100 and counting the cock-ups
Tony Wooly runs a critical eye over the fumbled plans Everton have made 
so far to celebrate Everton's 100 years in top-flight English football.

18 June 2002

We are just eight weeks away from the start of our 100th top-flight season, Does the football world internationally know of our achievement?  No.  Does anybody in the UK outside of Everton FC and their fan-base know of our achievement?  No.  Are we planning a pre-season tournament against the most successful sides (in number of top-flight seasons) in Italy, Spain and Germany?  No.  Do any Evertonians know how the achievement is to be celebrated? No.

It was only 3 or 4 months ago that people inside the club still hadn’t yet decided whether the 125 years anniversary (1878-2003) or the 100 top-flight seasons was the most important.  In fact, 100 top-flight seasons didn’t seem too important compared to the 125 anniversary.  It appears that only mounting pressure from the fans persuaded our ‘marketing’ department that this achievement had any significance.  In fact, the Marketing Department initially weren’t even sure whether next season was the 100th season in the top-flight — or was it the season after?

Only Everton could manage to score an own goal and have zilch profile as to the major achievement of 100 top-flight seasons in what is probably the most consistently difficult league in world football.  Serie A, the Bundesliga and the Primera Liga may have had their hot-spots in the past 40 years, but no league has remained as extremely difficult to survive in over time as Division One of the Football League and then the Premiership.

So, what is it about the club that it cannot either organize itself to get the opening fixture it wanted or used its weight to get the desired result?  I know (from my non-football administrative position) that the Premiership/Football League fixture compilation process and account being taken of outline parameters, starts at least in September of the previous year.  When exactly was the formal request made to the FA Premiership for Villa at home to become the first game of the season?  The answer is in April, when we were mathematically safe from relegation.  Not in September 2001, when nobody was mathematically safe from relegation.

So our club initially doesn’t recognize the significance of the achievement, then reluctantly takes it on board and then what?  Even as Everton fans, we know little or nothing about how it is going to be celebrated.  Talk about hiding your light under a bushel!  We were late in recognizing the 100-season achievement and we have been slow on the uptake ever since.

We are about to enter three or four years of huge marketing opportunities: 

• 2002-2003 — 100 top-flight seasons 
• 2003-2004 — The club's 125-year anniversary 
• 2004-2005 — 50 seasons of continuous top-flight football 
• 2005-2006? — Looking to move into the King’s Waterfront Stadium 
• January 2007 — the centenary of William Ralph Dean’s birth 

We can use all of these as a platform to build on so that a marketing momentum becomes established.  It’s opportunities like these that make brand awareness so important and lucrative when outside organizations want to be associated with such a prestigious image.  If we can’t be an outstanding success on the pitch in the short to medium term, then let’s properly exploit some of our off-field assets.

However, what does EFC do?  It cannot even achieve its objectives in the first attempt to launch the ‘100 top-flight seasons’ strategy.  What opening day fixture?  Where is the unique logo that should appear on the shirts?  Since we will be the first club of real note to achieve this, we have the chance to design and use a logo that other clubs will be happy to follow (especially if we had co-designed it with Villa).  This would have meant every time any other club used the logo, it would always have a subliminal association with EFC.

Maybe it’s not too late if we put the logo on the shirt on or around 8th September (when our inaugural top-flight season started in 1888) although you may get some complaints that we have re-designed the shirt (this didn’t stop the RS putting out an additional shirt for the Champions and non-champions league fixtures last year).  How come we also allowed the football fixtures computer to have us away at Southampton (11.9.02) on the closest fixture date to our starting the inaugural     We can’t even seem to design a forward strategy to get ourselves out of a wet paper bag, never mind implement such a strategy.

I wonder if anybody at Goodison has thought about the medium- to long-term diary of the club taking into account the possibility of King's Dock being built?  For example, Is there anybody at Goodison with sufficient nous to be thinking of putting it in the diary to be applying to Uefa for a major European final to be played at KD once it’s given the go-ahead?  You never get what you want straight away, but if you ask early and ask often you usually get what you want (unlike Villa at home on the opening day of the season!).

The fiasco over the 100 top-flight seasons, the ignorance at the club that it was significant and sufficiently important to be able to exploit from an early date, the inability to design a strategy for this year and the next three to four years to take advantage of the cluster of anniversaries and other opportunities. (e.g. maybe a current youth player (unnamed) may be sufficiently established so as to launch the William Ralph Dean memorial season in 2006-2007?) is quite frankly shocking.  A part-time, poorly paid archivist (cost one free season ticket per season?) could easily come up with a host of marketing opportunities that currently don't seem to appear on the club’s radar.  Why does the club never market a shirt or something, with the name Dean and 60 on it, for example?

Bill and the Club

Now let’s move on to what I consider to be an unresolved issue at Goodison and is indicative of the management fault-lines that the marketing shambles of the 100-season achievement has become.

Bill Kenwright, for quite obvious and understandable reasons, cannot commit a 100% of his time to EFC (like most of us, he is primarily absorbed with keeping the wolf from his door).  It seems to me that we have a continuing example of a part-time commitment to what was a full-time shambles but is now (see above) a part-time but still costly shambles.  At least David Moyes is a 100% committed hands-on manager who will obviously take full control of the playing side of things.  Why can’t you learn a strategic lesson from this Bill?  

One of the major reasons why Liverpool were successful over an extended period was because a totally committed playing-management team was allied with a full-time executive leadership of the pitch which had (and continues to have) executive powers to enable them to make decisions instantly.  Both Peter Robinson and then Rick Parry could make vitally important decisions on their own initiative and more importantly, the people to whom these decisions where transmitted to, knew that they had sufficient resources and support to carry them out.

It appears that nobody at Goodison is in a position to say yeah or nay to anything significant unless the Board approves.  Since the Board only meets once a month or so, the decision-making process is slow and laborious and then takes decisions in bunches.  This is an appalling way to run a business.  How much time, over the last 12 months, has the Board been involved in fire-fighting issues rather than forward planning and strategic thinking?  Even the King’s Dock project is being run (quite rightly in my opinion) from outside of the Boardroom.

Let’s play a comparison game.  What is the turnover of Kenwright Productions?  What is the turnover of EFC?  How many full-time employees does Kenwright Productions have?  How many full-time employees does EFC have?  Which organization is run on the lines of a clear chain of command and in-line responsibility which is able to take strategic decisions in a clear and timely manner where the decision-maker(s) is/are readily accessible at most times during the working day and can in emergencies be convened within one hours notice?  Which organization holds daily meetings between its key staff and the person with full executive powers?

If you are honest about answering that question Bill, then attending Board meetings once a month with the odd decision made at home games (and market research carried out by phone calls with the indomitable and invaluable Ian McDonald) is not a way to run a sophisticated organization.  Somebody at Goodison has to be able to take executive responsibility, to think strategically, to be decisive and to deliver on their promises.  

Michael Dunford has done a sterling job in difficult circumstances (especially during the Peter Johnson era) and he has proved his loyalty to the club.  Michael should get the recognition he deserves, by being promoted (and salary enhanced) to Company Secretary of EFC and the King’s Dock Waterfront Company, and given the title of Executive Director as well as Company Secretary of EFC.   This would free up the Chief Executive's post for somebody who must have executive decision-making powers and who doesn't have to try and contact the majority shareholder (in London or elsewhere) every time any strategic decisions have to be taken...

The difficult step is for Bill Kenwright to relinquish a great deal of day-to-day control over the club and delegate it to the new Chief Executive with full executive powers.  Why not have a word with fellow-blue Terry Leahy at Tesco’s and ask him to lend you one of Tesco’s finest high-flyers for four or five years as part of their career development?  The arrangement could prove to be beneficial to both organizations.  With the experience gained at being the Chief Executive at EFC proving to be invaluable in the step-up to running part of a massive organization such as Tesco’s.  Just an idea.  

If you want Everton to fly high, Bill, you’ve either got to delegate or run it full-time.

Tony Wooly

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