Enough's Enough

The following is a report on my meetings with Paul Gregg at the Radison SAS; nothing earth-shattering plus the last few weeks of dialogue with mails etc.

On Thursday morning, 5 August 2004, I had a long chat with Bill Kenwright on the present sad state of our Club  .It was well documented that Bill and I had fallen out for a bit but communication is now back on at this crucial time in our Club's history.  I told Bill I was to meet Paul Gregg as I felt that otherwise I could be perceived as Brutus with a knife in my hand.  Our members of the Independent Blues wanted me to meet Paul Gregg anyway to see what was really on offer to all long-suffering Blues .

I knew that the various Everton websites would do a good job on the question and answer documentation so I brought no prepared statements, questions etc.  You see that was where past custodians and present directors have come unstuck in my opinion: fans nowadays don't come through the turnstiles with rattles and cloth caps anymore.  A lot of our fans are 'clued up' and know that this Club should be better than this.  Matters off the field have insulted our intelligence and worryingly eroded many fans passion... where does blind faith become stupidity?  I wanted to speak as a frustrated concerned Blue who mirrors the fan in the street as best I can.

I sat in with the Shareholders Association meeting with Paul Gregg and to be honest I was proud of how they grilled Paul with pertinent questions.  I'll get a copy of a report as soon as possible to share with our extended family.

I was later booked to meet Paul Gregg on my own to pick up the pieces after every Evertonian had spoke of how it's all affecting us.  This is messing up our lives to a degree — we just want this sorting so we can get back to being at the match and watch the best possible team we can put out and back Moyes to the hilt.

I sat quietly in this meeting until they had Paul feeling too uncomfortable with the constant questioning of 'Why now, Mr Gregg?'  I said, "Well, why not now?  Better late than never and to stop all this madness".  We all will agree on one thing: this gentleman's club and off-the-field farce should have stopped years ago.  So, for a Director of True Blue to say that some 18 months ago, and then be strangled into submission by this powerbase that has a bunker mentality and structure... well, you have to be fair on Paul Gregg and see his point of view.  Paul Gregg caught our illness at that time, the illness called 'frustration'.  It's obvious to all that TBH has not worked for at least three years.

Paul Gregg said he discussed on a Sunday over 14 moths ago that Sir Philip and Mr Dunford should leave.  Bill agreed then, at the following Thursday Board Meeting, when he approached the subject, Bill looked at him as if nothing was discussed and gave no support to the idea that we all would have agreed with.

I will always be thankful for TBH for saving us from the vacuum and abyss that was the result of Peter Johnson's tenure, lest we forget.  But TBH did exactly what PJ did and that was just buy the club off the previous custodians with no other monetary input than that — just use the Club's overdraft facilities.  So the club never really moved on, it was same old same old living month by month with no fresh investment to a club that has been left to deteriorate for MANY years.

What we see before us now is years of mismanagement and neglect.  Like I have said on many occasions, everything is coming home to roost now — and I don't mean one of Duncan's pigeons!  Over the years, many of us have shouted loud that this Club is not representing the fans well enough and then we are called troublemakers... yer right.  Everything in the garden has been rosy for years, hasn't it?  We try and do everything on the cheap; we are perceived by agents and business outside as skinflints wanting everything for nothing.

The media don't like us; why you may ask?  Well, for a little insight from me being at numerous media meetings (when we are in crisis in the main ), the reporters, camera crews, etc are left outside in the car park at Goodison — never an offer of refreshments, toilet facilities; nothing in all weathers.  WE are not media friendly — unless we want something from them.

But I digress from the real matter in hand and that is this outward mess that is Everton.  I'm glad that the FA have again self-destructed so we are off the back page, although our story must be tiresome to them now, never mind us!

My own meeting with Paul Gregg just echoed what I said to Bill earlier: sort it out now, it's gone too far.  You're both playing a dangerous game with these long-suffering fans, we have had enough of this dirty washing in public and fans I fear are at breaking point, it's just not good enough.

To be fair to Bill, he has told me he will not join in on a public slanging match but Paul Gregg says that he has had to go public through frustration as Bill won't listen.

But ask yourself, Bill won't listen to what?  That the club is doing ok?  Or that we are at the same point we were four years ago only three times as much in deb?  I've told both parties that the debt is the biggest sin of all with nothing to show for it.  No new stand, no academy,  no shed load of quality players, nothing.  Thank God we have had the family silver to sell over the last four years — otherwise, this demise would have been accelerated three years ago.

Bill asks me: Would I vacate my house with my family with just a promise of money?  No I wouldn't.  It's Jerry McGuire time: 'Show me the money'.

There seems to be a Mexican stand-off just now and it's not healthy with the start of the Premiership just around the corner.  If you dig deep then all this fall out might be the making of us — to truly have our club dragged kicking and screaming into the football business world at last.  To compete short-term with Southampton and Charlton and take the long road back to the higher elevations of the Premiership, this will take time... but we have a chance now, I hope.

Professor Tom Cannon asked Paul Gregg whether he and Bill could kiss and make up but the answer was they were not warming to that idea as Paul's 'other' investors see Bill as the biggest problem.  Paul, to be fair, said yet again that if Bill had £100 million he would spend it on Everton, but in reality Bill is at his personal limit of funding Everton.  Paul said if TBH is dissolved then he would instantly provide £5 million for desperately need players.

I drew a picture of a smilie face on an A4 sheet of paper with Everton on the top and at the bottom...  What is it going to take to get this back on our weary band of followers?  I gave it Paul Gregg on his way out of the Radison.  It may be childish but isn't this whole thing getting that way?  Bill won't dissolve True Blue and doesn't trust Paul; Paul wants his money back sometime with profits but as things are going that will never happen.  I can see a Ken Bates-style Everton for a pound soon.  I've told Paul to be just honest with the fans; no frills, just be our Fergus McCann.  I told him this two weeks ago.  I said to Bill and Paul to sort out the future of the club by Wednesday last week — not Friday; show maturity and leadership to restore our battered pride.

There is no goodwill left for Everton, no confidence, nothing.  It's a sad state of affairs.  I've asked Paul and Bill what facet of the club is doing well, anything?  Just give me something to smile about.

I feel sorry for the employees of Everton (except the players), the fans, and that man with his hands tied — thrown into the ocean of a Premiership seemingly awash with money... except for us!  Still, that man is our manager, David Moyes.

Hands up who would blame David for walking away from this mess?  He just wants to win for himself and more importantly us.  He is not perfect but over these last few weeks I have had the chance to talk to our manager at home and in Houston and I have a lot of respect for the guy now.  I feel his frustration (that word again) like ours.  For what it's worth, I think he will stay to help us in our darkest hour yet again, he feels loyalty to us and he is not a quitter.

These attributes have not been shown by young Wayne — not openly anyway.  This sad part of Everton just now is well discussed and again the fans in the street are at the point of saying "Just sign, Wayne, or fuck off."  Enough's enough .

For what its worth I was told yesterday by a close source to Man Utd that they don't want Wayne now, not just yet anyway .

In all this, I feel sorry for Bill, a man who has done his best.  But in my opinion he was never helped enough and never listened to others about getting rid of certain people to bring in full time financial directors.  I've asked Bill to dissolve TBH but not leave just keep helping from the sidelines, step aside for himself and to give someone else a chance to move us on — whether that be Paul Gregg or anyone else — before he gets hurt.

True Blue is stifling the club as it stands.  People will not come in as donors but only as investors with a say in the running of the Club.  I don't want all this to blow up in his face such that he is not welcomed back to his second home.  Paul has told me Bill's shares are safe and he would stay on as a non-executive director if it was up to him... but maybe his backers will not allow a directorship for Bill.

Let's be honest: all the shares are now nearly worthless with the debt in tow manageable or not.  There is so much that needs attending to at Everton — from immediate transfer funds, the academy, the overdraft, and the stadium.

Paul couldn't understand our mentality that the value of the shares to the minority shareholders are not paramount to us — just that piece of paper itself is its true value to us.  We want the club to succeed because we care.

I told Paul he is not one of us so it's no use trying to make out he is Evertonian.  I reiterated just be honest that's all; the meetings are PR but we have asked for transparency with Directors for years: so, when it comes, don 't knock it.

I'd like to finish off with a "Well done" to all the parties who met Paul Gregg and provided their reports.  Some meetings over-ran, well they would, and Everton matters at present can't be condensed in to half an hour.  Paul Gregg must have felt like a punch-drunk boxer at the end of it all as Evertonians now are no pushovers, even though we are looking at very few options.

When you see Arthur Abercrombie, Sir Philip Carter and Keith Tamlin, don't mock; they are fellow Evertonians and we would degrade ourselves if these people where not allowed to watch the team.  Their intentions were honourable to them but it simply hasn't worked out.

This final lesson for Everton has to be learnt now.  It's not too late: we can still get a Get out of Jail card if we pull together.  A ball has not been kicked in anger yet so we know the score from the off.  I think this mess can be a blessing in disguise.  Once and for all, Everton will reflect the fans' pride and passion.

My plea is for us to move on ASAP and start fighting back.  Let's stop being the media and Wayne's agent's punch bag and let's see David Moyes putting two fingers up at the media from the middle of the pitch, starting at home to Arsenal.

I'm still unsure of all this but we're in-between a rock and a hard place; we have no money but do we prostitute ourselves?  Well, only time will tell.

I was disappointed that no one has seen a plan, a vision as yet. So if Paul wins his Presidential war are we just go on trust ?

Paul Gregg has no quick route out.  If he is allowed to take us on then we can only hope he makes money as then, and only then, will we be in a far better state than now.  It's not as if he can sell Wayne and make the cheque out to Paul Gregg, is it!  Bill, look after yourself, mate: you can always say I warned you and told you so.

Ian Macdonald
Everton Independent Supporters Association

 

6 August 2004