Buying and Valuing a Football Club — Everton FC

A residual thought from reading this is how much will the ongoing debt cost the club and how much will be left for investment in the squad? The income we generate has to be greater than the interest on debts we are paying and that has to be sustainable.

Only when these details can be locked in with reasonable logical foresight can we feel that any offer is a good one. Your cool-headed impartial insights into that, Paul, are as accurate and good as we are going to get. I look forward to it as it's going to be a crystal ball type of article that sees into the club's future.

Also a sort of naive question: What sort of covenants can be attached to investors to protect the club from unscrupulous investors? After all, it is more than just a business, it is of the utmost historical and cultural importance to large swathes of the local community.

Speaking as a relative novice in such matters, is it likely that any such deal could be concluded before September? (Or indeed even earlier in August?)

Players return for pre-season in early July, and our manager will be doing his level best to bring in some new faces hopefully before the season kicks off. If any prospective takeover is still ongoing, that will surely lead to possible negative influences within the club.

Given all that you say that has to be done by any new owners, can a deal be done for September or even earlier in August? I would be interested to know your thinking on this.

Great article.

A comprehensive examination of the complexities of valuing a modern Premier League football club.

Correct me if I'm wrong but you seem to be saying £1Billion seems to be an over-optimistic figure for the valuation of the club and it will probably be closer to £650-£700 million that the club goes for?

I think for most supporters the actual sale figures will be immaterial provided that:

1) The cost of the new stadium is guaranteed; and

2) There's something left in the pot to fund the acquisition of new players.

I recognise that No 2 is problematic as it doesn't matter how wealthy the new owners are, we are still handicapped under FFP regulations as a result of our present financial situation.

I am encouraged, however, by Mr Thelwell's explanation of his transfer strategy for future acquisitions. It seems to be in accordance with what a lot of ToffeeWebbers have been saying for some time.

Whatever happens, I agree with you that timing is of the essence; the last day of the transfer window won't help much in the short run.

I think you left out an important point of valuation, the fact that the club has 3 large and successful other clubs (competitors) at its doorstep in the North-West. Newcastle was the sole big Premier League club in the North-East, alone in its city, while Chelsea is the most successful club in the capital over the last decade.

I think that alone would bring down the value of the club to potential investors.

I personally think that Moshiri, has got into the waters of having a forced sale, and just pray that, if he does end up keeping 20% of the equity, that will be it….

Whilst the new owners will take charge of everything else regarding Everton FC🤞

He cleared the debt and injected cash which was spent ineffectively by the same management. He then got involved in controlling recruitment costs and expenditure, adding to the problems.

Everton are now working in tandem with the officials of the Premier League Profit and Sustainability Committee to rectify the resulting losses. Having come to agreement with the Premier League Profit and Sustainabilty Committee, at the end of last season, it looked as if they may have had to then deal with the Football League Profit and Sustainability Committee, who looked less easy to deal with.

Thankfully relegation was avoided, but that period would have had an effect on Moshiri.

Moshiri has 80% of his shares up for sale because he doen't fancy taking on the risk of heading into another season to fight relegation and take on the risks alone of financing the new stadium. It might be also apparent that being subject to Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules require extra finance, since it is unlikely that extra income from a European place is possible, without being subject to Uefa Financial Fair Play Rules which may be more restrictive than Premier League rules.

Moshiri is holding on to 20% of his shares to recuperate part of his investment on the Stadium completion. He also is hoping he will receive a premium on selling 80% of his shares. The other Shareholder who probably dealt with the Premier League Profit and Sustainability Committee will have his say as well and be involved in the negotiations.

All of this is central to the takeover negotiations and is being hinted at in most statements on the negotiations.

Three points:

1) Do you think (as others have asked) we will be lumbered with debt, and if so, how debilitating will that be?

2) You rightly say each sale has unique circumstances: does not the position of the stadium in a regeneration area not add value? Indeed, is there any land there that EFC own to be included aside from stadium footprint?

3) Do you think it feasible that player acquisitions can indeed be funded from sponsorship, thereby conforming to FFP?

And a final question you do not have to answer: Has anybody from the club sought the benefit of your expertise, and if not, why not?

Clive, Moshiri's announcement in January that he had converted his £100 million loan into equity, taking his ownership share to 94.1%, means the club owes him no debt.

Another excellent expose of the current situation with regard to the takeover.

My hope is, no matter what the deal, we get an owner who shows the commitment and ability to get us back to the top table.

Paul, can you answer Clive's question?

Everton reveals growing debt, $158M loss in '21

That's the figure that I remember. But it could have been a whole lot more if Moshiri had not converted his loans into equity.

How £1Bn Everton valuation might not be so crazy to US investors

The standard of journalism is far higher than the normal footie crap and this analysis seems to be much more 'on the money' (ouch!) It shows a greater understanding of the American perspective — which will be important as that is where the money is coming from — rather than Paul's somewhat hidebound English business model.

It's by Dave Powell and follows on from the previous one I highlighted last weekend: An American view of Everton's investment potential

Presumably it is a given that any new owner would expect the club to maintain its Premier League status and that the business will produce a return on investment.

Given our current financial condition, there will be no ROI until we move into the new stadium so what do you perceive as the potential prize once that takes place?

I guess any potential investor will look at the return of investment potential. They will look at potential future profit margins.

It's interesting you mention capex. I now work in a managed services sector. I wonder how much we, or future owners, look at opex and outsourcing certain aspects of the operation? It is often more cost-effective than capex. But inevitably there will be a combination of both. That would be sensible in my opinion.

We do have a large customer base. But it can and should be larger. We need to build the brand. Not just beyond L4, but beyond the city of Liverpool. Beyond Merseyside. Beyond Cheshire and North Wales.

I have watched with interest at how Manchester City hasn't really caught on in the same way as our red cousins and Manchester United considering their success. Admittedly I'm only using London as a gauge.

Our international ToffeeWebers may have a different view. But we need to go national and then global to compete. I want my cake and to be able to eat it, so I still want to retain that Everton culture. But we can do both. People from all over the country and the world will buy into Everton once they realise the power of it.

This is a turnaround opportunity. But I thought that with Moshiri. Turn it around and be the club we should be. Especially with the new iconic stadium on the horizon.

Stop being cosy, comfortable little Everton. Grow this club commercially as well as on the pitch. The two will sit and grow hand in glove.

And as you allude to; do it now. Sooner rather than later. Let's go and disrupt the football world and annoy the pundits who play us down, continuously beat us into submission and unfortunately have convinced a generation that we should be happy with our lot.

No!

We are Everton. Eventually to become 10 times League Champions and beyond before my time is up.

I know there are a few obvious soundbites in there, but surely this time, we have finally learned our lesson. No room for sentiment this time. Be ruthless. Be Sir John Moores. At the time, changed when not good enough. Investment. Building an iconic stand to make Goodison a stand-out stadium in its now bygone day.

With the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock we have an opportunity. Grasp it. Don't waste it. But to do so, we need change.

The less actual cash handed over for the club itself, the more we will have to spend on the much needed squad re-alignment.

Perhaps the marketing potential that the stadium build offers has this American consortium licking their lips. One way or another, that waterfront will be unrecognisable 10 years from now.

That is why I don't think our owner is going to let it go as part of a fire sale somehow. My gut feeling is that, by the time we move into the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, he will have his money back and retain 20% of a club worth well North of the £1 billion being bandied about at the moment.

Come 1 July, I expect the sparks to fly on this and the transfer front.

For all the big accounting words and numbers in here, the author has overlooked the most obvious and basic economic fundamental of all.

Supply and demand.

There are twenty premier league clubs. There will only ever be twenty premier league clubs. Everton - despite our current managements best efforts - are one of those twenty clubs.

So we have a finite and very limited supply.

A simple Google has Forbes stating the number of billionaires in the world as 2,755 in 2021. This is a 127% rise in ten years from 2011 where Forbes put the figure at a mere 1,210 billionaires.
Not all or even most of these people wish to buy a Premier League team of course. But quite a few of them do. This is the demand side of the equation.

Voila. A forever finite and prestigious asset in an environment where more and more incredibly wealthy people every year have the funds to acquire one.
More or more people seeking to own a small and permanently limited number of assets.
What happens? What you might think happens. The price rises.

How does one make a profit ultimately though? One owns the asset for a time, allows the pool of people who desire to own it grow some more and then puts it up for sale. Your profit is in the scarcity of the asset itself and is reflected entirely in it's price.

It's that simple, and why the club will likely go for a valuation far north of what Paul believes it's "worth". The fact is the club is worth whatever you can get for it. Because there's only twenty premier league teams. And there will only ever be twenty of them.

It's very much the same for bitcoin. A scarcity limited asset with little utilitarian value and produces no revenue or income. Or indeed has any intrinsic value whatsoever.
Bitcoin achieved parity with the US dollar in 2011. That is, you could buy one a bitcoin for a buck. Yesterday one would have set you back a cool $21,100.
Why? The same reason. Supply and demand.

Paul has Dave as a guest on his latest pod. Fascinating stuff. He's well informed on both Mersey clubs and speaks at length about his knowledge of the takeover and his recent trip to the States where Everton where mentioned in terms of investment, well before the recent takeover talk.

● Made its owner £50M without him needing to put in a penny.

Kevin @26, Full disclosure: the prices Kenwright received for his shares are based on reasonable estimates. Other than the original tranche Moshiri purchased in 2016, I don't believe the prices paid have been disclosed publically.

Additional disclosure: We can't be sure that Kenwright never put one penny into the club. It's a great line... but also may be a great lie.

Heck, he told someone he mortgaged his house to save the club – or was it to buy new lawnmowers for Finch Farm... So I would tread carefully with that one.

Nobody outside a select few insiders knows the truth. Everything about this club since Bill took over has been smoke and mirrors, The Esk is trying to make some sense of the finances but nobody knows.

Thank you for making me aware of that well presented article in the Echo. It certainly give a broad perspective to Everton's worth and potential. It seems that Moshiri by design or not may have pitched his share sale correctly and the perceived weakness that has got him to his current situation, may be strengths, in that they answer questions on Evertons resilence and possible doable solutions.

I am not aware of what Moshiri actually paid for his Everton shareholding, and as for what Kenwright got, I doubt if we ever find out. But I have always held the view that Moshiri got his shares at a discount, because he was prepared to leave Kenwright in situ.

So Moshiri was always quids in, though recent events resulting from threatened sanctions and mismanagement by injecting funds without appropriate income regeneration, brought him to the stage of seeking an alternative finance structure and seeking to redeem 80% of his shares.

In the end, the deal will come down to simple satisfactory accommodation between the buyer and seller, which satisfies the needs and aspirations of both parties.

Of course there are other factors in the price of anything and everything. But rather than explain the effect of real negative interest rates on assets or the possibility of a priced in return for future diversified streaming revenue or the attractiveness of a premier league football team as a defensive asset in a sideways or falling market I chose to keep it brief.

The fact is that Paul article is a simple business analysis, that focuses on profit/loss, capex and cashflow as being pivotal or even meaningful to the "value" of a PL football team whilst entirely ignoring the reality that drives their inexorable surge in prices.
That reality is many more extremely wealthy people wishing to own one and having the means to do so than there are clubs themselves. Supply and demand.

Of course, disagree by all means as is your right. If you continue to do so though I'd be curious to hear your "applied economics seminar" explanation of why a bitcoin costs $21,100 despite having little utilitarian value and zero intrinsic value?

Danny #20, similar phenomenon in the States. A couple of times over the years I've asked kit shop managers which shirts sell and which don't, and they see United, RS, Chelsea, Bayern, Barca and Real Madrid shirts flying out the door while the City and PSG shirts just sit there.

I've noted the same thing in the leagues I referee every week. I'll see 20 United shirts or 10 RS or Chelsea shirts for every City jersey, even though they're the recurrent champions and best team to watch.

I've never seen an Everton shirt, of course. Maybe Yank ownership will change that. Especially if we can snag Pulisic in the Richarlison deal.

If Moshiri is cutting his losses now, then he's obviously missing his banker, but hopefully things move forward, and he picks the right owners for Everton. Maybe the price of the club will be more, considering there is supposed to be a few more looking at Everton, so good look Farhad, just please sell to people, who are prepared to work very hard to make us successful.

We can point the finger at him because like a Prime Minister, President or General, the buck stops with him.

But I just think he's been let down by those he trusted to deliver.

Again, we can say that he could have put different people in place and should have.

He may have failed short term but his long term legacy will be the stadium. That's why I keep hearing talk of him retaining a percentage. And as far as I'm concerned, he deserves a return from this because he showed financial commitment but was failed by others.

But like you say, hopefully he will find the right buyers he want to push this club of ours beyond the banks of the Mersey, onto Europe and beyond.

It would be interesting though to understand what or who he is disillusioned with. The obvious one is Kenwright, or the agents… it would confirm what many of us believe under his watch. Trust gone west with his money..

Who should Moshiri be most disillisioned with? I think – given his choice of managers and DOFs – he simply needs to look in the mirror for the answer.

Amazing how the game still attracts business people who think a tweak here and there and a few hundred million on players will transform matters.

Worryingly, a similar crew led by Peter Kenyon is waiting in the wings.

Okay, I'll give it a go, at the risk of boring everybody to death.

For a start, you are trying to compare apples and pears. Football clubs are tangible assets and Paul's simple business analysis, as you put it, is the way business people value these assets.

Bitcoin is a crypto currency which cannot be used for anything much except speculative, risky trading; trading them at the moment is the only thing you can do with them, they cannot be used for anything else

You quote Bitcoin selling at around $21.000 in mid-June 2022, but you don't tell us that it was selling for around $47,300 at the end of 2021 and continued to fall through the first half of 2022 – a fall of around 66%.

Supply and demand? Not so – it was speculators turning to other assets that traditionally perform better in a slowing economy, higher interest rates, and higher inflation.

So to sum up, Bitcoin is a purely speculative phenomenon based on expectations, football clubs are tangible assets which can be valued in the way Paul describes in his article. Of course supply, demand and price are inter-related, a change in any one can affect the others, but there are many factors that can come into play.

As I said earlier, it is not a simple binary relationship where there is a fixed supply of a product, ie, football clubs, and an increasing number of rich potential buyers.

Anyway that's me done, I'm not playing anymore, I'd sooner talk about football!

Martin @39; a point I've made on countless occasions. But we've been regressing since the 1970s, let alone since we had that wonderful period under Howard Kendall. Once that was prematurely over, we reverted to type.

Brendan @40. I understand your point. He should look in the mirror. But I do feel some empathy with him for trusting people who probably told him they had his back. I guess that comes down to judgement and ultimately he owns the keys to the locker. But he was let down by people who I guess told him them would look after his investment. They failed. Give idiots too much money and they will throw it around and waste it.

So, he's at a stick or twist and look in the mirror moment.

Stick and change the board. Put your own people in place.

Or twist and sell to someone who will do likewise.

Either way, rid this club of the systematic failures that have plagued it and been a ball and chain around it's neck for decades. And if we go back to the 70s, there are now 4 decades with a 5th one approaching.

Half a century of regression interspersed with 3 years of hope and glory that reminded us of who we are.

Never forget who we are. Never let those who will try to tell us that we shouldn't have expectation. Everton expects.

Moshiri is a billionaire businessman.

He cut his teeth at the likes of Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche before eventually becoming Chairman of USM Holdings.

And it's not as if he's new to the world of Premier League football clubs. In 2007, he and Usmanov bought a significant stake in Arsenal which they increased over the next 5 years to almost 30%. During the 9 or so years that they were jointly shareholders in Arsenal, Usmanov was extremely vocal about the club and, in his opinion, how it was not being run properly or showing enough ambition. I'm sure we all remember the Usmanov v Kroenke headlines that frequented the sports pages on a regular basis.

Given their relationship, I can only assume that Moshiri shared the same opinion. His subsequent actions, in selling his Arsenal shares and buying into Everton, bankrolled by Usmanov, suggest exactly that.

In short, Moshiri is an exceptionally experienced businessman with years in the PL. How anyone can blame someone other than him for the failures of his tenure are beyond me!

Moshiri is a billionaire businessman.

He cut his teeth at the likes of Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche before eventually becoming Chairman of USM Holdings.

And it's not as if he's new to the world of Premier League football clubs. In 2007, he and Usmanov bought a significant stake in Arsenal which they increased over the next 5 years to almost 30%. During the 9 or so years that they were jointly shareholders in Arsenal, Usmanov was extremely vocal about the club and, in his opinion, how it was not being run properly or showing enough ambition. I'm sure we all remember the Usmanov v Kroenke headlines that frequented the sports paGiven their relationship, I can only assume that Moshiri shared the same opinion. His subsequent actions, in selling his Arsenal shares and buying into Everton, bankrolled by Usmanov, suggest exactly that.

Moshiri is a billionaire businessman.

He cut his teeth at the likes of Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche before eventually becoming Chairman of USM Holdings.

And it's not as if he's new to the world of Premier League football clubs. In 2007, he and Usmanov bought a significant stake in Arsenal which they increased over the next 5 years to almost 30%. During the 9 or so years that they were jointly shareholders in Arsenal, Usmanov was extremely vocal about the club and, in his opinion, how it was not being run properly or showing enough ambition. I'm sure we all remember the Usmanov v Kroenke headlines that frequented the sports paGiven their relationship, I can only assume that Moshiri shared the same opinion. His subsequent actions, in selling his Arsenal shares and buying into Everton, bankrolled by Usmanov, suggest exactly that.

A PL Football Club is as much as a speculative asset as a Bitcoin - which is why I made the analogy in the first place.

There are business aspects to running a football club but ultimately it really is just a scarcity limited asset whose price rises based upon supply and demand.

The proof is quite simply in the pudding. Despite out of control costs, mountains of red ink and limited means in which to increase short term revenue the price of football clubs rises inexorably higher.

It's really no more or less complicated than that.

I think you need to go to a re-education camp as you are not on message.

The official ToffeeWeb party line is our current predicament is solely down to one man, Bill Kenwright.

You may be arrested, taken away and locked in Rupert's Tower until you change your wrong thinking.

I've taken the precaution of using a foreign VPN so that the thought police can't track me down and kick my door in.

I'm not suggesting that Moshiri was the right man for Everton. I'm saying that the failure of his regime is predominantly his responsibility.

Certainly I too feel some empathy towards Moshiri. He came in and put his money where his mouth was but I don't believe our decline under his tenure was significantly impacted by the decisions he let others make on his behalf.

Rather it was the decisions that were primarily his alone that amost cost us our premier league status.

Tony #44, 45, 46 & 48

No apology necessary...there can never be enough posts beginning "Bang on Brendan" unless of course it's a dodgy website!

Your closing paragraph. I've just nearly choked on my sausage roll!!

The Management of Everton where only interested in their own self interest and proceeded the same as they had before maintaining the status even after Moshiri got involved. The combination of the power play between Moshiri &Co and Kenwright &Co has resulted in Everton season after season not been Managed properly resulting in losses and subject to guidance set out of the Premier League Profit and Sustainability Committee. Everton also came close to relegation and total disaster.

This all is the end product of over twenty years of year on year poor Club Management, which is recognisable as the Culture of Everton. Which the dogs in the street know is the result of deep problems within the Club, more so than Moshiri involvement. From most Fans perspective Moshiri is only part of the problem. He has tried to progress the Club, but there have been internal drags on progress.

Moshiri as a investor will come out of Everton with a profit, if the Management of the Club had have been up to it , Everton on the pitch would have been also successful.

Moshiri is about to hand the banton on to new investors and it will be up to them to deal with these Management issues that still exist. . The jury will be out for sometime yet even after new parties takeover Everton , whether they are capable of doing so.

It's a pity the "dogs on the steet" don't fill Goodison every week then as surely Blue Bill would get a much rougher ride on match days than apparently he currently receives.

EDIT: I see this comparison was made earlier in the comments - oh well.

Is that another "No comment" or did you press "Enter" by mistake?😊😊😊

So you are saying that Attending fans:

Are happy with over 27 years of no trophies,

Just avoiding relegation.

The Major Shareholder selling 80 percentage of his share.

Being run, under a agreement with the Premier Profit and Sustainability Committee.

Little or no transfer budget.

I squad of questionable quality.

Years of losses.

Competitors advancing.

The Chairman throughout this period.

I think you need to attend a few matches. Actually better not to mention any of the above to whoever you sitting beside.

I said nothing of the sort so why waste your time arguing claims I didn't make?

I don't think they are at all happy and so wonder why is it that Blue Bill doesn't face a much more hostile reception at Goodison. As you allude I've only ever attended Goodison sporadically but I've never seen anyone on ToffeeWeb who claims they do attend regularly argue that fans are openly anti-Kenwright.

Only the opposite in fact when some posters who appear to be both regular attenders and anti-Kenwight express their bewilderment that the Goodison crowd are quite benign in their attitude to Blue Bill.

Interesting sneer: "I think you need to attend a few matches."

Does that apply to all ToffeeWeb contributors who because of where they live don't get to attend Goodison regularly?

B.O.B.

I was with an Everton fan last year who said he thought Kenwright had done well for Everton, I explained to him that when Kenwright took over Everton we owned Goodison Park and Bellefield, we were £20 M in the black, when Mr. Moshiri bought him out we were financially very heavy in debt, Goodison Park was mortgaged up to the hilt, Bellefield had been sold,Finch Farm had been bought then sold and now leased back from Liverpool Council at a huge cost for the next twenty five years, that Kenwight had made a conservative £40M out of the buy out with a lot of doubt about he had funded the club when he bought it.

He knew none of this and maybe not about Kings Dock and Kirby which are all part of Kenwright's history along with quite a bit more, but I think you are educated enough to know this but maybe doubt most of it and I think this goes goes for a lot of Everton fans.

I certainly agree that there are differing views on Kenwright and that's why I challenged Jerome's (# 60) bogus claim that the "dogs on the street know" the true reason for our decline.

Indeed you yourself met one supporter who obviously didn't know.

I'm genuinely curious how you would characterise the Goodison crowd's reaction to Kenwright on matchdays. I've described it as benign, what word would you use?

Yes, Brendan you are ignoring a lot of facts and trying to hide behind individuals attending Goodison watching a match. Most of them can't see Bill, lucky enough, most have better things to think about. They are there to watch a match. I don't even think of Bill when I attend.

A lot I come across know very little about Everton's background, just as Dave gives you an example of. I don't fire off an answer, they are Evertonians on a day out. I am glad to be there. They are all disappointed with progress.

I remember talking to an older real dedicated fan in Johnson's time, he couldn't understand what was going on. I told him it was to do with money. Now, 30 years later, it still is.

It's amazing that so many Evertonians are not aware of just how disastrous the Kenwright years have been. He is still seen as a True Blue who is doing his best for his beloved club by so many. His acting skills remain.

A little point, but it reinforces Mike Gaynes's point (34), on a recent trip to Durban, I was at the Kingsmead Stadium and, during an interval in play, I wandered round the stadium I counted football shirts being worn. Liverpool won comfortably, then Man Utd, then Chelsea. Man City only had two and Everton had one.

I challenged this man and he was the son of a scouser who'd emigrated to South Africa and had remained an Evertonian. Despite City's success, they lack the global appeal of the two main rivals.

As an inhabitant of the English shires these days, I think more or less the same pattern is true here. In my walking football group, 30 or so ageing from 49 to me at 75, there are four Liverpool fans, two Man Utd fans, three Leicester fans (our nearest team) and only one Man City fan and he's what you call a heritage supporter from Manchester originally.

Before the Palace match, in the Winslow, I met with Brian Murray and there was a dad and young lad up from Gloucester (I think). I used my oft coined phrase "Bring the points home" and gave the young lad a fist bump as they headed to the stadium. He did, bless him, and that's all I was interested in at that moment in time. That boy must have had the time of his life and there is no going back from Everton for him now. "Blessed and cursed" as Christine would say, but who would have it any different?

We were not passive last season. I saw times when we made our thoughts quite clear, but it was mostly generated at the former manager. I don't know if it's a deliberate ploy or an English culture thing, but we mostly target our frustration at the manager. They are often the fall guy. The buffer zone that protects the fat cats in the board room who hang them out to dry.

But back to my point, and especially towards the end of last season. There was just sheer devotion and commitment to haul that team of ours over the line. That was all that mattered to us.

I have commented on these pages on the subject of board and Chairman but, at the match, I don't recall thinking for one minute who was in the Director's Box. It didn't matter. Everton scraping points to survive was all that mattered.

But we can't and shouldn't let it go. It's just that, in my opinion, match day is not the place to do it. That's when the team need us, as we have proven more than most that we can drag them along with us. More than anyone.

When, season after season, eventually the penny drops and their day is dictated by who and why the club can't do what everyone else does and buy players – not as we see now, having to sell our crown jewel before we can scramble about.

Pathetic and embarrassing.

Maybe he has been let down by those he trusted; we'll never know. What I do know is he has let himself down with his abject choice of managers. The culmination being the fat clown who used to manage our loveable neighbours. And by all accounts, he was adamant on him, after allegedly being warned off.

Koeman was another huge mistake, he has set us back 3 years with his appalling signings, of which we are still paying the price today. I've got no sympathy for the man whatsoever.

The only thing I will say in his favour is the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, end of.

Maybe a change of ownership might bring about a change of luck. Because we are certainly overdue some. The sooner him, Billy the Jinx, and Denise double-barrelled are out of office, won't be a day too soon in my eyes.

However to answer your question about the crowds reaction to Kenwright on match days, benign or not interested could fit in quite well, speaking for myself I am only interested in how we play and concentrate on that, if his picture comes up on the large screen at the game there is some reaction, depending on how the team is doing, if the match is in play I certainly wouldn't be looking at the screen but at the pitch.

Regarding Kenwright he only really gets my back up when he is mentioned on here or if people bring him up in conversations and of the many Everton fans I know and drink with most of them dislike him intensely and agree he might like Everton FC but he really loves himself.

But he left the wrong people in charge of Everton and his money. I can only assume he understandably got a bit twitchy as his money was literally being burned or thrown away and appointed managers who were more interested in playing golf than managing Everton. So he interfered and made poor decisions. Yes, the buck stops with him ultimately but he was let down.

His main failing, in my opinion, and based on what I read, was to focus on trying to fix the manager position. Not his job. He should have been looking at, questioning and changing the board. Not the manager.

That is what should be done, but in my experience is does not happen.It's the Management team that is concentrated on. I put it down to the old asymmetric graph of the Binomial distribution.You may know it from your school days as height of a population against number. The hump with 5% tallest and 5% shortest.

So the perfect Management team is a asymmetrical shape( one side mirrors the other).With the right balance of ability and talent, with 5% useless and 5% great ability.

At Everton the graph is very much lopsided to the right and is kept so by Kenwright and his appointments, or rather the control that gives him to obtain his objectives.Moshiri did try to bring in skills to push the graph to the left, but met resistance from Kenwright &Co, or rather had them swallowed up. He even got involved himself, but was always going to be up against it.

Of course the result of this lopsided graph to the right is underperformance both on and off the pitch. It is only when more Managenent ability with control is added to the team that the asymmetrical shape, of a good Management team can be achieved.

This is what we as fans should be looking for in this takeover. Paul the Esk has highlighted the technical detail, which is often lost in human negotiations, especially imo at Everton.

As far as us progressing into a regular top 6 side which presumably is the goal of any owner of our club, lets just say I'll believe it when I see it.
The Premiership is most definitely not a level playing field for the reasons mentioned by Jerome for one.

Would I invest my money in the club from the position we are now in, no I would not.
I will continue to watch and support the club like I have for 50+ years and suffered like the rest of you in recent years.
Can we do better, sure we can, but can we compete with Man City, Man Utd to name only two, I have serious doubts.

I rather think you've got that wrong.

Distribution graphs demonstrate amongst other things the extent to which any given population are gathered around or dispersed from the norm or centre.

Surely, to use your example, we want our distribution skewed so that we have a much greater percentage than 5% at the talented end?

Was going to let this go but was a tad concerned in case Danny is sitting his GCSE Maths paper any time soon!

BTW
So the perfect management team is an asymmetrical shape (one side mirrors the other).. Are you sure?

Are you sure, you're sure?

"asymmetrical
(eɪsɪmetrɪkəl IPA Pronunciation Guide)
ADJECTIVE
Something that is asymmetrical has two sides or halves that are different in shape, size, or style.
Synonyms: uneven, odd, unbalanced, lopsided"

Between you and me... it's not fuckin easy!

Do you realise you have not made one comment on this thread regarding the actual article? You would find it easier if you did. It is something you do on most threads.

I'm generally only moved to comment when someone posts shite. Would you say that was pretty typical or atypical? 😊😊😊