ToffeeWeb Viewpoint
Thoughts from the Editor

Power
30 July 2004

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Why would keeping Kenwright increase trust?  he's got by pretty unscathed for a while now simply because he is a "good blue". But the fact is that he is simply not equipped to be involved in the club at a high level. Get him organising the half-time entertainment by all means, but keep him well away from the business side.

Others on here have a far better understanding of what really happened with regard to the Kings Dock, however in my 'very' humble opinion.... Gregg has one mission in life (were EFC is concerned) and thats a new stadium, be it EFC's own or (preferably to him) a joint venture..With regard to the KD, Kenwright probably did his usual and 'jumped through hoops' without really grasping the actual situation (which again imho) was that Gregg would finance the KD, under HIS terms only (BK in his excitement ignored this)....

For the record, I dont trust Gregg one iota.......Why NOW has he come out with the olive branch/plan to save EFC....Something seriously stinks.....(Of course The masses see £££ signs and back him to the hilt)

He wants his money out - that's the money he invested, and the money he lent soft ollies to buy it from Johnson. That's his motivation. The only thing everyone is clinging to is that for him to get his money out, we have to be at least moderately successful off the pitch as well as on it.

A businessman of *his* acumen does NOT take a back seat and let his mate run the show (especially given the investment).....Gregg has some kinda 'hidden agenda' for him to come to the fore now......

I don't think it's a hidden agenda as such Mike....... .look at it from this perspective... You've lent your mate a load of money to buy a company. You're in to it for £7 million of your own money.

He runs it into the ground.

The investment isn't coming back any time soon.

So you think - well I can't do worse than that soft get, I'll try and save it myself....All the while, cursing yourself for getting involved in the first place....

I think he's deffo trying to bale himself out, but the only way to do that is to get soft ollies to one side, where he can do no more harm, get some serious people onboard (if they exist), and cover his own investment by opening the doors to the general public......

I know very little about Gregg, but I think we should give him a chance. He is a successful businessman. The fact that he does not love Everton doesn't mean he is a criminal or that he does not care at all. He probably cares about his shares in Everton (his money). That is not love or passion, in the sense that we'd like it to be, but at least it is someting. And he is honest in the sense that he has never pretended to be anything but an investor and Bill's friend. He is not a smarmy I have loved to love the club/badge kisser. And the fact that he does not agree with Bill anymore does not mean that he is a traitor or is stabbing Bill in the back. Is it hard to imagine that he has lost his patience? I can imagine that 5 years ago he said, 'Okey Bill I'll back you. I'll trust you to run the show, I'll take the back seat.' Then when things go from bad to worse he finally loses patience. For me this explains why he has 'suddenly' started to take interest. He must have thought, 'hey, I can't take this anymore. I'll take over, etc. If he does not deliver on his promises, then we can say, we don't trust you, piss off, etc., until that time we should give him a chance. Bill certainly ain't doing anything that tells me that we should trust HIM to continue.

Listen, this is the first time anyone has gone public with anything that looks like a properly thought out business plan for Everton. Yes, the statement pushes all the right buttons, and reads like a party political manifesto, but I guess that's roughly what it is. Gregg knows that without support of the minority shareholders and fans he's going to struggle to get this off the ground. Try to cast off suspicion and consider the two choices we're faced with. More Kenwright, who's had ample time to demonstrate his big hearted blue credentials (but sadly little in the way of progress), or a new set of ideas which may ultimately bring share ownership to a broader base of fans.

Change is a must in my opinion, Kenwright's going to have to demonstrate what's wrong with Gregg's proposals and to present a viable plan of his own.

We CAN'T go on like this.

What a load of bollocks. All he is doing is telling people exactly what it is he thinks they want to hear. no substance-no facts-no detail. Tell me this Mr Stay-away-from-matches how much of the 15 mill you spoke about in the echo will actually go to the manager?

he cant be expected to give out every last detail, after all he still has to get support from the rest of True Blue for this to happen. Its a blueprint for what his aims are, not a full scale point by point of everything that will happen, that cant be expected at this stage.

The Board of Directors at EFC need to make decisions that will safeguard the future of the club and,hopefully,return us to the top of English football.With Kenwright at the helm I cannot see that happening.His tenure as a Director has seen him party to, or presided over, one of the worst eras in our history.

I agree with you, but it is true that this is exactly what us fans want to hear. Plus I don't know Mr Gregg personally, so how do I know I can trust him? If he did bring in well known Evertonians like Leahy and kept Kenwright in the club in some position, it would certainly help in creating trust to him.

It's about having people with the passion in some capacity with the club. True, Kenwright is not the right person to make the big decisions, but he and other Evertonians could have an eye on things. Just to keep tabs - why should we trust Gregg? Are you absolutely sure that once he gets enough control, he won't asset strip the club? Not that I'm saying he would, but without knowing the man, I can't be 100% sure he wouldn't.

Asset strip the club? Besides Rooney, what are the clubs assets... in short, none, except the fans. What makes Everton great - and thus a great business - is the fan base. The potential to sell merchandize to these fans. So if a businessman takes interest, he has to serve the needs of the fans... So I don't think we need to fear on that score. But we shouldn't either go from the 'heart' extreme to the 'head' one, i.e. we need a proper balance. Gregg the head and Bill the heart should work together. In short we need them both...

Personally I have always liked Bill Kenwright and I still do. It's just that he does not instill any confidence in me. He talks about looking for an investment, but he is also on record as saying that only a mad person would invest in the club. And while Birmingham, Middlesbro, Tottenham, etc, etc, are strengthening their squads we have lost 7 professionals (Alexandersson, Gemmill, Nyarko, Unsworth, Simonsen, Gerrard, Radzinski) and bought 2 (Bent, Cahill). The squad that finished 17th last year on 39 points, has 5 fewer players. So things are pretty thin..

We have hired a CEO, he resigned after 6 weeks., etc, etc.

If Kenwright has a plan to turn things around, he should tell us what that plan is. The only thing we hear is that he is working around the clock, doing the jobs of Chairman & CEO.... Where is his long term plan?

I don't know Paul Gregg. But at least he did show us a blueprint. And he tells us that he has people who are willing to invest in the club. He is rich and he has a good track record in business.

When I look at these two alternatives I come out on Gregg's side. But ofcourse he has to deliver. The jury is still out, but he must be given the chance to prove that he means what he says.

Ideally I would like them to work together. And I hope they will.

Okay, those who don't trust Gregg, what is the alternative?

And that I believe is the problem we face, because there appears to be no other option around. It's all well and good Bill telling us he's working around the clock, but he's not working to any plan as far as I can see, he is doing the Gravesen headless chicken act in the boardroom. At least Gregg is outlining a plan of action.

a. Bring in immediate investors. b. Appoint a full time professional team to bring on & off field success. c. Issue of new shares for the fans to invest.

I believe he has been persuaded to become our Fergus McCann, i.e Take over the running of the club, restructure the club and allow fans investment, which also provides his exit strategy. I believe that Fergus McCann made a fair bit of money when he got out of Celtic, but there was no complaints from the majority of Celtic fans as he had saved the club and tried to give the fans control of the club. If Gregg does something similar at Everton then I for one won't begrudge him making a profit on his investment, as it'll mean EFC is in a much healthier position than they are today.

Michael Kenrick

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