18 years ago, in August 2005, I submitted an article to ToffeeWeb entitled Bread. In it, I made comparisons between the state of Everton Football Club and the titular family from the much-loved (?) Carla Lane sitcom of the 1980s. The article was “well-received” with Martin Tilly calling it “total rubbish” and that my scathing criticism of Kenwright who I likened to Freddie Boswell was “whingey negativity and paranoia about the club, team and directors that goes with it is as feeble and unsubstantiated.”
Another poster “Saco el Juggler” this was before real names were required on Toffeeweb, said I “was making a good point right up to his conclusion. He’s another example of why fans get annoyed with ToffeWeb’s negative take on everything.” Essentially, he was riled about my lack of optimism over Villarreal. Fair enough, we “was robbed” by Collina, as we all know now.
Anyway, in the article, I likened Moyes to the mother on Bread – hard-working, stern, struggling to hold it together. Freddie, the profligate father, as like Bill Kenwright causing chaos and mayhem with his financial shenanigans, lies, and so on.
Looking at the situation now, I would say Bill still retains his role as Freddie Boswell. But sadly, in this version, his erstwhile wife has passed on. Instead, Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses has moved in and is mismanaging the family finances in conjunction with Freddie. They’ve turned to brainiacs akin to Baldric from Blackadder (Steve Walsh), experienced managers like Basil Fawlty (Rafa/Koeman) and yet the family have found themselves struggling more than ever with failure and debt.
The sad thing is, as I mentioned in the original article, there were still a fair few optimists (likened to the dreamy Adrian) who still thought Kenwright and Co could restore the glory days of the ’80s. I don’t believe anyone believes that today.
The two camps now seem to be: a) Get someone else instead of Freddie and Del Boy asap and maybe we can turn things around, and b) It is already too late to save.
It goes to show, after 18 years, things under Bill Kenwright anyway don’t stay the same — they get worse! I believe eventually, the former group (the optimists among us) will be proven correct and maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday we will turn the corner.
So, were “Saco el Juggler” to return to ToffeeWeb today, he might be surprised at my comparative optimism — which in itself further illustrates the way Kenwright has damaged not only the club but the morale of everyone.