The Rob Fox Column
Columnist: Rob Fox

The Reckoning
24 August 2005

Welcome to the occupation

Last Sunday we went to the Reebok stadium, put up a very resilient display, restricting Bolton to 3 shots on target, and made the most of the one clear cut chance that came our way.  Yes, they had a lot of shots off target but a lot of that was down to the way we defended, ensuring they didn’t get clear sights at goal.  Tactically, we were spot on, the only downside being the players inability to retain possession for long enough to give our overworked defence a breather, but then Bolton are, like us, adept at pressing the ball and closing down space.

All in all, an excellent result, which I suspect will be put into perspective as the season goes on and Bolton steamroller the majority of teams who visit the Reebok this season.  As I finish this, we have just been knocked out of the Champions League.  How much impact this result will have on our long term future is open to debate, but many Evertonians are adamant that the club has not done enough to build a squad to withstand the challenges facing us this season.  If you believe the club has performed poorly in the transfer market this summer, then clearly somebody has to be culpable.  Once again, many Blues are divided on this – is it Kenwright, Wyness or Moyes who are to blame, or all three?

Second Guessing

Our lack of spending has re-ignited suspicions of, as some would describe it, smoke and mirrors on behalf of Everton Football Club.  Despite Moyes’s and Wyness’s insistence that it is has been the manager’s choice not to spend all of the money available to him yet, many Blues feel let down and believe that the reason Moyes isn’t spending is because he has little to spend at the moment, especially now our Champions League fate has been decided by Pierluigi Collina. 

The debate is pretty straightforward on the message boards.  Some Evertonians believe that Moyes calls the shots and is simply building steadily and wisely, others that we have shown a customary lack of ambition in not investing more heavily to capitalise on our unexpected opportunity in the Champions League.  Whilst there are valid reasons for being cautious many Blues put forward a plausible case for being bolder in the transfer market.  To be fair, on tonight’s evidence, to be overly critical of Moyes at the moment would seem churlish.  Whether a couple more signings in good time would have made the crucial difference we will never know.

Automatic for the people

The argument is that we need quality and we should simply pay the going rate to get it.  Fair comment, but if we had taken a few financial risks on signings, we would still be competing with other teams who do the same.  Given that a Champions League place is the only real guarantee of a significant return on the pitch, and we are simply one of around 8 or 9 teams with the same aspirations for next season, this is obviously a risky policy.

Tottenham fans seem to believe that Edgar Davids will pay for himself in terms of increased merchandise sales.  Perhaps, but if we had signed him we would be largely tapping into our loyal fan base for this extra income.  A sudden proliferation of Everton shirts with DAVIDS on the back would seem to vindicate this policy.  In truth, the vast majority of such people would have bought a shirt anyway, perhaps with DAVIES on the back instead.  As far as I am aware D’s are no more expensive than E’s. 

Fables of the reconstruction

The simple fact is the majority of Evertonians already give a huge proportion of their disposable income to the club anyway.  So, yes, we may have seen an increase in sales of merchandise, but perhaps not by as much as we would hope.  Our worldwide profile would not be significantly raised to suddenly attract hordes of new Evertonians with cash to spend on merchandise and our existing fan base is already being bled dry.  Like it or not, a major part of any CEO’s brief is to exploit the existing customer base to its full potential. 

David Moyes has carefully nurtured an excellent team spirit and he is a pragmatic man.  When considering a player, I am certain that his only considerations are the player’s value to the team and ability to fit into our ethos.  He is on the record as saying we are not ready for a superstar, by which I think he means he is not interested in a showbiz signing.  We are about the team, not individuals and I think Moyes would need an awful lot of convincing otherwise, and I doubt Wyness would try to do so anyway.  Any signings will be based on football considerations, nothing else.

Feeling Gravity’s Pull

The entrepreneurial spirit, and willingness to speculate to accumulate, has made some people very rich and some hugely successful businesses have been built on this approach.  Conversely, it has also bankrupted many more.  There is no escaping the fact that a risk, no matter how well calculated, carries the possibility of two opposing outcomes – success and failure.  Whilst the rewards of success are undoubtedly great, you must be willing to accept the consequences of possible failure. 

The alternative approach to developing a business is steady growth, increasing your market share and gradually becoming a major player.  This route is undoubtedly harder, and there will inevitably be points when it becomes difficult, or even impossible, to grow further within the market.  At this point you can accept your position, take increased risks or move into other markets. 

Can’t get there from here

In practice, bold entrepreneurs who take risks tend to succeed in areas where there is a niche that nobody has filled.  In a congested market, it is more difficult to succeed with this approach.  Football clearly falls into the latter category.  The business of Everton Football Club can only grow by eating into existing markets.  Unfortunately there are only so many ways in which a football club can progress. 

If all of this seems a bit dry, I apologise but my point is this.  There are few niches, or loopholes, or alternative markets for Everton to exploit.  Whilst it is accepted wisdom that a club’s potential can be measured by their financial strength, there are only a few avenues for clubs to explore in order to increase their revenue.  We have no choice but to work within the congested market we find ourselves in, competing against every other club for the finite amount of money available.

Find the river

About a year ago I wrote an article for Toffeeweb called Fortress Goodison which looked in some depth at the ways in which Everton can move forward and grow as a business.  The formula is fairly simple.  The ultimate goal is success on the pitch and the more money available to the manager will theoretically increase this likelihood.  The problems for all football clubs is generating this money, and then finding the right man to spend it.

The options for Everton, and any club who has to work on a tight budget, are as follows.  We can attract greater investment into the club, increase our gate revenue, increase sales through merchandising, increase our prize money through success on the pitch, or branch out into other areas. 

Stand

Fortress Goodison focused on ways in which we could grow as a club, but the general conclusion was that we find ourselves in something of a Catch-22 situation.  In order to significantly increase our revenue streams we need to invest in the infrastructure of the club to make a significant difference.  Of course, without increasing our revenue we lack the money to invest in improving our infrastructure.

Economies of scale dictate that the more money you have the more you are able to make.  Comparing our revenue to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool highlights our problems.  With Arsenal, already streets ahead of us, preparing to move to Ashburton Grove, we are stuck at an antiquated stadium with few options for improvement and no foreseeable opportunity of building a new stadium. 

Talk about the Passion

At present, Keith Wyness is charged with increasing revenue, and the key areas in which he can make quick progress are gate revenue and merchandise sales.  The first problem facing him is the nature of Everton’s fan base.  We are still predominantly supported by working class people who have a long tradition as Evertonians.  With limited incomes, there is only so much money the club can squeeze out of us no matter what they do. 

A further complication is the passionate nature of our support and our protectiveness of our tradition.  The slightly comical denouncement at the AGM of Chris Samuelson for not knowing his history highlights this.  Most of us are torn between keeping our identity as a club and opening up to embrace the game football has become.  The culmination of such a dilemma has already happened at the other end of the East Lancs with some Manchester United fans, in actual fact a very small proportion of their support, setting up an alternative FC United due to their feeling of alienation by what their club has become.  So far, they appear to have done little, if any, damage to the Glazers.

Shiny Happy People

For Evertonians, these are strange times.  In many senses we believe that we belong in the exalted company that Champions League football will bring, yet we also feel like usurpers.  We are aware that the game, and the profile of the average supporter, has changed whilst we have stood still for so long and now we feel slightly out of place where we used to belong.  The dress code has changed and we are still wearing the same old clothes.

All of this makes it difficult for the club to grow.  Goodison is our ground, yet loyal fans are being unceremoniously moved to make way for the prawn sandwich brigade.  Sadly this is a fact of life which we will just have to get used to, uncomfortable as it may seem to some.  The game has changed beyond all recognition since we last won the league and we have a lot of ground to make up.

Half a world away

At this point it is worth comparing ourselves to the clubs we are hoping to match.  Manchester United and Liverpool may be our most hated rivals, but in the eyes of the world they are the chosen ones, the glamorous clubs.  Worldwide they are, historically at least, the biggest and best known English clubs without dispute.  This has allowed both clubs to survive long fallow periods without ever being too far away from the top. 

Chelsea and Arsenal complete the glamour set for different reasons.  Arsenal have a sound board but the key for them was the appointment of Arsene Wenger as manager.  In Chelsea’s case, they took huge risks that came close to crippling them, but were rescued by Roman Abramovich, allowing them to attract a manager of the calibre of Jose Mourinho.  Clearly location was part of Abramovich’s decision, along with the potential of the Chelsea Village project.  Newcastle and Middlesbrough are examples of other clubs who have come to the fore in the Sky era. 

World Leader Pretend

There are numerous reasons why each of these clubs has grown whilst we have floundered.  Some would contend that these clubs have outperformed us off the pitch due to having more ambition.  This is a contentious issue as it implies that spending money equates with ambition.  Under Peter Johnson, we spent a fair bit of money until the wheels fell off.  Walter Smith spent a fair amount of money under Bill Kenwright.  But of course, it was remiss of Kenwright to spend money we didn’t have.  At the time, though, few accused him or Smith of lacking ambition.

Taking Middlesbrough as an example, they have spent big but have clearly been bankrolled by an ambitious chairman.  Or perhaps he is just rich.  The implication is that Everton’s board lacks ambition because we are limiting our spending.  What happens if you are really ambitious but don’t have much money?

Time after time

Everton have been in decline since 1987, you could reasonably even argue that the decline began with the European ban in 1985.  Initially this was due to Colin Harvey’s failure to keep Everton at the pinnacle of football despite spending considerably.  Since then we have periodically splashed the cash to no avail.  The fact is whenever we have supposedly shown ambition by spending on players it is has failed due to the lack of a long term strategic plan.

When Bill Kenwright scraped together enough to buy the club in 1999, he inherited many problems.  Goodison and Bellefield had long since been surpassed as state of the art and received very little investment in the meantime.  We had a struggling squad and little money to strengthen it.  Oh, and we were also in debt.

You are the everything

Whilst Kenwright has undoubtedly made numerous high profile errors, the task he inherited should not be underestimated.  The infrastructure of the club required an entire overhaul whilst simultaneously stopping the club from leaking money.  In addition, we also had to attempt to improve the squad. 

The debate as to whether Kenwright is the right man for the job will rumble on and others have more facts to go on than I do, but in the here and now he is the man in charge.  I would contend that nobody could reasonably expect him to be able to manage the team so he employs somebody to do it for him.  Similarly, the day to day running of a football business is a specialist job and as such requires a specialist.  Keith Wyness and David Moyes are the men filling these positions and it is their performance that the board’s tenure will ultimately be judged upon. 

Pretty persuasion

Wyness’s priority is clearly to increase revenue to support David Moyes.  Whilst Moyes has been in the job long enough to have established the basis of his long term strategy, in many respects Wyness’s tenure is largely in its infancy and is difficult to judge yet.  So far he has worked to increase revenue through familiar means. 

Earlier I highlighted the methods of attracting revenue through gate money, merchandising and other areas such as credit cards and mortgages, areas which the club has moved into.  The problem is that this is primarily tapping into the existing fan base, who of course have a limited income.  The key is to attract new support, hence the attempt to exploit our partnership with Chang.

Maps and legends

In many respects, I’m sure David Moyes would have preferred a different pre-season, and it is widely accepted that the Thailand tour had a huge commercial bias.  Worldwide, there is phenomenal interest in football and these markets are ripe to be tapped into.  Quite how much revenue can really be generated this way is arguable, but for a club like Everton who don’t have the worldwide profile of other clubs, this is necessary groundwork in promoting the Everton brand.

Manchester United make huge amounts of money worldwide, a fair proportion in this country, from people who may never visit Old Trafford.  Wyness is attempting to tap into markets that are fluid, such as Thailand, but overall our profile is still negligible worldwide compared to many clubs. 

Losing my religion

In many respects this is the crux of the matter for Everton.  Going back to ways of increasing revenue, the two areas I have not focused on are attracting investment and success on the pitch.  In many respects these go hand in hand.  Theoretically, our increased profile due to reaching the qualifying rounds of the Champions League represented a great opportunity to pull up a chair at the top table. 

Of course, it’s not as simple as that.  Colm Kavanagh, amongst others, has recently delved into the murky waters of professional football, 2005.  Allegations of corruption are rife, and mistrust abounds.  The fact that so many of us were expecting Liverpool and Everton to be drawn together and are prepared to believe that the suspicion aroused, and suggested by David Moyes the day before the draw, caused them to change tack but still ensure we had as difficult a draw as possible highlights this.  Pierlugi Collina’s performance tonight has compounded this suspicion, although my rational self believes he was brought in as a result of the reaction to our supposedly over-physical approach in the first leg.  Let’s be kind, call him over fussy, and move on.

Begin the begin

Whatever you believe, there is little doubt that the G14 clubs carry huge influence in the game.  It is also clear that we do not have a profile that is likely to see us being invited to join in the near future.  The odds are hugely stacked against us being able to gatecrash the party.  In many respects, Villarreal are a perfect example of the way forward for Everton. 

Let’s be honest, most of us knew little about our Spanish opponents before the draw was made.  Having been a middle of the road Spanish team, in the past few years they have become a major force in La Liga and have two good Uefa Cup campaigns behind them.  I am still hopeful we can get the result in Spain, but it is clear that they have gradually built up to this opportunity and are, at present anyway, seemingly better equipped than us to make an impact in the Champions League.

Even if we had managed to beat them, they will probably be competing for a place again next season in any case.  For us, the question is whether this is a once in a lifetime chance or whether we can qualify again in the future.  The general feeling amongst Evertonians seems to be that qualifying again will be very difficult.  Comparing our transfer dealings this summer to those of our rivals is the crux of where many Blues have their doubts about are chances, and ambitions, of repeating last season’s feat.

Perfect circle

This brings us back to where we came in.  Just how ambitious are Everton Football Club?  There is no question that we have invested less in the team than most of our rivals over the last few years.  In  http://www.toffeeweb.com/season/05-06/comment/rob/01-expects.asp I compared our present squad to the squad David Moyes inherited and overall the income and expenditure from transfers pretty much evens out over the 3 years of his tenure.

In comparison, the likes of Newcastle, Tottenham and Middlesbrough have consistently spent heavily.  It is only since the sale of Wayne Rooney that we have begun to spend big.  So, whilst we have spent more on transfers this summer than those 3, if not on wages, it is largely off the back of the Rooney money.  Tottenham, for example, have brought in the likes of Defoe, Keane, Kanouté, Davis, Reid, Dawson and £8m worth of Dean Richards for big money on a consistent basis.  Not all have succeeded, but they have been able to continue to spend regardless.

Star 69

In Fortress Goodison, I traced our downward spiral since 1985, which can be partly attributed to mismanagement both on and off the pitch.  Successive managers have invested money in the squad that has ultimately been wasted.  The obvious culprits are the likes of Bilic and Williamson, but injuries happen.  On the other hand, the likes of Nyarko are simply down to poor recruitment. 

I would argue that the likes of Bakayoko should not be classed as a huge failure because we recouped our money, whereas the likes of Cottee and Nevin, who don’t forget were signed to help us regain the title, were failures because they didn’t achieve what was expected of them in the long term and were sold for much less than they were bought.  But, that’s football, and all transfers carry a risk.  In Moyes we have a manager who always attempts to minimise that risk.

Bang and blame

Off the pitch, we have failed to arrest the slide in business terms for many years.  The major investments have been the megastore and the Park End stand, both under Johnson, and although I would assume they have paid for themselves and made a profit they are drops in the ocean as we have fallen further behind our competitors.

In terms of team investment, it has been boom and bust.  Colin Harvey, Mike Walker, Joe Royle and Walter Smith were all given cash to spend, but ultimately weren’t able to attain, or in Royle’s case sustain, success on the pitch.  Consequently, each period of spending has been followed by a period of cost cutting, for example with Howard Kendall having to balance the books after Harvey’s sacking.

Low

Under Peter Johnson, we did continue to spend, but again lack of success on the pitch meant we couldn’t sustain it, culminating in the sale of Duncan Ferguson.  Fast forward, and Walter Smith again found his team building plans hampered by ultimately having to sell the team he bought due to the collapse of the NTL deal.  To most independent observers Smith’s reign, as Walter was always ready to remind us all, was a period of cutting corners, working on a shoestring, and selling the family silver to keep afloat.

When Bill Kenwright took over the club he inherited a debt, poor facilities and huge expectation.  He also readily admitted that he had little money left over to invest in the infrastructure of the club.  Since then, our fortunes have largely rested on the shoulders of Walter Smith and David Moyes.  Bill Kenwright stored plenty of faith in Walter Smith during his tenure, despite Smith’s constant references to lack of money.  To be fair, at the time, most Blues seemed understanding of both Smith’s, and Kenwright’s, plight. 

Try not to breathe

There is no doubt that Bill Kenwright walked into a very difficult scenario.  Whilst he has undoubtedly made many mistakes along the way, most Evertonians point to the growth in our debt as the major factor of his reign.  The Smith years were also synonymous with the dour and remote Michael Dunford, who seemingly became Chief Executive by default.

By the time Trevor Birch arrived, in the midst of the Rooney saga, it was clear that major surgery was required to repair the club’s financial problems.  The problem with debt is that it is extremely easy to continue to compound the problem and extremely difficult to turn it around, especially in a highly competitive market where your competitors are investing in their business whilst you are treading, or drowning in, water. 

Drive

The identities of our direct competitors have fluctuated since the 1980s.  A general barometer of our standing is the clubs we are bracketed with in the transfer market.  Since the signing of Tony Cottee we have never really been bracketed with the mythical ‘Big 5’.  For a while it was Leeds and Villa, fellow big clubs who have underachieved, then it was the likes of Southampton, then whoever were favourites for relegation.  Finally, we are being bracketed with the second tier of the Premiership below the top 3 once again.  Supporters have been forced to adapt, and but for fate we may well be in Sheffield Wednesday’s position of being bracketed with the likes of Stoke and Burnley, or worse.

Under Smith and Dunford we stayed afloat, just.  We had come to, reluctantly, accept survival and maybe a cup run as a decent season.  A top half finish was a barely uttered hope, a mythical stadium our long term salvation.  Wayne Rooney and David Moyes changed all that.  Under Smith, Rooney would have undoubtedly been expected to be sacrificed as a cash cow.  Under Moyes, with his drive and desire, we began to believe again.  Suddenly, Kenwright was under pressure to respond by ensuring we kept Rooney and Moyes by supporting the manager’s plans with hard cash.  It is easy to paint the picture of Kenwright as being quite happy to see the club just tick along, but the fact is it is he who appointed the clearly ambitious and driven Moyes.

Exhuming McCarthy

I have little doubt that Bill Kenwright is a passionate Evertonian.  I also have little doubt he is sometimes economical with the truth.  Quite how economical at times I have no real idea.  Whether his motives now are self preservation or a desire to make Everton great again are also open to debate.  At times, the persecution of the man in some quarters resembles a witch hunt, and again the motives of his biggest critics are also open to debate. 

Sometimes the criticism of Kenwright seems justified, at other times harsh.  It is the same with David Moyes and Keith Wyness.  You might as well add Alessandro Pistone and James Beattie to the list.  That comes with the territory.  The reaction of supporters to our win over Bolton highlights that some people will always be cynical and negative, but it is too easy to simply stereotype all of Kenwright’s critics as miserablists who will never be happy.  Rooney, of course, was sold, and the debate as to the reasons why still rumbles on.

King of comedy

As an Evertonian, I have no inside brief, only what I see on the pitch, hear from those at the club and read in the media.  Others who have had closer dealings with the club’s hierarchy will be better informed to make a judgement, but that does not necessarily mean they will make the right one.  Very little in life is clear cut.  Bill Kenwright undoubtedly has failings, but on the surface he seems preferable to the majority of autonomous chairmen such as Doug Ellis and Rupert Lowe, and certainly preferable to the odious Freddy Shepherd.

On the other hand, it is hard to be critical of Steve Gibson, and it is hard to dislike Simon Jordan.  Gibson of course continues to bankroll his club whilst it could be argued that Jordan’s principles got his side relegated.  Or perhaps Steve Gibson is simply a lot richer, or less principled, than Simon Jordan.  None of which, of course, helps Everton.  Last year the strain on Kenwright was clear to see, and the fact remains that the better Everton do on the pitch the easier his life is.  The lack of fuss about the disappearance of the Fortress Sports Fund at present is testament to this.

Let me in

All of this does highlight the difficulties in making a fair comparison between our board, which is effectively Kenwright, and other clubs.  Newcastle and Tottenham have a seemingly never ending supply of money and seem to be riding the stock market wave well enough.  It is yet, despite annual promises and declarations, to bring either club any tangible success. 

Tottenham are many people’s tip to ‘do an Everton’ this year and break into the top 6, or even top 4.  If they do it will be as much down to finally having a decent manager as anything else.  If they don’t it could be argued that it is because the manager isn’t that good after all.  That’s how it goes, and the margins are very fine. 

Catapult

Newcastle finished 4^th a few years back and continued to spend heavily to capitalise on this opportunity to challenge the top 3.  Last season they finished 14^th I won’t go into the huge amounts the kopites have wasted, sorry spent, in the last few years.  But of course they spawned, sorry won, the Champions League so that’s alright then.  How much it had to do with their manager’s experience in European football depends on who you ask. 

Charlton are most people’s choice of the epitome of a well run, progressive club.  They have got where they are by having a decent manager, growing steadily by using sound business practices and not over stretching themselves.  Oh, and one other precious commodity – patience.  This is something many Evertonians seem to be short of.

Sweetness follows

Our recent relative success on the field has served to only increase this impatience, putting more pressure on the board to deliver quickly.  A taste of the Champions League, no matter how bitter in the end, has made us even hungrier.  Having appointed Keith Wyness, Kenwright has taken more of a background role and is presumably happy with his current C.E.O.  It is difficult to judge Wyness’s performance as we are only really beginning to make the changes needed to increase revenue considerably. 

Going back to our options mentioned earlier, he has made the only real moves available to him at present in terms of increasing gate receipts, short of building a new stadium.  Whether he has gone too far will become clear in time.  In a business sense if gate revenue increases by a decent proportion he will be vindicated.  Obviously he has risked alienating some Blues, but he will be banking on our loyalty to the brand  - horrible word, but that’s football in 2005 - and hoping that continued success on the pitch will sweeten the medicine. 

Seven Chinese Brothers

Similarly, he is striving to increase merchandise sales from existing fans whilst attempting to attract new supporters.  In this fickle world, success on the pitch will always lead to some converts from other teams who may go out and buy a shirt, but are unlikely to go on to buy season tickets. 

The real areas where new fans can be attracted are of course in emerging markets such as Thailand and China.  Whilst it is questionable as to how much revenue can genuinely be attracted this way, from a football sense the implications of potentially recruiting young footballers from such countries is interesting, but again it is hard to judge how effective this can ultimately prove.

Strange currencies

This leaves two other ways forward – investment in the club and success on the field.  Ideally, the first would lead to the second.  In fairness, the club is probably more stable off the pitch now than it has been for a long time, and if Wyness is to believed we are now genuinely able to move forward, if tentatively.  Obviously a lot of this is down to the money generated by selling Rooney and our greater success on the pitch under Moyes.

Some Blues believe Kenwright’s main objective these days is to cling on to power at all costs, like a despot in some tin pot regime.  Allegedly he, and he alone, is the reason why there has been no major investment in Everton Football Club.  This implies that there are wealthy investors ready to pour money into our coffers if Kenwright is out of the way.  Really this throws up more questions than answers, and is the most troubling aspect of the whole Kenwright debate.

Man on the moon

There are only two legitimate reasons I can see why anybody would invest in a football club.  One is to make money, the other is to bring a club success.  The only other possible reason I can honestly see is to legitimise criminality – i.e.  money laundering.  Quite which category investors in other clubs fall into we can only surmise.  Are some clubs a rich man’s hobby or something more sinister? It is probably best to sidestep the Fortress Sports Fund at this juncture.

At Everton we have the archetypal businessman trying to make a profit in Paul Gregg and the supporter made good and desperate to see his side relive former glories in Bill Kenwright.  Whether that is a fair assessment I don’t know – other seem pretty certain in their views on this.  Whatever the truth, they are the here and now.  The question is, where are these potential investors? More pertinently, who are they? Are they Evertonians such as Lord Grantchester or mysterious businessman more akin to Lord Lucan?

I Believe

It is widely accepted that it is very hard to legitimately make money through investment in all but a select few clubs.  It seems clear that directors, as well as agents and even managers, at some clubs have made considerable money over the years by collecting payoffs during transfers.  Nice work if you can get it. 

It seems hard to imagine a legitimate, honourable, successful businessman buying into Everton with a view to make a lot of money by making the business a success, unless they had a vested interest, such as Bill Kenwright.  In other words, a genuine supporter. 

It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

If such a person, desperate to invest serious money in the club he or she loves, exists they must be extremely frustrated by now.  If such a person believes that Bill Kenwright can’t take the club forward financially on his own, I can’t understand why they would not have spoken up by now.  If Bill was co-operative in negotiating a takeover, or even in buying a significant shareholding, fine. 

If, on the other hand, Bill was distinctly uncooperative then surely, as Steve Morgan did with the kopites, such a person would have openly declared their intentions by now.  Obviously, this might herald more negative publicity, but surely that would be a risk you would have to take.  Let’s be honest, rumours of rich Evertonians wanting to invest have been circulating for a few years now.  I can’t believe they would still be patiently waiting for Bill to make his mind up, unless they were not as keen as we are sometimes led to believe.

Letter never sent

The Fortress Fund remains unexplained, and it is hard not to be suspicious of Kenwright over this.  It may genuinely be that Everton have been misled, or it may be a ploy by Bill to deter investors.  If so, surely if such a person, be it Paul Gregg or anybody else were to speak out and tell supporters exactly what was on the table it would be extremely difficult for Bill to shake off this time.  For some reason, this has yet to happen which is perhaps as mysterious as the Fortress Fund itself.

So, in the apparent absence of benevolent investors, or a billionaire wanting to launder some dirty money, we are left to pursue other forms of investment such as sponsorships, or business partnerships, as they are now called.  Whilst the Chang deal is reportedly the best sponsorship deal we have ever had it is the tip of the iceberg.  However, we return to the familiar catch-22.  We need to raise our profile to attract major business partners, but of course this is difficult to do without investment in the first place.

Monty got a raw deal

Which brings us to the last possible way of increasing revenue – success on the pitch.  Qualifying for the Champions League would immediately raise our profile, but not to the extent some might hope.  There are many teams across Europe who regularly play in the Champions League but who have not become major players as a result. 

Qualifying for the group stages then finishing bottom would have as many negative connotations as positive ones.  We would soon be forgotten, or remembered only as whipping boys.  To draw a parallel, what are your thoughts on Barnsley?  A lower league team who had one season of embarrassing themselves in the Premiership? Me too.

It could be argued that splashing the cash this summer would have given us a chance of doing well, but I am far from convinced.  Edgar Davids is a signing who would have raised our profile, but only slightly.  People are certainly taking a closer interest in Tottenham at the moment, but that will be short lived if they don’t maintain their early season form.  They were in a similar position when Jurgen Klinsmann was there – a superstar amidst a talented young squad.  Look what the Dogs of War did to them.

Good advice

There are absolutely no guarantees or safeguards in football at any level, least of all in the Premiership or European football.  The entrepreneurial, high risk strategy carries far more chance of failure than success, and in a congested market steady growth is a far more prudent strategy. 

We have gatecrashed the top 4 and the Champions League quite spectacularly.  David Moyes, and apparently also Keith Wyness, are seemingly more interested in building solid foundations to work from using sound business practices.  The jury may be out on Keith Wyness, but the fact is the manager is currently being given reasonable financial support for team building. 

Up

It would be easy to go for broke, but to me that would be a sign of desperation.  By not doing so, Wyness and Moyes seemingly both have the confidence in themselves to do their jobs well over a period of time.  When push comes to shove, Wyness’s job is simply to run a solid business which makes a profit, some of which needs to be reinvested in developing the infrastructure of the club.  Goodison, Bellefield and the academies all need to be developed or replaced, which are very costly projects to undertake.

In the meantime, we need to generate a surplus for David Moyes’s transfer funds either through the business side of the club or increased prize money through league placing and progress in domestic and European competition,  ideally from both sources.  This steady growth of the business and the team would in turn raise our profile gradually, and more importantly over a longer period of time, to attract higher profile business partners in return.

Green

Hopefully, in a few years we will have a huge shirt deal with Nike, be sponsored by Microsoft and be moving into the McDonald’s Goodison on the Waterfront Stadium.  Depending on your human rights viewpoint, that may sound more like a nightmare, but that is the reality of the situation football is in.  It is a big business, dominated by a few, extremely ruthless brands.  Success and exploitation go hand in hand.

At present we are jumping up and down outside the window hoping to be noticed, but of course most of us would never admit that.  It might make us feel dirty and ashamed to become corporate whores, but that is the only way to be successful these days.  This is the world David Moyes is determined to succeed in and there is no doubt it will be a gradual process.  Moyes is gradually being allowed to bring quality players in, but make no mistake we are still taking baby steps along the road to taking our place amongst the elite.

The wake up bomb

The harsh reality is we may never get there, but unless Abramovich wants to try another shade of Blue there is no magic wand.  Bill Kenwright may not be perfect, but there is always a danger in getting what you wish for and there are far worse alternatives to him.  Despite past errors, we seem to be gradually moving in the right direction, but it is early days. 

What is certain is that Evertonians will always have high expectations and Kenwright knows there is no avoiding that.  Moyes seems to have embraced it, and recent assurances over chasing top quality players is evidence of this.  Whether this is simply a message of reassurance to the fans, a warning to his existing players that they can’t rest on their laurels, or brinkmanship with selling clubs I don’t know. 

These Days

What I do know is that, regardless of tonight’s result, the heat is on and the club is under pressure to deliver.  So far, Moyes and Wyness seem to have faith in themselves to see the job through properly.  Let’s hope they are as good as their word, and let’s hope we have the patience to wait for them to reach their destination.

Overall, Evertonians are split not so much as to whether the glass is half empty or half full.  Most are more concerned as to whether the tap is dripping slowly in or whether there is a hole in the bottom.  Others are probably just happy if there is no Chang in the glass, but that’s another story.  I suppose a business partnership with Stella Artois is too much to ask. 

Whatever your view, tonight’s performance in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE is something positive, as is the news of more signings in the pipeline.  Some may say it’s a pipedream, but I’m not convinced the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE has seen the back of us for good.  Just one last time, just indulge me, that’s the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE I’m talking about.  I’m not sure too many are laughing at us anymore.

Rob Fox

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