An afternoon with an Everton Legend

I was one of the fair few Evertonians who attended the latest Blue Union meeting at The Casa on Saturday. With my pint in hand, I happily spent a couple of hours of my afternoon cramped in the events room with around 100-150 other Blues (rough estimate) as we gathered round to listen the guest speaker.

The meeting began with KEIOC’s Colin Fitzpatrick taking us through the history of the club’s finances. Colin explained, using a series of slides of our accounts, how the club has become asset-stripped since Bill Kenwright took over. Our original balance sheet in 1999 valued the club overall at £20M. Now, in the latest accounts, as of 2012 we are now worth –£44M (that’s negative!) and we do not own our training ground or any of our club’s shops.

Our Kitbag deal was compared in detail to the deals of other Premier League clubs with their suppliers. Liverpool, from their deal with Warrior, make approximately £150M over ten years which guarantees them £15M a season. Even West Brom were shown to be making more money than us.

The long and the short of it? Our club makes no money whatsoever, has no assets except for the players, and our stadium is outdated. All of those factors mean we’re simply not a viable business for an investor to put money into — no matter where we finish in the league. Any rich Arab or Yank will look at our accounts and decide they can get a better investment elsewhere, even with a lower league club. (The figures we were shown I’m sure will be available on the Blue Union website, where you can read it all for yourself in more detail.)

Our new badge was discussed too and was rightfully jeered when it appeared on-screen. Everyone in attendance was urged to show their disapproval to the design and boycott all merchandise from “Kitbag One and Kitbag Two” – as they were referred to – until the club makes good on their promise to scrap it.

The Liverpool Echo also came under fire from Blue Union Chairman Dave Kelly who was unhappy at what he feels is still a lack of appropriate coverage from the local media. He and Colin revealed that, shortly after the Stan Collymore/TalkSport furore a few months ago, they both went to the Echo offices to meet with Echo Sports Editor, John Thompson. Whilst he was friendly and co-operative, the BU came away feeling that the Liverpool Echo was still not prepared to “ask the hard questions” of the Everton Board, such as challenging the poor financial performance and the Kitbag deal. Therefore, they aren’t interested in buying the paper anymore (many in attendance voiced their agreement). Kelly explained that the Echo’s Everton reporter Greg O’Keefe is currently on holiday so he was not in attendance. Neil Jones (another Echo reporter) and a photographer were, however.

From there, it was handed over to the man we’d all come to see. Mr Neville Southall himself.

“Tell me why Everton can’t win the league next year?”

That was the question Southall put to the audience who had all showed up at The Casa on Hope Street on a roasting hot Saturday. There were a few murmurs in response among those on the floor but, from what I could hear, Southall spoke again before anyone gave him a direct answer.

“That’s the thing. You’ve all been made to think finishing 6th is fucking great. Is it fuck!!!”

That was the main message Neville had come to deliver that afternoon at the Blue Union organised meeting. That Everton the club, and us the fans, have been selling ourselves short for too long.

Southall remains probably the most popular ex-player of our great club. Not only for his phenomenal achievements on the field but also for his character. Witty, engaging and honest, Southall is a man who makes people listen when he chooses to talk. He speaks his mind and doesn’t care about whose feathers he’ll rustle or whose heads he’ll make shake. That’s why so many considered it a real coup for the Blue Union to get him to agree to come along and speak. Finally an ex-player would seemingly stand up and wouldn’t just sing from the hymn sheet the Board hands to them.

One thing was made clear though by Dave Kelly before things got under way: Neville Southall was not there as a spokesman for the group — nor is he in any way officially affiliated with them. He had come because he was invited to share his views and answer whatever questions fans had for him — not to act as some sort of new bannerman. When the floor was opened to the audience, he was asked a variety of different questions such as;

• How far away does he see us from achieving Champions League football?
• What new players does he think we need?
• What does he think of Roberto Martinez?
• Who would have been his first choice for the manager’s job?
• Would he accept the goalkeeper coaching job now that Chris Woods has departed?
• Has he ever been approached by the club and been told to shut up?
• What are his thoughts on the protest marches and does he think they have an effect?
• What would his advice be to the BU and other protest groups going forward?
• Who would he entrust the future of the club to?

Neville started off by saying that he believes that we need to start aiming higher as a club than just finishing fourth. Fourth itself is no real achievement and we should be looking to get back to winning the league. He brought it back to his point that Everton are still a giant in world football; we should be aiming to topple the other giants and stop selling ourselves short. His exact quote I believe was this:

“We’re not punching above our weight — we’re heavyweights and we should be fighting with the other heavyweights.”

In terms of new signings who the club will need to in order to compete, Neville said we need more depth to the squad so we can switch things around. He mentioned a new centre-half, a new centre-midfielder, a new striker to partner Jelavic and a new young goalkeeper (Jack Butland specifically).

Southall spoke about how he believes not enough youngsters are being allowed to come through the youth system or are being bought and then groomed for the first team. In terms of the current side, he believes that we have too many players who burn out over the course of a season yet we have no-one to replace them with and that was ultimately why we’ve fallen short in recent years.

“Players like Jelavic, when they have a bad time, they need to come out of the side for a bit and be given a rest for a few weeks, but they need to be replaced by someone reliable. We brought in that Anichebe, that lad couldn’t trap his fucking fingers in the door.” (Que much laughter!)

In regards to Roberto Martinez, who only a week ago he dismissed a man who – if we hired – would show our “lack of ambition”, Southall has said he will back him 100% and that he will bring something new to the team. He did reaffirm though that Roberto wouldn’t have been the man he’d have chosen. When asked who his first choice was, Neville came up with an interesting suggestion:

“Gianfranco Zola. He plays good football and is known worldwide. He’s the type of manager who would convince top players to sign for us because they’d want to play under him. Look at what he’s done for Watford.” Zola brought in a huge list of players there last year and very nearly achieved promotion whilst playing some fantastic football.

A member of the audience then spoke to suggest that, now that Chris Woods is departing Goodison Park with David Moyes, surely Neville himself would be a fantastic candidate for the newly vacant goalkeeping coach? Southall really came to life at this stage of the meeting as he made his feelings on a few things perfectly clear...

He is not interested at all in accepting the coaching job or any official role with the club and there’s no chance he would ever be offered it anyway. He explained how he believes coaching in football has become far too complicated and that it shouldn’t be about “jumping through fucking hoops and doing exercises because, by doing that, players aren’t learning anything.”

He is of the opinion that coaching is all in the mind. All a coach should have to do with a player is sit down and talk to them, understand them and get inside their heads.

“I don’t see the point of having all these dieticians and conditioning people dealing with the players. The best players are the ones who have something upstairs and you can see that. A coaching session should be 10 minutes of just a coach and a player having a talk. If they’re any good, that’s all they should need.”

Southall also told us that he’s never been approached by the club and been told to quieten down because he believes they know he just wouldn’t listen to them.

“What are they going to do, ban me? They can’t do that. Well they can I suppose, but imagine what would happen if they did.”

He did admit that certain people had found out he was going to be attending this meeting and had tried to warn him off of it. Out of respect (probably because it was a fellow ex-player), he wouldn’t name whom it was.

Then it came to what everyone had been waiting for: how he feels about protest groups such as the BU and their aims? Neville told the audience he believes the Blue Union might have a PR problem when trying to deliver their message. They’re perhaps being seen by other fans as a group that asks a lot of questions but cannot come up with any of their own answers.

“People keep saying, he needs to sell the club and leave. But the problem is, who’s he going to give it too? When you can’t come up with an answer, it hurts your credibility. Maybe if you went out and found someone, then that would make fans who don’t like you listen more.”

Protests outside or inside the ground also make no difference – at least not to the players.

“They don’t give a fuck. On a matchday, all you think about is the game. You don’t care about what’s going on outside the ground or in the stands; all they care about is what’s happening on the pitch, so protests don’t really do anything.”

When it came to Bill Kenwright and his current tenure, Neville was restrained but clear:

“I’m not his biggest fan but he did save the club when we were in big trouble and there was no-one else. He could make himself a legend if he found a buyer for the club. Everyone doesn’t like him right now but he could come out of this smelling of roses if he could find a buyer. But, until he does, everyone will just think he’s useless. If he’s the Chairman of the People’s Club, then he should talk to the people. Why not come on the pitch and address the fans? Tell the fans what’s happening and who you’ve spoken to...”

Southall did speak about his appreciation for Sir Phillip Carter whom, he says, truly cares about the club’s well-being. He put forward him as a suggestion as someone who could help find us a buyer.

The final question, and probably the most touching, was one from a man stood just in front of where I was standing. He asked Neville:

“Everyone always says the same thing. Once Everton touches you, you’re never the same. As an outsider of sorts, what is it, Neville? What is it about Everton that makes it feel so special to people who come here?”

Neville answered:

“Because you’re wonderful people and a wonderful city. You’ve achieved so much. You have the best football teams, the best fans, the best music, the best sense of humour. You’ve took on everything that every Tory government has thrown at you and you’ve never let them beat you. You’re a fantastic group of people — but you always seem to put yourselves down and sell yourselves short and I don’t know why. You’re all fantastic and you should feel fantastic.” (Que a huge round of applause!)

From there, Big Nev’s set finished and the Blue Union asked those in attendance for suggestions on how supporters want the campaign to move forward.

Suggestions included:

• A peaceful protest outside the Philharmonic Hall for the EGM meeting on the 26th of this month;
• Arranging these meetings to become more frequent to keep up the momentum;
• A boycott of matches (that was dismissed with Big Nev saying “What are you going to do all weekend? Talk to your fucking missus?);
• And one lad even suggesting that we try to set up a fan consortium to buy the club.

Some suggestions were more realistic than others but what was clearly on show was that every single fan in attendance was passionate for their club. We all have different ideas and opinions but everyone wants the same result: a successful Everton.

I came away feeling it was an afternoon very well spent. I mixed with some fellow blues, got to meet an Everton idol, and had the pleasure of being part of his audience as he expressed his honest views like a true Evertonian (and cracked a few corkers, there’s so many I haven’t included). This absolutely wasn’t another Howard Kendall at Zelig’s Bar revisited — this was a truly insightful and entertaining event I’d attended.

Where the Blue Union and the Club each go next remains to be seen... I however came away from their meeting feeling very proud to be an Evertonian. I’m sure anyone else who attended and heard Big Nev speak will tell you the same.

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