The Decline and Fall of Everton FC

The Sky deal has risen exponentially as has the media potential of the EPL. The club is being ran as an old boy's club instead of a business. I'd love to see the league tables of off-field income with other clubs in comparison, our corporate offerings are abysmal. Do we rent out the stadium for non-footballing events such as meetings? Do we offer the stadium up for small concerts or as televising points for other bigger concerts that are sold out? Anyone ever wondered if there is a market for a venue selling much cheaper tickets for a televised concert that provides refreshments and a crowd atmosphere without the cost of the main venue?

BK deserves a great deal of flack for his atrocious running of the club, the buck does most certainly stop with him, any challenges such as the AGMs and EGMs were denied thanks to him and his board who closed rank.

I agree that Everton has never stepped up following an opportunity but repeating that shameful mistake ad nauseam doesn't make it right. Change the organ grinder and let's see if we can have a new tune, new ideas... and new hope.

(i) In the period 1970 - 2011 Liverpool FC have grown to become a real global football brand and completely overshadow Everton. They can command investors queing at their door and, even in times of complete despair (last 12 months) they still have the ability for someone to come in and stick £2-300m in their cupboards. Everton haven't got the brand image to do likewise, particularly in the shadow of Liverpool. One-city clubs like Blackburn, Sunderland, Newcastle have managed to attract investors, but any significant investor won't touch Everton whilst Liverpool are doing well. I know Man City got their billionaire but they already had their £250M new ground ? we haven't.

(ii) I do feel that Liverpool City itself has lost its glamour, uniqueness it had back in the 60s, 70s and has lost out big time to London and Manchester. After decades of fighting a loosing battle with various Governments, we have lost out big time in financial developments, particularly in the sporting/infrastructure areas, and we are ? for want of a better term ? "a working-class City" with little or no chance of Everton attracting local financial support either from increased revenues streams, corporate usage, council support.

I live in the South now and just had to fork out £48 for a poor seat at a game at Fulham I was asked to attend for someone's 60th Birthday. My mates in Liverpool complain about paying £30-35. Just think what a 40-50% rise in gate revenues could do...

Anyway, summing up, I don't see an easy way forward for Everton. I was hoping that Moyes could get us into the CL on a shoestring budget... but that's not going to happen. I also see our peer clubs ? Spurs, Aston VIlla ? overtake us, with also Sunderland, Newcastle, West Ham doing likewise with outside investement.

The only possible way we can compete in the future is something like this Portsmouth Pub Landlady winning her case in the European Courts and suddenly Sky loose 80% are their revenues and pull out from their £2bn support of the Premier League and clubs will start to loose out big time with investors. Will that happen ? who knows!?!

I doubt however that it will cause BSkyB too many problems. It would be interesting to know excatly how much revenue they do get from their pub trade as compared to their home licences for live football. They will most likely abandon their dual-pricing for home/pub screening.

At the moment, individual clubs cannot show their games "live" on TV or the Internet, unless they are the BSkyB designated TV game. This is supposedly to protect the gate of the clubs concerned.

If BSkyB does suffer a drop in revenue, one effect may well be that clubs are allowed to market their games individually for live TV and/or the internet. This might in turn lead to a reduction in ticket prices to encourage people to go to the game, rather than sit at home and watch it on TV, with any revenue loss offset by worlwide sales of each and every game.

Watch this space... now where've I heard that before?

Remember also that in the 1970's both Billy Bingham and Gordon Lee built teams that came close to being Champions but again a lack of further investment in quality squads meant a missed opportunity yet again. BK is not to blame for everything but the current problems have happened on his watch and he seems both powerless and uninterested to do anything about them.

Totally agree with posts saying it is Kenwright's fault. In business the collapse of a company means the buck stops with the chairman. If Kenwright cares about our great club he would sell up... but I personally believe Green holds the shares and is the one holding all the cards.

I recall our neighbours excelling in this area Rush, Keegan, Clemence, Neal, Thomson, Hughes etc etc etc. It's one of the reasons I won't have the financial excuse, in fact it's bollocks.

However, I'm fairly sure I'm right in saying John Moores never put any money into the club apart from his shares purchase. What he did do was provide security for our expenditure and considerable business acumen alied to a ruthless determination to succeed.

I well remember how our board back in the 60s dismantled a great side and let Collins go who went on to become a huge star at Leeds Utd. We have NEVER invested or had any sort of continuity and that's where Shankley and Paisley scored big time.

We have throughout our history lacked consistency through poor management and quite possibly greed by board members... that's where Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal have all gained popularity around the world. They have always invested and created stability... we never have.

Title and cup wins have always been followed by demise as the team has usually been broken up shortly afterwards.

He has NOT sought a buyer and has tried to take us out of our city so he could sell at an inflated price to line his own pockets. I fucking despise the man for what he HASN'T done for Everton and I have only scratched the surface of that man's failings.

2. Harder to explain is the underachievement between 1966 FA Cup and 69-70, when that team was at the peak of its powers AND still had a few years of Alex Young. Anyone who has seen that amazing archival film of us completely dismantling the great Man U side in the year of their European Cup triumph can only wonder why we didn't win more (How did we finish only 5th that year?).

3. For those who tend to think of the mid-80s as an exception to the general rule of long-term misery and mediocrity, we should remember that for the better part of nearly 20 years, a stretch from 73-74 to 90-91, we finished outside the top 10 only THREE times, finishing in the top 5 no less than 7 times. I would guess only the RS had a better record over that time.

4. Our only period of true sustained crapness is from 91-92 until 01-02, when we somehow managed only one top 10 finish. We have of course finished outside top 10 only twice since.

Perhaps it all still adds up to a picture of long-term decline punctuated by occasional triumphs. Or perhaps we should look at the 90s as the exception to an otherwise pretty sustained period of competitive performance by a consistently good club, going back all the way to the year my birth (1962), however worrisome the future may look.

Wigan earned £37 mill which accounts for 81% of their revenue so there are other clubs who will be hit hard by it as well but don't think the Sky bubble bursting will help us, it will leave us further behind.

Dave (2), you are using The Echo Arena to emphasise your point. The irony.