Survey reveals overwhelming support for EFC

Who was actually surveyed? I didnÂ’t even know there was a survey being done!

Almost nothing concrete has happened re the stadium issue in the last 20 odd years and that is by far one of the most important issues that need to be resolved!

Who did this survey, BK productions?? FFS.

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

I donÂ’t mind the fact that Everton FC come away in a good light and can use it to market themselves; what I do dislike is that the sample size was probably very small but somehow they represent the majority of the supporters i.e. A certain percentage of "Evertonians" believe this or that. I wonder if TW and other fan-sites could ask the same questions and see what a larger proportion of the fan-base really thinks?

Is there anybody on TW who actually filled in this survey?

We are still 14th arenÂ’t we? Yup, heading in the right direction.

I did a bit of checking. This is a survey carried out on behalf of the Premier League by a respected polling organisation – Populus. They collect and publish the results, not EFC or other clubs. However, unlike most polls carried out by such organisations it’s not a ’random’ sample. Instead, it appears that clubs post a link to the survey on their websites and any fan who wishes can fill it in.

In this case, 36,878 fans took part, including 1,665 Evertonians. That’s not a bad number, even if it’s more representative of fans who visit the official site than fans in general. It’s possible that the outcome is a bias towards those more likely to view the club favourably. But here’s a radical view – a survey based on visitors to TW is no more likely to be ’a real perspective of how the fans feel’ (Trevor@9). We are part of the Everton community, not its sole authentic voice.

The current situation where we donÂ’t even know who actually owns the club is killing us and yet this survey claims fans are happy and think we are heading in the right direction.

I feel like beating my head on the concrete floor.

Most Everton fans I talk to say the same things. Missed opportunities in building a new stadium, NOT finding a wealthy owner, the lack of Real financial investment in the playing staff, are examples of a poorly run outfit since the introduction of the Premier League... leaving us miles behind our competitors.

Or am I living on a different planet?

IÂ’m not at all dismissing your concerns, merely observing that other Evertonians may not share them to the same degree or with same intensity. The survey is just a little evidence to counter the view from some on TW that Everton FC is a corrupt and incompetent omnishambles.

To be fair, I remember when this was done. It was a time early this season when the roof hadnÂ’t fallen in and the feelgood factor was about as strong as I can remember. Sometime after Wolfsburg at home.

I didnÂ’t have my credit card on me or enough cash to buy 2 new tickets as I come straight from work and kindly asked if she could replicate 2 tickets and IÂ’d put the money in as soon as I got home... She looked at me as if IÂ’d just raped her mother!

So we had to trundle home soaking wet and downright miserable. People’s Club? My fucking arse!!! I’d like to bump into that phoney Elstone one of these days – I’ll let him off, though, if we go through tomorrow.

Even as a perpetual optimist, I find the scores somewhat surprising.

However, the people who run the club have shown a total disregard for the ambitions of its supporters and the heritage of the club.

Once upon a time, we were able to compete with our nearest and dearest and Arsenal, the Manchester clubs and Chelsea are slightly different because of the sums of money invested in those clubs. But Everton FC have been cast adrift and we find ourselves about equal with clubs who we used to look down upon.

Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle have always been decent clubs but they would never have hoped to compete with Everton in the long term; but, if another decade passes without Everton gaining new investment, some of those clubs will very probably be out-performing us on a regular basis.

If that is deemed as the current owners being good custodians of the club, I do wonder what bad custodians would look like... The only true investors at Goodison have been the terrific supporters but that in todayÂ’s game is becoming meaningless as every major club who wishes to compete for trophies needs fantastic amounts of money from sponsorship deals or a sugar daddy. IÂ’m afraid that Chang and Kitbag donÂ’t fit that brief and we may as well be sponsored by Â’JoeÂ’s CafeÂ’ for all the difference it makes in helping Everton to compete for trophies.

The club has done relatively well but not as well as it should have done and certainly it shows no signs of improving in the near term, every year that passes is another year of under-investment and another year when similar sized clubs will overtake us; not a recipe for success in my opinion.

IÂ’m not denigrating other Evertonians and would be happy to read a defence of Kenwright with an open mind. I can see the benefits to the club of some positive spin but I find the notion of Kenwright basking in this utterly galling.

Paul Thompson (#12) the number of Evertonians you list that took part in the survey differs from the number given in the echo by about 500. According to the Echo, 1123 took part; you say it was 1665. Maybe you are correct, maybe not.

I agree that Spurs and West Ham may well overtake us with new stadiums and the commercial and financial advantages which London conveys on all its big clubs. I donÂ’t see how Aston Villa or the others will do so. Villa in particular had the temporary advantage of investment from their owner but failed to use it to gain long-term benefit.

If anyone is to blame for our current predicament, it is the complacent Board of the 80s when we had a financial advantage over most of the top clubs but failed to capitalise on it in terms of stadium investment, partly it must be admitted because the stadium was less than half-full on many occasions. As a club we lacked vision, taking the cheap options available to turn Goodison into an all-seater stadium while Manchester United and others embarked on two or more rounds of rebuilding.

The perception outside Merseyside that we are the Â’second clubÂ’ in a provincial city also severely damages our commercial potential. Unless or until we can develop a realistic plan for a new stadium, we have no hope of securing investment or comparable commercial sponsorship deals available to the top clubs.

A forward-looking board at any point in the last decade and a half, would have been aggressively looking for investment rather than sitting back and using the TV money to keep the wolf from the door. We may well be in the wrong location compared to other clubs but that doesnÂ’t mean the board should sit on their hands for another decade.

What you are really saying is that we are stuck with our situation and shouldn’t really expect any more than is currently being done – music to the ears of those who sit in power at Goodison no doubt.

If you look at the detail of the survey, Â’well runÂ’ is geared towards Â’nuts and boltsÂ’ stuff. For example the club is rated best in the Premier League for stewards, ticket office assistants, catering staff, season ticket information, match ticket information, purchasing tickets online, ticket price concessions. Logically, this must reflect the experience of many match going fans.

One area that we do appear to be outstanding is Everton in the Community and there is some fantastic work highlighted on the OS.

Because they take nothing out and put nothing in they are in effect curators of the club who prefer to keep things ticking along, hoping that they will find a charitable benefactor who will bankroll their ideas rather than being pro-active owners who would drive the club forward to meet a particular vision.