Meeting held on Tuesday 5 December 2000 at Goodison
Park.
Present:
Michael Dunford
Chief Executive
David Harrison
Club Secretary
Graeme Sharp
Fans Liaison Officer
Mark McVey
Megastore Manager
Kevin Nolan
Small Shareholders
Norman Dainty
Small Shareholders
Barry Murray
Secretary, Independent Blues
Tony Batty Committee Member, Independent Blues
Ian Macdonald
Vice Secretary, Independent Blues
Are we to join a consortium
(personally I’d be the biggest whore in town and go to bed with anyone to make
this dream a reality) and if so will we still own the ground and will it still
be Everton led?
This is a once in a lifetime
opportunity lets pull together on this serious matter of our future. Lets not
be selfish if you wanted to stay fair enough but please let the majority of
fans have a clear route to get this great site.
Fighting amongst ourselves gives the
reds a laugh. Lets stop them laughing and let them start being jealous.
The Club have put together a team of
people to further the bid. A formal
proposal is to be entered on the 17th January.
It is to be hoped that this team will realise the dreams of many. Professional companies and associates have
been brought in, and further details will be released at a later date.
Fans may think this is frustrating,
but the Club is pressing on hard with the bid.
Much of what they're doing must remain confidential for obvious reasons
- we don't want to give our opponents any clues.
OTHER BUSINESS
Media deal update:
Is it dead in the water? Rumour has
it that Celtic are to tie up a £30 million pound investment with NTL source
soccernet / Daily Mail reporter Roddy Thomson. I thought NTL had gone cold on
club investments. How can the likes of Southampton tie up deals and we can’t?
It is still optimistic, despite
rumours to the contrary. Again, the
Club can't release details - confidentiality is paramount.
Youth Academy:
The above I am led to believe
affects our unfinished / started academy. Now I know we are still struggling
because of the previous tenure’s damage but if we don’t do something soon about
the Academy will we lose our license when it comes up for renewal? If that
happens will we lose our excellent current crop of young players after all the
hard work put in with them. Have we identified a location for our Academy,
hopefully Fazackerly .Its geographically better in my mind and area? Can
Netherton please have those porta cabins soon? We’ll knock the old building
down ourselves and skip them if need be!
Netherton - planning permission
being pushed through (we even need it just for the porta cabins!) but is
expected early January. This is being
treated as a matter of utmost urgency.
As for the new site, the expectancy
is that the complex will house both the academy and the training ground, and
the Club is pressing on with negotiations.
The loss of the licence for the
Academy is not a possible outcome.
Concessions:
The dad and lad tickets were not
really advertised properly. How about all restricted views dad and lad tickets
at say £18 -£20 . The reason I say restricted views is that no season ticket
holder in their right mind has a restricted view so they can’t really moan
about the prices. A height restriction like at Disneyland would deter adults
taking advantage of this offer. Also can we access all areas for kids when a
low gate is expected .Many fans would like to bring their kids to the game if
they could sit by them in their stand were they are season ticket holders.
The price increase category games
have not really worked have they?. .Sorry but fleecing our loyal supporters is
the only way of putting it. It would cost in excess of £40 for a parent and
child to come and watch a premium game and that’s just entrance fee . So what
happens is the child is left behind hence the lower gates .At this festive time
a visit from the ghostly past to scrooge comes to mind . The fans will love it
The Christmas spirit arrives at Goodison !.We have to encourage the floating
fan back. Recently against Arsenal we had a gate of 33,000,comprising of 2,800
Arsenal fans ,22,300 season ticket holders and just under 8,000 ‘floaters’
.Well I think that 8,000 ‘floaters’ is a worrying amount and needs work on
increasing this number as soon as possible.
How can Man City charge £8 and £16
just down the road. Three thousand three hundred tickets sold in a few days for
our away game. The fans are there if the price is right. Is 1200 tickets enough
for the forthcoming away game at Charlton ?.
This was the longest part of the
meeting. The Club has accepted that the
pricing has not been a success.
Sunderland's experience of filling the Stadium of Light was endorsed
whereby concessions are given for poor views, and if the forthcoming game was
likely to be well below capacity, all the local schools were contacted for
party bookings for children at £5 per head, to be accompanied by a responsible
adult or team leader.
Everton will allow for a voucher in
the season ticket book to be used to bring in a friend at £10 LESS than the
advertised price for this situation, to try and get more into the ground. Among other ideas discussed were accessing
all areas for children.
As for the Charlton game, tickets
have been limited to 1200 because that's all they offered us because of Stadium
work. Frustrating, but there you go.
Disabled fans: Can they be
re-located to another area. It is not ideal to sit directly below the away fans
for example Chelsea at home the other week a situation occurred.
Steve Hennigan (Disabled Blues) in
constant discussion on these matters.
Ian suggested that lower Bullens near the Gwladys Street would be a good
place for the disabled fans, and the Club will look into the idea as the family
enclosure is fully subscribed, and there would be no other logical place. The Club will continue to talk to the Disabled
Blues on the matter.
Players comings and goings: Nyarko and Myre is their departure inmenent?
The constant paper talks about impending doom on Goodison selling this and that
jewel to appease the banks. Walter going Reidy coming in etc. Can we dispel
these accusations as soon as possible and not let the fans be tortured please!
. Otherwise is no smoke without fire ideas planted. Alan Nixon, who I had a lot
of time for, seems to want to paint a picture of despair, who is feeding him
these stories?.
Francis Jeffers is a reflection of
our ambition or lack of it . Move heaven and earth to keep this talent.
Comebacks Franny, Duncan, Gazza Alexanderson
Gough etc And don’t let Danny cut his locks off ,he’s getting better now
his hair is growing back.. Young Samson indeed.
We are under NO pressure from the
bank, the Co Op have been very supportive.
It is ultimately Walter's decision as to the comings and goings - but it
is expected that a couple will be going soon - as this is Walter's decision.
As to Franny Jeffers moving, the
Club made it plain that for a move to happen, BOTH parties have to agree! And we don't agree.
Obviously, Franny wants to negotiate
a new contract, and feels he is worth a pay rise, and the Club will (over the
coming months) be talking to his people to try and reach an agreement. This is normal for all players with less
than two years to go on their contract.
Updates on previous topics:
The vacant advertised Marketing
manager post to be filled in November update please.
The position is filled. The new man is a 30 year old high flyer with
a blue chip company, with World wide experience, currently working in Japan and
USA, and he starts on 8 January.
Dixie’s statue is it still on course
?.
Bill has a meeting early in the new
year with Tom Murphy, Sculptor, and as already stated the statue will be ready
for the anniversary of when he joined Everton, in the early part of the year.
Fans share issue; Any chance of
participation in owning our club?. WE could wipe out the overdraft in one
stroke I’m sure. The Waldorf and Fans Trust experiences showed there is some
healthy investment out there. The squad could then be allowed to grow. There
are signs Walter is getting it right.
Until the media deal is finalised,
whereby a dilution of 9.9% of shares will occur, the exploration of fans owning
a part of the Club cannot be investigated, but the Board will definitely look
at this as a distinct possibility at a later date. Recently, a block of shares became available at £1700 per share,
which was felt to be above the real worth, at about £1400, but one person has
already enquired for fifty of them - there are clearly people out there who
want to invest in the Blues, as evidenced by EFT and the Waldorf experience.
AGM when is it to be held now?.
Friday 29 December - notices have
gone out in the post. It's not the
ideal time because of Xmas but for statutory reasons and the redrafting of the
memorandum of the constitution, (set up by Kevin Nolan and Tom Cannon, as the
constitution dates back to 1878, and is so old now that the price for a season
ticket is shown as 7/6d) it has to be
on this date.
Screening of further matches any
dates ?. Is the screening as bad as they say when re-laying live games from
outside or was it the weather last time?.
Charlton £8 and £5, is
upcoming. The weather was a
contributory factor to the quality of the screening at the Derby, so it is to
be hoped that future ones will be better quality and not in a downpour.
Mega Store: Are pre-stock levels for
Xmas good enough. How about advertising poster’s in our captive audience in the
corridors of Goodison for sales etc.
It was felt that Puma at Leeds had a
better range. It is been admitted that
there have been teething problems with Puma, but new manufacturers always bring
initial problems to be sorted out, and the Club is working hard on the
situation. Sales are up 20 per cent
this year, but the problem with the away mini kit shortfalls wasn't helped by
one of Puma's subcontractors in Cornwall going bust. This kit is now discounted at £19.99 to try and obviate the
problem. Although it is felt that
this City has less disposable income than Leeds, we are Puma's largest sale in
UK football, and we sell as much as Leeds do with their new supplier now.
Stock levels now buoyant, and the spring
range will be released after Christmas.
Incidentally, Umbro never offered a
child's range.
A suggestion box has been
incorporated to see what people want.
Although the megastore is about 75
per cent used in the week, they need one three time the size on match days.
The Club is actively seeking
"in store" sites at eg Matalan, TJ Hughes etc.
On Thursday 7th and 14th December,
at least eight first team players will be at the megastore to meet the fans,
including Duncan Ferguson and Kevin Campbell.
I was bitterly disillusioned that
the thank you letters did not get given out with the derby tickets for the fans
that went to the perfect storm at Bristol Rovers . What happened?.
Sorry. We should have, but didn't.
Ray Wilson; Our world cup winner is
selling his medal can you put it about to some of our well heeled Blues . It
would be nice to nestle in our trophy room .A real investment has come up for
grabs. See David France for interested parties, David has Rays telephone
number.
Enquiries have already been made to
acquire this piece of EFC History.
A BLUE father Christmas; If we can
persuade our Father Christmas to walk around the ground with the Toffee girl
before the West Ham game will you allow it for the kids?
Excellent idea! But perhaps a better
idea for the Coventry game.
Alan Stubbs.
As you are aware Alan is a great
Evertonian, and is suffering again from cancer. It was suggested that since we have such a fine Centre for
Excellence in Cancer, the idea is for a pre season game at Celtic Park or Goodison,
with all proceeds for cancer research.
We all know someone who has been touched this dreadful disease, and
Graeme Sharp is already sending a letter of support to Alan, who he knows
personally.
I’d like to put on record our thanks
to Walter Smith and his team for doing us proud, to Bill and his board for what
they are doing for our club (remember twelve months ago ) and a special thank
you for players such as Gazza who are doing this club proud off the field.
I went to a funeral the other week
of a good young Blue who had died of cancer, Neil Lewis was his name and he was
just 38, and there at the funeral was Graham Sharp and Franny Jeffers what a
great tribute to the lad that two of his hero’s were there to see him off and giving strength to his heartbroken
family in that his loyalty did not go unrecognised by his club. I never mean to
criticise my club just trying to make things better for all of us. These
meetings really do help bringing back communication with the fans, the main
pitfall of the last tenure. The cynics may say its lip service I know it’s not.
Yours thankfully
Ian Macdonald EISA
Footnote
The Club will get back to us in a week or so with any
other outstanding issues. We didn't
cover everything, but did a lot as I hope you agree.
Ian is going to suggest that future meetings be
extended to include other fans groups, like ESCLA, the North East Blues, the
Midland Blues etc., so that this
doesn't end up appearing to be just the Independent Blues. The Official Supporters Club didn't make it
to this one, and the Independent Blues are anxious that the meetings are not
perceived as just themselves - there MUST be a broad spread of opinion.