Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

No need to panic, not yet!

By David   Robinson  ::  27/08/2011   49 Comments (»Last) The recent leaking of the transcript of a meeting between Bill Kenwright and representatives of the Blue Union has caused a storm around Goodison Park. The mood was already bleak with many fans angry at Kenwright for the lack of transfer funds afforded to David Moyes this summer, but the lid was blown off the pot with the release of the minutes.

Everton are angry, insisting that all sides agreed to keep the meeting confidential, and many fans have turned against the movement. But many think leaking the transcript was the right thing to do, and that Kenwright is dragging the club down. Whatever your opinion, the fact is that the meeting lifted the lid on some very interesting truths about the state of Everton FC.

When Kenwright took the club over from Peter Johnson 12 years ago, we were in a precarious situation, both on and off the pitch. Years of mismanagement had left the club on the brink of relegation and on the verge of administration. Fast forward to today and, while the situation on the pitch is much different, financially it does seem like the club is being held together by sticky-back plastic and the good intentions of a few.

The debt Kenwright took over from Johnson has been renegotiated to a much more manageable yearly sum, but income is still outstripped by expenditure to the tune of £5million per year. Everton?s bankers, Barclays, have by all intents and purposes been accommodating but have decreased the club's overdraft to £25million and have seemingly been putting pressure on Kenwright to sell one of our star players to service the debt. Kenwright himself claims to have remortgaged his house and taken out a £10million loan for the club, which, if true, is a measure of the man.

The Blue Union accuse Kenwright of standing in the way of progress. They claim he has failed, on two occasions, to build the club a new stadium, and that he has failed in his bid to find a new owner for the club. They also suggest that some fans believe that he is diverting money from the balance sheet. It has also been suggested to me that he had full knowledge that the transcript was to be released, and that there was no such confidentiality agreement in place, and that the club is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Evertonians by claiming otherwise.

I certainly don't doubt the intentions of the Blue Union, and their determination to take action to further the Everton cause is admirable. And there are certainly questions to be answered. Kenwright hasn?t done himself any favours with his silence on some of the fans' concerns. He has lauded Keith Harris, the man appointed with finding the club a new buyer, yet this is the man who nearly sold the club to a trickster from a single-bed flat in Manchester, and whom David Gill, the Manchester United CEO, said would go anywhere for publicity. There is also the matter of the £25million "Other operating costs" of the club, which Kenwright seemed unable to explain at the meeting, although the club claim this is largely due to the new Finch Farm training complex.

The question of whether there was an agreement in place to keep the details of the meeting confidential can easily be answered by the Blue Union releasing the unedited version of the minutes from the tape (there is definitely a tape as this level of conversational detail didn?t come from memory). The fact that they haven?t, to me, speaks volumes.

Personally, I firmly believe Kenwright saved the club. He took over at our lowest ebb and, along with others, prevented the club from slipping into administration. He appointed Moyes, and then stuck by him when many fans were demanding his head, and they continue to have one of the best working relationships in the league. He has overseen the building of the state-of-the-art training facility at Finch Farm and has developed a productive, close-knit relationship with sponsors Chang. His dedication to the club, as the Blue Union admit, is not open to question. He has been unbelievably unlucky with the Kings Dock and Destination Kirkby projects, both of which he invested considerable time, money and effort into.

I also believe that he has taken the club as far as he can, and he himself has said publicly for years now he wishes to sell to the right buyer. But as Kenwright says, we are in the middle of a severe global financial crisis. Buyers for football clubs are few and far between. Those clubs that have been bought either have brand new stadiums (in some cases that they didn?t even pay for), or have been taken over by those so rich that the financial crisis barely bothers them. The former includes clubs such as Blackburn and Sunderland, while the latter include Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United. Man City fall into both categories. The fact is that very few people are interested in buying a club with an ageing stadium and substantial debts, so quite whom Everton fans see taking over from Kenwright is unclear.

There are other members of the board who should perhaps be attracting more criticism than Kenwright. Robert Earl underwrote loans for the club and brings, according to Kenwright, considerable marketing experience, but has yet to actually invest any money. Likewise Jon Woods has not, as far as anyone is aware, invested any money since the takeover from Johnson. There are also some extremely wealthy individuals (Lord Granchester and Phillip Green, billionaires both) around the club who, for one reason or another, don?t wish to invest. Perhaps Kenwright should be more persuasive in his endeavours to get one of them to part with some cash, but Kenwright seems to be the only one who has invested any substantial money into the club.

The lack of a new ground is a severe hinderance to the club finding a new owner. Goodison is a grand old stadium with a great atmosphere and a distinguished history, but there is no scope for expansion, and matchday revenue is unsustainably low. There has been plenty of finger-pointing about why the previous stadium projects have fallen through, but one thing is clear ? there needs to be a new push for a new stadium, preferably in co-operation with Liverpool City Council. The Football Quarter scheme looks an interesting proposition that would re-develop the local area around the current ground. For the club to be able to afford this though, investment would be needed.

Everton fans are frustrated because they see clubs around them spending, whilst we are currently the only club without a summer signing. This is, of course, understandable. Clubs such as Sunderland have signed several big names this summer, while rivals Liverpool, Chelsea and both Manchester clubs have spent huge. It is worth mentioning though that £250 million of the £350 million spent in the Premier League this summer has been from these five clubs; Tottenham and Stoke have so far spent nothing, whilst a further eight clubs have spent under £10million each. Sides like Aston Villa, Newcastle and Arsenal, as well as Spurs if they lose Modric, will be significantly weaker this season that last season, whereas Everton still have the same squad that finished last season so strongly (with the addition of Ross Barkley). It is true, of course, that this all could change during the remainder of the transfer window.

Aside from the club's financial situation, there is much to be optimistic about at the club. We have one of the best managers in the league, who has built a top squad with a fantastic work ethic and a great team spirit who have been together for several seasons, and an excellent backroom staff. We have many in-demand players, the vast majority of whom are under long-term deals, and at least four of whom ? Jagielka, Rodwell, Fellaini and Baines, are valued at at least £15million. Our midfield scored more goals than any other Premier League side, other than Man Utd, last season, and we have two current England internationals in our defence.

It is certainly the case that we are light up front but Beckford finished last season strongly, and Saha has had a full pre-season for once. I actually fancy Big Vic to have a good season, and with the attacking prowess we have from midfield, particularly from Tim Cahill, goals may not be so much of an issue. Much depends on how Mikel Arteta plays this season, as his guile and craft could be crucial if we are to do well.

The major plus for Everton is, yet again, the youth system. For years we?ve had one of the most productive youth programmes in the Premier League, and last years emergence of Seamus Coleman and Jack Rodwell was a highlight. This year, it seems that Ross Barkley is the latest to roll off the production line. He may have come through sooner but for a double leg break on England duty last season, and his performances at the start of this season have been hugely promising, leading to an England Under-21 call up for the 17-year-old midfielder.

Also looking to break into the first team will be Magueye Gueye, who had a fantastic pre-season prior to his injury, and reserve team captain Jose Baxter has bags of promise and will also be hoping to step up. There are several players from last season?s triumphant Academy Under-18 side who certainly have the potential to make the grade, namely Conor McAleny, Jake Bidwell and Eric Dier. Dier in particular looks like a special player, and we have an option to sign him at the end of the season, which we should take up at all costs. Two players who missed the Academy final as they were on England duty, John Lundstram and Hallam Hope, have been touted in the national media as future stars.

The future for Everton will be the youth of the club. When you have a quality youth system, as we do, this is a good thing, but we do need some investment in the team to complement it. We don?t need to spend a fortune, and to be honest I don?t want a billionaire sugar daddy to bankroll the club. I see what is happening at Man City, and what has happened at Chelsea, and it makes me feel empty. Buying success, for me at least, is not a satisfactory way to run a club, and besides, new Uefa rules concerning the way clubs are run and the amount of debt they can hold means this type of business model won?t be viable in the future anyway.

What we need is someone who will invest enough to help the club into a new stadium and to clear the majority of our debts; these acts alone would free up enough money to give Moyes a decent transfer budget each season. However, this level of investment, while not excessive, is going to be difficult to come across in today?s financial environment, and fans need to understand and accept this. The gloom around the club, even factoring in the opening day defeat to QPR, is unwarranted, unjustified, and the fans really need to pull together for the sake of the team.

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