A note to Bill Kenwright
The Views of Tony Wooly

6 March 2002

Bill, 

After watching last night's display of coaching and managerial ineptitude, I really really despair.  We 'the fans' have lost belief, it is patently obvious that the players have very little belief in OUR club (Weir, Stubbs and Unsworth the obvious exceptions).  I honestly think, that you have lost belief in Walter and Archie (why else hold what little money we have back) and just as importantly, I also believe that Walter has lost his own self-belief. 

The undercurrent of frustration, resignation and despair amongst the fans last night was unbelievable, something is simmering and will boil over soon.  It's as if we are schizophrenic, in that we are already mourning because the terminal illness is plain to see and yet we are so angry that we will hit out at anybody who is either to blame for the club's relegation or are prepared to make fun of us out of it.  There will be trouble at matches at the end of the season, there will be mayhem at Goodison and there will be a major policing problem on Merseyside for several weeks if we do go down. 

Your responsibility is much much wider than loyalty to Walter and Archie, where will they be in a few years time?  Like you and me watching a financially wrecked EFC in Division 1 at Goodison (because believe me KD will not be viable on a continued diet of Div 1 funding and support) or will they be watching Champions league football at Ibrox or even watching Rangers in the Premiership, where do their ultimate loyalties lie?  to EFC?  Or to themselves?  This is not the days of financial disaster for sacked managers, Walter probably never has to work again, do you not think that Archie will walk into another footballing post very soon?. 

How long are we going to sleepwalk into relegation, I have hardly criticised Walter Smith up till now because so much carping on about the manager is pointless argumentative and based on ignorance.  But looking at the bench last night it was like watching a rabbit being dazzled by headlights, our bench 'froze' as it so often does.  How many times have we watched our club being tactically out-thought by most other managers. 

I actually don't care about Sunday, it's a distraction, that is how far our vision of our great club has been sullied, the need for 3 points rather than a place in the FA Cup semi-final says it all really, how low can we go?  Even if we win it will only serve to distract Walter and the players from the real task ahead. 

Even if Walter's press friends kick up a fuss, ignore it, today's newspapers are tomorrows chip papers.  You and me are condemned to be Evertonians till the day we die, two of my sons are condemned to be blues as well.  Do you honestly think that your friends, in the two areas of your life that matter most to you (the theatre and EFC), give a toss about Walter and Archie and what journalistic reptiles like Harry Harris think? 

Bite the Bullet Bill, it's not a nice thing to have to do, but it has to be done and it has to be done NOW.  For all our sakes DO SOMETHING. 

Yours far more in sorrow than in anger.  

Tony

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