The BBC
 

Kenwright on Five Live
18 September 2004

This is a transcript of Bill Kenwright's recent interview with Jonathan Pearce, broadcast by BBC Five Live.

JP: “After their splendid start to the Premiership season, where they’re unbeaten since the opening day, there’s more good news tonight for Goodison Park fans. Chairman Bill Kenwright has exclusively told Sport on Five that up to £30M of new investment will be available to the club in time for January’s transfer window.  It follows months of turmoil in which his own position as Chairman has come under threat. Now with the side lying third in the table he says it’s time to look forward to better days….”

BK: “Obviously the big point now is the January transfer window and that’s when we’ve earmarked it for and hopefully it’ll be in by then.”

JP: “How much money are we talking about here?”

BK: “Well there’s two tranches…..there’s an original 29.9% and then possibly some more.  So, you know, thirteen to fourteen million and then another fifteen million down the line.  So there’s a possible twenty eight, twenty nine million…”

JP: “And just explain how it’s going to work in terms of who’s going to run the club in the future..”

BK: “Me!”  (JP laughs)

BK: “No, it’s a chap called Chris Samuelson, Jonathan, who runs a sports fund and he’s coming in with a group of investors but basically he will join the board and the investment group will just be part of the shareholding.  I will remain as chairman.  There won’t be any major dramatic difference.”

JP: “The stories that we read in the newspapers about Russian investment.  What was that all about?”

BK: “Stories in newspapers.  Simple as that.  There might well have been Russian interest at the start and I saw the story in the Sunday Times too and I saw the names mentioned and in fact I met the son of the man mentioned but nothing more than that. Story in a newspaper.”

JP: “Has it calmed down in the Boardroom?”

BK: “It’s all calmed down.  I’ve never talked about boardroom level and I never will.  I think it’s all calmed down now and I just want to get on with what Everton Football Club is all about which is supporting the manager and that’s what I’ve always tried to do in the years I’ve been semi in charge there.”

JP: “It seems to me though Bill - and it must hurt you – because you’ve put so much into the club, a club you’ve supported for the best part of fifty years and it must have really pained you…..”

BK: “It was a horrible summer that I think I’ve mentioned several times.  And it brought a lot of hurt and a lot of pain like it would to any Evertonian who was faced with what I was being faced with.  And some of the nonsense that was being said and yeah it did hurt me.  It was very hurtful.  But you know football’s an odd game and you’ve got to bounce back. 

"The only contribution I felt I could make was a little bit of dignity and just working twenty four hours a day.  It was a difficult summer for everyone at Goodison.  One forgets the staff at Goodison who, you know, had trouble times and certainly David Moyes.  I think more than anything this summer was a real bonding period for him and for myself.  We’ve had two and a half extraordinary years of real friendship but during the summer it became even deeper.  He certainly, I know, proved everyone absolutely wrong in the negative predictions about the club during the close season and I hope maybe I’ve done my bit too.

"My main real feeling of absolute confirmation is with David Moyes and what he’s done.  He had a difficult start to the season, a dreadful end to last season – he knew what had to be done this season and he went out and he did it.  There’s a great deal to be said for the kind of squad he’s got at the moment because they are playing for their manager and for that blue jersey.  That’s what every Evertonian wants to see, to go to a game like the Portsmouth game yesterday and to see five men behind the ball every time a Portsmouth player gets it.  And to see Lee Carsley flinging himself at a blocked ball.  Tim Cahill doing the same.  David Weir doing the same.  Alan Stubbs with a bandage on. 

"You could go through the entire eleven players and say every one of them was a hero but they have been all season.  I keep on thinking Rudyard Kipling at the moment.  My favourite poem, “If a man can look at success and failure and treat both those imposters as the same then he’ll be a stronger man, my son….”  I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I need an operation to take the smile off my face.  I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I gaze at that league table, Jonathan, I just gaze at it and gaze at it and gaze at it.  It’s probably the most magical sight in the world at the moment to me.”

JP: “Can it get better, in the January shop window – you have the money from Wayne Rooney don’t you….”

BK: “Yeah”

JP: “You have dealt with a certain amount of debt and you do have this investment.  What sort of level of signing will Everton be making?”

BK: “Look, I’m not going to be telling you the amount of money David’s got but David knows the amount of money he’s got and he’s very happy with it.  We have to look at fresh faces in January.  We have to look at fresh faces in the summer.  But we also know that there’s a small squad of nineteen or so players there at the moment and you don’t in any way want to effect what he has created by talking big money here.  Now that is not the chairman trying to back out of the fact that the manager has to have money to spend.  That is the chairman saluting the manager and his players and saying listen, what we’re going to do is support that in January and we’re going to support it in the summer.  Can it get better? Please God!”

JP: “Meanwhile young Wayne is going to play a part, we believe, for Manchester United in his first Champions League match tomorrow. What are your thoughts on that, Wayne Rooney?”

BK: “Good luck to the boy.  You have to.  He’s given me an awful lot of thrills over the last two and a half years and I’ve watched him like every Evertonian and we were so thrilled when he was in that blue jersey and I think you just have to say he’s moved on.  He desperately wanted to move on.  He desperately wanted to join Manchester United, he’s done it.  I wish him success and I hope we beat Manchester United when they come to Goodison.”

JP: “Are you a little bit upset the way that it all ended…….some of the fans reaction?”

BK: “I’m a bit upset about a lot of things.  But in the main I know that every football club has a true beating heart of thousands and thousands and thousands of fans who know what’s good and know what’s right.  Everton does too.  For every one who maybe questioned there are thousands who know what goes on.  And you just have to keep telling yourself.  You’ve just got to wake up in the morning and know you’re going to do the right thing and go to bed at night thinking well at least I did the right thing.  I would never do anything……….you know this and I know this…….. and I think every Evertonian knows this.  I would never do anything that would harm my football club.  It’s not in me.  I would rather walk away.  I’d rather be back in the boy’s pen.  All I want to do is support Everton both as a chairman and as a fan.  That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was six years old.  It’s a privilege and it’s always been a privilege for me to be an Evertonian.  It’s as simple as that.”

JP: “Bill, you know I’m not an Everton fan but I grew up loving Harvey, Kendall and Ball.  And quality like that.  I’ve watched what you’ve done at the club and congratulations for the start you’ve had.  Thank you very much for talking to me tonight – I just wish you hadn’t beaten Bristol City in the Carling Cup.”

BK: “That was a close one…..”

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