittle tattle and misery will be up and running before next Sunday comes around. Same shit newspaper, different name.
I know you didnt mean to draw comparisons, Thomas, but trust me, The Echo is the least of our problems. I`m not a reader, but I think when Everton do finally create a bit of news, we can all be confident they will print it.
If we really want to make a difference we should be talking about boycotting Sky TV and anything else associated with this empire.
Is it naive to dream of waking up tomorrow to find Sky TV no longer existed and the top flight in English football had once again become a level playing field?
Can we go back?
I stopped buying the Post/Echo when it moved production to Manchester; small minded perhaps but, if they can't invest in my city, I won't invest in them.
So that's alright then.
Football was a much better sport before Sky than the predictable dross afterwards.
If you want an example of poor journalism local to the club read this drivel:? http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/everton-fc/everton-fc-news/2011/07/08/david-prentice-why-there-is-no-need-for-an-everton-fc-revolution-100252-29016160/
Therefore, I don't think it's unreasonable for some equality in content, and one very big story that they are scared of writing every summer, is Everton's inability to strengthen its squad, and start asking questions of this board that the majority of posters on here and other forums ask daily.
The fact is that the Echo is a Liverpool paper & Liverpool is split right down the middle (some say there's more Evertonians in Liverpool than Reds), so we should expect them to cover both equally because their readership is split equally. I can understand a certain bias in a national newspaper, but not a local one. Surely the Echo currently have all the news they need about Liverpool without having to pad things out with a bizzarely timed article about their European Cup successes.
Even this site run by and inhabited by Evertonians is running out of ways to say the same thing:-
We're up shit creek without a paddle.
If we were newsworthy the media would be all over us.
If we played entertaining football we wouldn't be last on MOTD.
Unthinking martyrdom nonsense.
I don't have Sky as I don't want any money I spend going to any club other than EFC.
These are personal choices that I make and I'm sure News International won't be quaking in their boots. Having said that, my quality of life is no poorer for those choices.
However, I agree with many other posts on here that, as a club, we've got more to worry about than The Echo and Sky. My first "worry" is that we get our pre-season right for once and EFC deliver a full season rather than half a s season as they have done for past 5 years.
We got to talking about about their sports coverage and, on the basis of what I perceive as shit journalism, I asked whether she had much to do with the 'lazy journos' (King & Prentice) they employ. She said yes, both nice blokes, but have to tread really carefully over what they report as Everton are un cooperative at the best of times. (Conversely, it's a different story over at the darkside who can't do enough to accomodate!)
Moyes has, apparently, been known to throw hissy fits (no shit!) when asked searching questions and subsequently ask for the removal and banning of the journalist in question (à la SAF).
So it seems it's not only SAF and Murdoch that manipulate the press ? it's going on under our noses and to retain at least some relationship with the club, the Echo toe the party line. Hence perceived lazy journalism and and a seeming inability to ask anything beyond what next Satrday's team will be.
Christ, I know it's the summer and there is not much going on but, at the end of the day, it's just a local rag printing the biggest sports news currently happening at the minute.
I just read Prentice's piece of garbage about no need for revolution at Everton. I disagree as most of you do. Not because I view Kenwright as the same as Hicks and Gillette, but because Everton cannot and will not move forward under the current finances. It must change for us to have a chance to compete. Now if there is an organization this summer, with the stands filled with banners and waving scarfs a la Man U's current campaign, lets see how they cover it.
Kenwright is a very powerful man.
When gobshites like Phil McNulty, who talks shite most of the time, is chief football writer at the BBC and with the other assortment of so-called experts writing for the newspapers, I hardly think people are missing much if choosing to give them a wide birth.
Oh, forget it; I can't be arsed!
If I have a car ? a nice car ? that I purchased for £7k but now would like to sell it, how much is it worth?
Well that all depends if someone wants to buy it, doesn't it...?! If no-one wants to buy it... IT'S 'WORTH' FUCK ALL!!!
No-one wants to buy Everton FC, so we're better off with Blue Bill rather than no-one at the helm.
Black Bill leading us to the promised land or keeping the wolves from the door? You're having a laugh.
Totally invisible, along with the rest of the board, then suddenly appears gurning when we beat a team like Chelsea.
If BB knows that no-one wants to buy us, then himself and the other board members should be looking at ways of taking us forward
What exactly do Woods and Earl contribute to EFC???
FUCK ALL is the answer...
Oh, and Fuck the Echo and Prentice as well. Shite journalism and utterly boring.
Andy, here's the accurate comparison - what if every potential car-buyer has seen documentation saying that 'under no circumstances does Andy Callan want to sell his car'?
(Seriously, put a bit of effort in, follow what is actually going on and stick your shouty caps lock button up your tea-towel holder.)
I must have misunderstood the OP. I thought it was about boycotting a newspaper for not giving us the coverage we deserve, didnt realise The Murdoch empire was off limits.
We would not be better off with nobody at the helm because your buddy has infiltrated the club with anonymous "friends of EFC" and saddled us with debt.
They have systematically asset stripped the club and now they are selling off the squad to keep the banks from the door.
A bad policy is worse then no policy at all.
Other than Tom Slemen's column, the "Pink" section used to be the only worthwhile read, but even that grew tiresome. Chock-full of generic filler, predictably dull interviews, party-line press-release crap & increasing parochial bitchiness towards Manchester & that there London, quickly lost it's appeal.
However, I don't agree with Thomas, as overall I always found its coverage of the teams agreeably balanced.
It's summer, we ain't buyin' 'owt so would you rather have piss-poor speculation, or maybe an article on the GP bathroom colour scheme?
There's a hiatus for a good reason... fecking grow up!
It happens. Impact players for sure, but they come and they go.
Almost as bad as Merseyside, one morning when the odious red mare Linda McDermott was off ill, the news bit was read by a "Sha Reval" (sp) who,after banging on about the Shite, was about to do a piece on Everton when she stopped and said "Oh, I'm not allowed to mention those am I?" Whether she was making a point or was a bit dim and revealed what she'd been told I don't know, but it underlines all I've ever thought about the local "meeja". And that is all true. Sadly.
I boycotted the Echo in 1987 and never bought another one since. The day after Everton won the league, I, like many others, bought every paper, only to find The Echo's main footy page was filled with the headline Ian Rush going to Juventus, not the local team winning the league...
Oh no, not the Echo; this paper has had a blatant favourite for 30 years now, and we as Blues can put a stop to it by not buying it. If you don't agree, I appreciate that. I hope you enjoy the 24-page color pull-out next week.
Update today: we bought no one!!
In any pre-season, there are always players let go, receiving their first contracts and setting themselves targets. I have no idea if these kind of things have been covered by the Echo. I personally would like to hear more of our young players and youth teams if there is nothing happening on the first team front ? better that than Phil Neville's same old battle cry.
Please, please show me the match reports of when we won 5-0 and they lost 5-0. I need something to brighten up my day...
King Kenny this, King Kenny that... The RS had to put up with a few months of turmoil and once again came up smelling of roses.
Phil Neville is on today telling us we're aiming for Europe. That's not progress, that's taking us back to what we were doing 3 or 4 years ago. Progress would be getting to more cup finals and winning them and the Champions League. He does my head in that fella. They're out in Austria telling us how much of a great time they're having and what a great spirit they all have. Good for them. Doesn't get us anywhere though does it?
Gossip columns are nonsense but at least they offer hope and something to talk about over a pint. They don't even bother with us anymore.
Kenwright is nowhere to be seen. The Echo spend all their time and effort and on chasing LFC stories whilst pressing repeat on anything to do with Everton.
They're in a privileged position to ask questions that we're not. Why aren't they asking the questions? Questions like: David, why did you let your brother do business with that lot? Phil, don't you think Evertonians are sick of hearing you try to convince them you are a Blue when you think that top six is something they're proud of? Bill, where are you? Why aren't you speculating to accumulate? What has happened to the stadium plans? WTF went on with that Park End office block you tried to fob us off with? Who is taking responsibility for turning us in to the most boring football club in the country?
And whoever runs the website ? what makes you think we want to see videos of the kitman telling us what jokers Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert are? ? So what? Why are we bothered if they're havin a great laugh out in Austria when they're both shit and have never won a thing.
have a look at jon #38 and go and ask those questions, and add a few more from above, have some balls man and become a JOURNALIST for again....
Boy did Prentice jump in with both feet on his article, anyone who had doubts about my article won't now, following Prentice's piece. It displays all what we have come to expect from the Echo, patronising rubbish, smooth over this and smooth over that, there you go, have a nice pat on the head and run back to where you belong... it is shocking.
We don't ask for much ? unlike the inbreds across the park; that doesn't mean we have to accept being trodden down though. Keep up the fight, Everton are worth fighting for, it is all a big part of our lives.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.


1 Posted 08/07/2011 at 04:03:37
Report abuse
And remember, it was only last season that the Echo was banned from Finch Farm and Goodison for writing something negative about the Board, so don't expect them to do it again anytime soon.