Everton's Accounts continue to show huge losses

These numbers make absolutely no sense. The covid attributed losses cannot be 103m. How can Everton have much higher covid related losses than any of the other 19 clubs in the league? Especially considering that match day revenue of the club is far less than that of the top 6. These financial results could be the straw that broke the camels back and exposes the fraud that's happening in the club.

Losses of £121m for 2020-21, a third season, doesn't look good, though £103 of that attributed to the impact of Covid.

Dominic King Tweeted:

Some key points from Everton's accounts...
* A loss of £120.9m to 30 June 2021
* Debt risen from £2.3m to £58.7m
* Wage bill up from £165m to £182m
The starkest aspect, though, is the reliance on Farhad Moshiri's involvement. He is absolutely crucial to financial health

Paul the Esk has stated he will only comment once he has looked at the accounts in depth.

I tend to agree with Dominic King, Moshiri and perhaps his friend the chairman aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. Let's hope he does stay to finish what he started, with regards to the new ground, as long as he doesn't manage to destroy the club before the stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock opens.

I hope you're right Barry and he stays to see an eventual long-term return of investment rather than cut his losses and walk away. That's my view.

Losses due to COVID. I understand if COVID stands for Can't Organize (the) Vegetables In Defence.

The entire board should resign. Total shambles of a board. Moshiri must be the worst accountant in history.

Can someone please remind me what Moshiri's field of expertise is? To allow that idiot Kenwright to continue dragging this Club, the one he purports to love, down to it's lowest ever point!

It's almost unbelievable, but sadly true!

Somewhat fitting. Off-field losses so dreadful they mirror the on-field losses almost perfectly.

Approaching £400 million in losses only a few years. Staggering. Made even more remarkable by how dreadful we are on the pitch after spunking such an obscene amount of money.

£400 million up the spout on relegation bait. With a burn rate like that, you'd need a cash equivalent of Germany's GDP for a crack at the top half; the whole Eurozone combined GDP and we could be playing Europa League football.

It really gives you an insight into the vast scale of the incompetence. Without some major changes to how this club operates on a day-to-day basis, you fear our days are numbered, even if the players do pull themselves out of the soup this season.

There would be professional Russian roulette players with brighter prospects than us today. This isn't remotely sustainable.

Moshiri's ownership of the club has been horrendous… a total disaster.

Derek @7
I think I've found him in action...

1,2,3...120m

Relegation, followed by the nail in the coffin FFP points deduction, will see us playing Derby County in League One quicker than you can say "Bill Kenwright".

£182 million worth of shite to clear out of the stables; a task that would be beyond Herculean. I hope the new Bramley-Moore Tesco with monster kiddies sandpit/play area is a huge success.

Surely the penny has to drop that players' wages are too high. It is incredible that we have spent so much on the wages of players and managers and are left in such an awful position.

We have been mismanaged but most of the Premier League are making losses. It is unsustainable.

John Zapa,

In October 2020, there was a report saying Everton lost £559,000 in matchday revenue per game during lockdown. Even if that included away games (which I assume it doesn't) and every single game of a 38-game season was behind closed doors (which they weren't) that would amount to £21 million. So what was the other loss?

Let me guess... if it wasn't for Covid, then James's calf would have healed quicker, we'd have won the treble, qualified for the Champions League, and attracted £50 million in new sponsorship deals.

The books just seem completely fictitious. Even with wages, it makes no sense. If we had 25 players on £92,000 a week, that would amount to £120 million. But if we lost £120 million on revenue of £200 million, then what the hell did we spend all the revenue on?

This is simply unsustainable.

Unfortunately, I don't think it will end well for the club and the supporters.

We've bitten off more than we can chew.

And it was supposed to get so much better once Kenwright sold.

Well, he's building us a fucking stadium that is looking fantastic which is more than any other person has bothered to do in my lifetime. Fair play to him I say. He might not be the best owner or the best accountant in the world but at least he's fucking trying!

This is incompetence. It's beyond bad management, it's uncontrolled and a brazen dereliction of care. No wonder AGMs were scrapped. Every single member of this board should be sacked, every single one.

Let's be frank, we deserve to be relegated, deserve FFP points deduction, what we don't deserve is this board, such unchecked incompetence can only end very badly. How would Everton do it, Bill?

14- simply unsustainable, the Echo Laing O'Rourke and Everton Football Club don't seem to think so.

If Moshiri wasn't the owner, and injected his money as well as financing new stadium, we'd be up shit creek, whether you like him or not. Some of the salaries to injury prone and average players is embarrassing.

So with a turnover of £200m and a loss of £120m, that means our expenditure was £320m. Wages are said to be at 85% of turnover which is £170m. So what was the other £150m spent on?

Four years of losses in a row totalling about £600m. Was this just what we spent on player purchases, agents fees etc, or am I missing something?

I don't understand how our losses are so large.

Mark@16. If we go down, the stadium won't get finished. But yes, he's doing a great job, isn't he?

oh look at this today in The Echo.

"Everton are still waiting for the right partnership opportunity to come along as they remain the only Premier League side without a shirt sleeve sponsor currently.

I've got a mental image of BK and Mosh on Dragons Den asking for £500m investment to help build the new stadium in exchange for 5% equity in Everton FC. One at a time, the dragons pick holes in the laughable failing business, and as Debra Meaden grills Kenwright when he fails to explain what his day to day role is, Peter Jones then asks Moshiri why he should invest in a company that consistently loses money. Needless to say they get no investment and Bill wipes away a tear as they make their way back to the lift, heads hung in shame. And then following a patronising assessment, the wonky eyed presenter sympathetically sends them on their way, whilst the next budding entrepreneur readies himself to enter the dragons den.

21 - the stadium will get finished.

They shoot horses, don't they ?

Duncan@23, enjoyed that one, very good.

Very small consolation but there's no where to hide and surely moshiri now sees who's hands he left his club to run and the shambles they / he made of it. Do the math bean counter boy.

We need to generate revenue only way to do that is the sale of assets. I expect both DCL and Richarlison to leave in the summer regardless of whether we stay in the league

A wage bill of £182M on a turnover of £200M means wages are 91% of turnover. Since then turnover will have dropped due to losing the USM deals for Finch Farm and the new ground naming. Also Cazoo are ditching us and the next shirt sponsor deal is likely to be lower, so we could be at wages 95% of turnover. I understand that from this summer new FFP rules will set the limit of wages at 70% of turnover. We will be 25% over. Expect a departure of a raft of top earners this summer with cheaper replacements brought in.

Clive,

people like Tosun, Delph and Sigurdsson?

Okay, we say to Moshiri. We all think you're a prick. Stop building BMD and we'll stay at Goodison and si just fuck off. Is that what you all want ? So much negativity towards the man. He's tried his best, he's fucked up but the Stadium is still getting built and it's going to be the home of our club. I hope he turns this juggernaut around. God knows he's not deliberately getting it so wrong

It's fair to say the future of Everton FC is on ghe ropes.

I blame one person, The People's Club champion. Yes Moshiri has Been an absolute disaster, but remember who brought him in.

The squad is horrendous in quality, on ludicrous wages, the club is sinking fast. Forget the stadium, we will never play in it.

I can imagine that if Benitez hadn't got rid of Rodriguez and Digne, we'd be fucked!!

Kieran #22
Everton have not had a sleeve sponsor since 2020, the last one was angry birds the contract was from 2017/2020 for 3m, hardly a figure to get exited about, even Blue Bill will have that much in his sock draw

Clive @29

I think the 70% limit on wages in relation to income is to be phased in over a few years, and I'm uncertain if that is strictly for European contenders or whether the Premier League are also committed to similar restrictions.

Of course Everton will play in the new stadium, regardless of our fortunes on the pitch, the issue with the stadium is that the movers and shakers at the club took their eyes off the real driver of a football club the team, and although the stadium won't solve most of the many issues, when it is open the focus of those in charge might turn their attention to what really matters, hopefully, they'll begin to do that sooner, like in the next few months.

How many supporters believed that when Moshiri became owner he would be a disaster, what other clubs or organizations did he ruin. Yes his mistake was putting B.K. in as chairman, but a bigger mistake, if it is true' interfering in something he was not experienced enough in.

Barry, yes I've just seen that. It's 70% in 2025. Oops. It's wages and transfers limited to 70% though by 2025 by EUFA.

I'm no accountant but a business plan, a cohesive business plan, for the club in football terms on and off the park, audits and compliance it would seem based on these figures, don't come to bear at Everton FC.

Every days a good day and is what you make of it, but God forbid if Everton don't stay up this season.

The what seems the annual scramble to cook, the books, every year, Is a good example of how to run a business to its knees.

Charles Dickens, well he'd have written some novel on the demise of a once great football club.

Despicable how the board, well is it in business terms an active board, or is it a dormant, board, that effectively does not work, or rarely works as a business unit?

No one really knows, what goes on at the Liver Building.

Focusing only on the matches and what comes next but God knows how the board sleep at night.

The football has been rank, generally for most of this season, and augmented by a board with seemingly by factual evidence, no business strategy, how Everton are getting by, is remarkable.

Once it gets down to road kill and chips at Finch Farm, there won't be many coaches and managers left a Finch Farm.

Joking aside, this demise of Everton, is worthy of a Biblical tale..

UTFT!

Well why are people surprised

Gross mismanagement.

I agree with Tony #33, Benitez had to offload both Rodriguez and Digne. He also had to make do with a £100, 000 budget.

His attempts at further change met resistance. The internal management wages is effectively ring-fenced through repeated loses. There is rarely any accountability, bar a few scapegoats, who may be reappointed. The Strategic Review is to maintain this gravy train, with no consideration of losses.

Bill has earned his corn by being able to bullshit the Premier League authorities, avoiding penalties, but they will have set conditions. Moshiri will probably avoid sanctions fallout. The new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock probably saved him and the fact he may be able to get money to finish it. The Premier Leagues authorities will hold their noses and Bill will amble on.

They really need to avoid relegation.

Sadly, our beloved Club has been run like an Old Boys' Club for far too long.

Commercial and marketing disasters including this year's away kit design and colour, the mess in changing the badge design, timing and release of kits thereby missing holiday season, the Kitbag deal and lack of Everton merchandise outside of the city for far too long, plus the dodgy SportPesa and MegaFon connotations. This has coincided with generally disastrous transfer dealings and managerial / Board appointments.

We need top notch people running Everton driving for success and not accepting mediocrity.

Mike Hanlon (43)

"We need top notch people running Everton, driving for success and not accepting mediocrity"

We do, the problem is such people need the free hand to change everything, something this club can't or won't allow. There needs to be a change of management running the club and its commercial activities (or lack of), the implementation of a "can do" culture, with better interaction with fans, shareholders and fellow employees.

The objectives may be the same but how they are achieved needs overhauling and the current management (board) needs replacing. If we are relegated this season, there is no place to hide for them, no excuse good enough, and no words will repair the damage they have collectively caused.

No wonder Carlo ran to the vineyards of Italy...

I'm not sure these problems are uniquely Everton's. For example, a lot of ‘successful' foreign football clubs are mired in debt.

Surely we all need to accept that our club is in an awkward position. We are in a very competitive league with FFP effectively making it near impossible to do much more than gamble that we can assemble the right bunch of ‘nearly' men to do a Leicester, or match Spurs.

Man Utd and Arsenal are relatively speaking also struggling on the pitch. Why do people imagine there are obviously better people out there?

I don't think you can fault Moshiri for trying. People have too much faith that megabucks equals infallibility.

To me every day I wake up and put this site on and there's no announcement of a new Everton as in ceo chairmen etc is Everton failing me again and again. Even emperor Caesar got ousted eventually with an unhappy revolt. Have we the fans got it in us or passive as usual because it looks like the owner can't or won't grasp the situation.

We look more likely to go down with every game, so with the exception of TV money, gate takings, sponsorship etc (what did the Premier League ever do for us?), the debt won't matter so much. Instead of looking to attract a quality CB, CM & top striker from Europe to come to the Premier League & paying $50mil for each, we'll be looking at players from League 1, hoping they can make the step up to the Champoinship & hoping the clubs need the money & will take $1mil for them.

I don't believe we have escaped punishment, I would say we will be starting next year with points deduction either in the Championship or Premier League, also with a transfer sanction.

On one hand I would suggest many football clubs have been running themselves like this for decades.

I can't think of another business vertical that runs itself in this manner and I don't profess to be an astute business person.

Even our neighbours at one point ended up on to steps of the court room hours from being wound up. Trust them to come of that one with little more than a scratch. But that's how close they apparently got.

One of the biggest disappointments is Everton's inability to build the brand. To capitalise on being one of English football's most successful clubs. That isn't the fault of the endless list of recent managers. The malaise and rot set in after we last won the league. Like our stadium, we've remained in a time warp, standing still; marking time to coin a military phrase.

As others marched on, we failed to move forward. Off the pitch as much as on it.

That is down to leadership. Or lack of it to be more precise. The uninspiring Dr David Marsh, agent Peter Johnson and Kenwright.

No ambition. No vision. No understanding of what it means to be Everton.

Danny @ 50, spot on there mate, none of this mess is attributable to the fans who are one of the best, as a group in the World, yet again we will suffer the most. Some way to reward loyalty ?

A parallel can be drawn about a badly run business, which goes into liquidation, the workers lose their jobs and their livelihood, yet the real culprits, still walk away personally well off, or as millionaires !

Some real change needed in the boardroom. We need a CEO with real business and football experience. However, nothing – and I mean nothing – will change until the Chairman is replaced.

Maybe like all the other clubs in the league, we should be asking how would Everton do it?

Seriously that is the level of the guy who is chairman. He has to go. Then someone can come in who can make the wholesale changes that are clearly needed at our club.

Please step down, Bill, please, please, please.

Moshiri has been the worst thing to happen to us since, errrrrm, Kenwright took over.

These two are like some biblical plague. What have we done to deserve this?

Colin (53) The answer is easy - we were born Evertonians !!!

Brian #47

When a few people threatened to walk out for the 27 years protest and did, Everton went into overdrive regarding fan representation.

It was announced there wasn't discussion with the ESSG group regarding Board representation. They were given space at the Liver Building and then began to tweet like an extension of the club's PR department.

This is what the Board will put its effort into. They are not interested in running the club, only self-preservation.

The Strategic Review is a case in point with hometown appointments and reappointment, with no consideration of costs or effectiveness. You will only see token scapegoats.

Duncan (23) classic mate, made me chuckle. I can picture it, Moshiri ends his Dragon's Den pitch with a rousing speech about world football domination (all said in his hilarious bond villain voice) whilst Bill is rendered speechless by Mosh's passion, a single tear tracking a line down his face. Only for the pair of them to be laughed off the set by Deborah et al.

Mark @16 As far as I'm concerned he can shove his stadium and get to fuck, an absolutely useless owner

Players such as Tosun, Delph, sig, can be replaced by youngsters coming through, Sims, Price, Whitaker. That'll save us a pretty penny. They'll contribute more too…

It's players such as Mina, Iwobi, Allan, Gomes who will be harder to shift and cost to replace…although I'm sure Dobbin could contribute more than Iwobi.

The roosters are coming home on giving 100-120k p/w contracts to very average players and sacking managers!

This article from today's Grauniad suggests we are in the clear regarding FFP.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/29/everton-lose-more-than-100m-for-third-successive-year-but-avoid-sanctions

The Grauniad article says "it is understood no penalties will be forthcoming". So hopefully that speculation becomes firmer.

On the other hand, it could be saying VAR still won't be doing us any favours in the penalty area.

I remember when fans weren't interested in the money side of football, and only since the beginning of the Premier league and the introduction of Sky has this become so important to fans. I remember when players were on a maximum wage of £20 per week and although many thought it wrong that the players werent getting a fair share, they were still earning 4 or 5 times what the average working man was earning. But Jimmy Hill and George Eastham changed all that and got the maximum wage scrapped.

But now we are in a position which has completely turned the scenario of the clubs in the early 60s making money, to now were clubs like Everton are giving 89% of their income straight into players bank accounts. No industry on earth can survive paying that amount in salaries and survive.
I guess its not possible to put the genie back in the bottle, but some sort of salary cap is desperately needed, and for those who say if we introduce a salary cap we will lose our best players, well so what. These players are massively over paid, back in the 60s there wages were increased by crowd bonuses and win bonuses, but the parasites known as agents don't want any performance related pay structures.

Winston, the players you mention cost in excess of £ 70 million plus wages, with no return on them. Add into that another £45 million on Sideways and Walcott it's no wonder we are up shit creek without a paddle.

Just read that one director is being paid over £2M. That can only be Kenwright surely. Not bad for speaking to the players to motivate them to a 4 - 0 thrashing by Palace 48 hours later.

Why can't Moshiri, who after all is the paymaster, simply tell bk to depart forthwith ? What amount of cash goes to directors incidentally ?

Tony, 64, Everton's board is the third highest paid in the PL. Virtually the inverse of the league table. It is simply unbelievable really. They are absolutely raking it in. Talk about rewards for failure.

Ian, 52, there is no way he will ever step down. Even if we are relegated. He is there till he croaks.

Clive (63), that director was presumed to be Brands, don't know if he received another payment as DOF as well. The total pay of the four directors was over £4M so the other three shared £2M, what do they do to actually earn anything, Billy Boy works from London.

These payments to the directors need highlighting with each payment pointed out and what they do to earn these vast amounts.

A couple of reflections.

The level of Covid related contributions to losses (£170 million in two years) will have been agreed with the Premier League and probably accounts for the delay in publishing the accounts. That means that FFP related penalties are unlikely unless we breech the commitments that we have made to the Premier League.

The banks are obviously taking a longer-term view on the profitability and revenue generation opportunities for the club basis the construction of a new stadium.

Moshiri seems to be taking most of the blame yet, for me, his only fault is keeping Kenwright and the CEO and the rest of the Board.

What on earth does Sharp know about commercial matters and what does Denise know about running a múlti-million organisation?

She is excellent, I understand, with the charity bit but what does she know about the commercial world?

Some lottery winners end in tears!

Clive (65) proves exactly what Kenwright was talking about with his “what would the Everton board do because they always get it right?”. Inept, overpaid and seemingly unsackable – what a combination.

This hot-button issue of Directors' remuneration may be more of a red herring, I'm afraid.

I believe it revolves around the day-to-day role and function of the Board members within the company. Up until fairly recently, Everton did not have any or many executive directors with jobs for EFC Co Ltd, and so Directors' remuneration was pretty minimal.

That changed I think (from memory) since Wyness joined the board and he was on around £370k pa, which started to show up in the accounts, but went back to zero when he left ~2010.

Directors' remuneration doesn't show up again until 2014, although Elstone, then CEO, did not join the Board until 2016.

In 2017, it leapt to £1.6M, with Elstone, Ryazantsev, Barrett-Baxendale and Kieth Harris all probably getting paid salaries. In 2018, it was up to 2.5M, with the highest on £917k pa (not Kenwright, for all his sins...)

In 2019, with Brands joining the Board, it jumped again to £3.6M... £3.5M in 2020, with £1.238M the top salary. All the names listed here (except Kenwright) are executive directors with day-to-day jobs in the company.

I can't compare it to other clubs but the migration of the Board into a management committee staffed with mostly paid employees is what causes the high entries for Directors' Remuneration in the accounts.

The Chairman, Bill Kenwright, is not an executive director and does not receive any remuneration from the club.

If Moshiri is stomping up the money, why would we care? He's taken a gamble that has failed up to now, that's business – some you win; some you lose.

I think our biggest worry is when the Premier League starts prying into Moshiri's finances and his tie-up with Usmanov, that seems nailed on to happen if I'm any judge at all.

There again, someone will come along and buy the club if he is forced out, Everton FC will still be alive.
;

Raymond 74

I wish I had your confidence that someone will come along and buy Everton if Moshiri leaves or his financial ties with Usmanov has an impact. I just don't see too many people rushing to buy a club that is massively in debt and is solely reliant on its current owner's generosity to keep it afloat.

A club that has only a few saleable assets and also having to fund a new ground which today will need a further £400 million to be spent to complete the build.

And as we have seen with Derby and Sunderland, there is very little appeal in buying a very expensive football club, and probably Moshiri would want close to if not more that the £598 million he has already invested.

My guess is, if Moshiri leaves, then Everton may have to go into administration as, unlike Chelsea who are a very saleable club, we aren't and to start a new season without someone guaranteeing the debts, then administration would be the only way out.

Brian @61 I agree we fans never used to concern ourselves with money. We just used to talk about football. Wish we could go back to that.

Allen I would agree except..what is there to say and to discuss anymore ? We are shite. End of.

I've always said he must be a bloody good accountant.

The days of clubs living within their means have gone, after wealthy owners came in and bought up Premier League clubs and gave them huge amounts of money, shown up on the account books as debts.

@45 "No wonder Carlo ran to the vineyards of Italy..."

I thought he ran off to Madrid, Spain?

I cling to the unlikely hope that Moshiri didn't become a billionaire by accident and he must have some sort of idea what he's doing?

I also cling to the hope (perhaps not morally correct?) that the best way for Usmanov to dump cash, so he doesn't lose it, is through Moshiri?

Allan 77,

Yes, but we are Everton shite! That still matters, doesn't it?

Okay, maybe that and a fiver will still get a decent cappuccino in some posh places but still, we are Everton!

Not going down.

Kenwright is now talking about how proud he was with how Everton helped deal with the breakaway clubs who wanted to make their own European Super League.

He's on his own planet, and has kidded the life out of a lot of Evertonians for years. The time for real change must come now, and our Chairman must not be allowed to peddle his shite any longer.

Everton are in a relegation battle, but Bill wants to talk about the clubs who are light years ahead of us. Fuck off, Kenwright, please.

Come on Rob, you're splitting hairs between grapes. Rioja or Chianti? It's all Mediterranean!!!

Let's be admirable Everton, Tony. The club that once was. Hasn't won anything in nearly 30 years. Kenwright's Everton. I'm getting more bitter on the subject. Maybe I should have done a lot sooner.

Anyway, we're halfway through the week and the optimism is beginning to kick in. London Stadium on Sunday with the potential to grab 3 valuable points.

I even got offered a ticket in the home end from one of the West Ham fans I met on the train and took to the Saddle before the home fixture earlier in the season, for those who were there. Nice touch, but I'll be amongst the blue masses. I'll try to meet them for a drink. They were a decent bunch.

Thank Christ Greame Sharp was added to the board!

Mark Ryan, I'm with you, mate: god bless Farhad. He needs a few introductions to the board but you can't knock what he has tried to do for our club. £590 million and some people calling him an idiot!

Yes massive mistakes have been made at times and we can all see the ones on the playing field. El Ghazi, when we have 5 better wide men already, etc...

There won't be a dry eye in the house when we go to the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, and it will all be down to Farhad Moshiri.

I see Rodriguez scored twice for Colombia last night.

I don't believe Benitez had to sell him and Digne for financial reasons, he had a history with James and, in my opinion, hung Digne out to dry. He sold Digne for £23M+ and signed two inexperienced fullbacks for £26M+, and Lampard signed Dele Alli?

Had some inside info from Scouse Mouse DJ that the rest of the season, at Bill's request, he will be playing the following songs, before the game.

Man Utd home: I'm still standing.
Leicester home.: Won't you come home, Bill Kenwright
Chelsea home: He's the greatest bullshitter (dancer)
Brentford home: Didn't we almost have it all.
Palace home: Way down.

Gee Brian, I would have thought 'We Will Survive" was on the playlist.

Danny, read again how Joe Royle describes Everton, and then think about Kenwright's actions - but not the man's words. Ringfenced money, happy we never went to Kirkby, (that one wants some fuckin beating when you think about it) never get a better owner, we've had plenty of good times, and now he's proud of his plucky little Everton, standing up to the big six.

The man is incredible, our club have posted record losses for three years on the bounce, but I'm sure someone will be ringing Bill, in the morning asking how Everton do it.

If Benitez did sign those players Christy, surely we should be pointing the finger at who okayed those signings, considering the man was on an unacceptable run? These words were also spoken by William Kenwright in the last 48 hrs.

It literally breaks my heart that those empowered don't feel about Everton as I have done all my life Tony.

We are respected wherever we may go. Oh Marching down the Goodison Road, all the windows open wide. When you hear the coppers shout hey put the candles out, we are the Goodison guys.

Come on Everton. Believe as much as I do. See you Sunday. I'll be there. Please turn up Everton and be with me and the other 3000 souls as well as those watching from afar.

Danny 85,

If you go in the West Ham end, you may want to take the dogs in there with you. I imagine when Iwobi puts us 2-0 up their fans will turn nasty!

Dale, could have been worse, Bill wanted this one.

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friends, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
But more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each chartered course
Each careful step along the byway
But more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way

I've loved, laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh no, no, not me
I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself then he has not
To say all the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows, I took the blows
But I did it my way

Danny #93.

Good on yer, mate. I'll be up early as always, watching live from New Zealand. There are millions of us around the world. Just because we can no longer be there physically doesn't mean we're less committed.

Danny @93,

I am as passionate as you about the Toffees, but I have to disagree over our being respected by everyone. When I read the Pundits on Sky Sport and BBC Sport. plus match referees and the VAR, then I wonder why they seem so anti-Everton? It never was this way prior to the Premier League being formed. What are we doing wrong?

Okay Brian, that is obviously a world class effort there but for that let me offer some philosophical wisdom seen on an Oklahoma bathroom wall before I became an Evertonian:

Camus - To do is to be
Voltaire- To be is to do
**Sinatra- Scooby de dooo

You made my otherwise crappy day with that! Hope to see you on the live forum mate!

Stay positive all. It could be a lot worse!!

Even if penalties were avoided for the 20-21 accounts, they most certainly will not for the 21-22 accounts.

During this period, wages increased thanks the January splurge. Benitez, Brands and others were paid compensation (£10M) and the club would have probably finished around 16th to have a further reduced income from prize money (£15M).

Less income, more costs, and no Covid excuses to hide behind, the next set of accounts will be the ones to achieve possible point deductions. These next accounts end in June, so there is very little wriggle room.

John Zapa,

Apparently Everton have been running everything by the Premier League for the last year so I doubt we will see a points deduction. But what we will see:

I had a dream last night that in our next game C alvert-Lewinscored two early goals to give us a lead then my stream crashed for an hour and when it came back we'd lost 5-4. I went to ToffeeWeb where Colin Glassar was rationalizing we could still survive but before the dream ended we got relegated.

Now you can say a dream is a dream but a couple of months ago I had a dream of a Ukraine invasion, and before that I had a dream 2,000 years ago that three kings would visit a virgin in Bethlehem …: so, we are fucked!

Having worked for a bank that made an £11 billion loss in one year, I've seen worse!

Absolutely Paul. I am fortunate to be able to attend more regularly after many years when it was either sporadic or I was in the back end of somewhere waiting for someone to pass the result to me. Eyes closed, although I'm never quite sure how that helped!!! Wherever you may be, we are all as dedicated as each other in following this club of ours.

I was just quoting the song Bernie. Although in my experience, our fans are very respected. Being an exile in London, we generate intrigue from other supporters. They're always interested when they discover you support Everton. But I agree, the club has no respect from the media. If I think back, even at the height of the 80s success, we were never media darlings. They seemed desperate for Tottenham to win the title in the 84-85 season as I recall.

Maybe it's that mentality thing we keep talking about. We just aren't trendy and arguably never have been.

Danny - you mentioned Tottenham in the 1980s. Going further back, I was in the Army in Cyprus in 1958 and in what we called 'tent city' when the Camp Tannoy gave out the English football results.

I cringed in disbelief when the Announcer called out, 'Tottenham Hotspur 10 - Everton 4. - I will repeat that...' and he did.

I could hear the people in the studio laughing and cheering and from then on Spurs took over from Liverpool as my most hated team. But I was upset then at the lack of sympathy for my beloved team.

Kieran #101,

The discussion with the Premier League is regarding the accounts that have just been published. It's the next set of accounts that will probably lead to penalties imposed. This set of accounts (2021-22) will be released by the end of this year, or by March 2023 at the latest. There will be no hiding place, no covid excuse, the next set of results will be worse than the £120m losses we have just witnessed.

Where were you stationed Bernie?

I was at Ayios Nikolaos for 3 years in the mid 90s aside from a 6 month stint in Bosnia.

I played some good football out there including for the Army and Combined Services Cyprus teams. I forget their name but we played a Swedish 2nd Division outfit at Episkopi who where out on pre-season training. Good experience.

My time there is also where I listened to us stay up against Wimbledon in 1994. I hit the town (Ayia Napa) with a Sunderland friend of mine and eventually ended up asleep in the storm drain outside our house in the early hours. My neighbour and a friend who was from Aigburth and also an Evertonian found me, woke me up and we ended up sitting there talking it through until his wife shouted him back in.

It took me weeks to be forgiven for my actions that day!! Properly in the dog house.

Danny,

I was in the Irish Guards stationed in Kermia, just outside Nicosia. We were only out there for 6 months, helping to look for Grivas and his mob.

Only thing of note for me was playing for the Irish Guards against The Scots Fusiliers in a friendly on a real dustbowl; we lost 2-1 in what we classed as an Ireland v Scotland international! The Fusiliers had Alex Parker of Everton as their Captain... Memories are made of this.

The people in charge of Everton, simply haven't got a clue. No argument, they saw this coming before they appointed the most divisive manager in the clubs history, and never gave him a sausage to spend.

They got Rid of Rodriguez and probably halved his wages on three signings costing around £1.5 million, then Benitez has obviously engineered a great deal (in his opinion) to get rid of Digne, another of the highest earners, for £23 million.

Three consecutive managers have refused to pay a £14 million signing, who can't be any less ready than a left back, who is trying to find his feet playing in a league that is so different from anywhere else, whilst obviously having his head on matters in Ukraine.

Three consecutive managers have also refused to play another loan signing in El Ghazhi, but Everton will still be paying his wages, which is just pure gross negligence. What is the way of thinking in the Everton boardroom, right now, and who is doing that said thinking….?

We have the worst owner, the worst chairman and the worst CEO in the league. It's a hat-trick.

Clive, but according to the Chairman, we have had some good times in the last 27 years. Personally can't remember any of them, but then again, getting older it could be 'brain fog'!

Could anyone please give me an idea of when these good times, that I have sadly missed out on, were? Answers on a grain of rice please!

Derek,

Obviously you have severe brain fog as, under Kenwright's tenure, we saw two titles won at a packed Goodison Park on great nights in the recent past.

Unfortunately, neither of them had anything to do with football although lots of Everton scarves were on display and David Moyes was present along with Tony Bellew. Also one of them was actually a fictitious boxing bout for a movie. But hey, he brought success to Goodison.

Kieran #111,

The chairman is right if you started supporting Everton after 1995. The David Moyes time is the most successful era since the eighties.

Once we are in the new stadium, then financially we are on another level going forward. The corporate side will only improve revenue considerably. Revenue from season tickets will go up. Utilising space, renting office space and shops.

Goodison Park, in the most-watched league in the world, is seriously lacking in revenue on match days. Amazing how we have stayed a Premier League club under Bill Kenwright with the resources he has. More remarkable with some success with league positions and Wembley appearances.

The importance of staying in the Premier League cannot be underestimated. The new stadium needs to come quickly. High salaries, paying managers to leave, and the pandemic. Actually… I'm surprised the debt isn't more.

I was hoping with the new Stadium, we would be heading there with Paul McCartney opening the new stadium with a concert.

Unless things improve, I can see a right said Fred tribute band opening it, with a tea time open air showing of the Blood Brothers, with Bill para gliding into the stadium, with a giant pair of plastic scissors.

Can't believe how high our wage bill is considering our players:

Can't defend
Can't pass
Can't shoot

What a massive waste of cash on absolutely nothing. If we do survive this season, then the club needs to find a new identity or we are going to be in the shit next year.

I am getting so frustrated - Why is there no positive news coming from the Club?

Here in New Zealsnd, I'm just reading articles stating 'possibly' or 'perhaps' but no 'definately'.

Why are there no comments from the Boardroom? When are they going to give the young players their chance? They certainly cannot do worse than the present lot. I am fed up staying up all night witnessing the rubbish we turn out,

Sorry Guys for this - as Mrs Mopp used to say, "It's being so cheerful wot keeps me going!. COYB

Amazing how we stayed a Premier League club under Bill Kenwright with the resources he had = another Evertonian being kidded imo, Ian R.

Tony #116,

I have no insight into the business side of Everton and basically who has? I support Everton Football Club, either in the Premier League or in The Conference. Everton is my club. All I see is Mr kenwright as our Chairman and previously our owner.

I have been guilty of thinking we should have done better than we have but really the quality on the pitch over the years has proven me wrong. In 20 years time, Mr Kenwright will still be blamed for what goes on at the club. Yes, leaders take responsibility and Mr Kenwright may say he could have done things differently.

I look at my friends who support Sunderland, Birmingham City, and West Brom and I'm just thankful we stayed in the Premier League. As all fans, we want better for Everton. It's the hope one day we will reach our full potential again on the pitch. The owner must push on with the new stadium and hopefully we keep our Premier League status.

I still think the statue of Mr Kenwright at the new stadium is a must. He has been a calming influence for us all over the years.

A calming influence for us all? There are only a few people I get angry with and most of them are from the other side of the park, but Mr Bill Kenwright has proved that he pretends to be interested in what Evertonians want, but does what is best for him, he always has and always will. When Everton ever reaches its full potential it won't be down to Mr Kenwright it will be despite him.

Everton could be weeks away from joining WBA, Sunderland and Birmingham City, but at least Mr Bill Kenwright will help to calm us all down?

Ian… step away from the vodka, mate.

Posted before noon on April 1st. Surely a wind-up, surely?

Spot on Ian. Now, have you claimed your free Easter Egg ?

Common Ian Riley - it's after 12 o'clock now - own up that post is an April Fool's ruse

Thank you! I will start the collection... a lovely silver coating.

Brian @113,

Kenwright will be nowhere near the opening of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. I promise you I will stop him physically and end up in St Anne Street if necessary. Total fraud of a Blue, it can't happen.

I'd sooner throw Bill Kenwright in the Mersey, rather than topple his statue into it, but I'd much sooner not have to talk about the man ever again, for obvious reasons.

But what about some good times we all had!? Ain't this worth it?

First time I concerned myself with Everton's accounts as I really prefer when we supporters stick to football but cost of wages equal to turnover? I've never heard such a thing before.

We need to shave something like £60M of wages off which means either we get relegated this year and problem solved or we get relegated next year. Unless Mr Moshiri is in the business of losing money for reasons I couldn't possibly guess…

This kind of financial tom foolery is hardly unique to EFC. The finances of modern football, particularly the top leagues, are absurd. The vast majority of clubs are not run like proper businesses. Whilst a football club is more than just a business, it has to be RUN like a responsible business to avoid disaster. The reality is that most top clubs lose HUGE sums of money and "investment" really means "donation". Ambromavich has "loaned" Chelsea more than £1 billion, money that he is basically going to write off as the impending enforced sale of that club will never recoup what he is owed. Sheikh Manzoor and the Abu Dhabi group have pumped >£1 billion into City, the vast majority of which is effectively a loss, i.e. a donation.
The top clubs are now effectively the play things of foreign billionaires (insetad of domestic millionaires) who are quite prepared to lose countless millions just for the prestige and the chance of being photographed holding a trophy from a major tournament. Whilst this has always been true for owners to an extent, the Premier League now has a world wide attraction, and we're swapping the likes of Doug Ellis and Bill Kenwright for Sheikh Manzoor, Ambromavich and Moshiri. Owners of the 60s 70s and 80s cared about the club they owned, today's foreign owners only care about success and reflected glory. I do give Bill Kenwright some credit here.

Here are the worst debts of the Premier League clubs according to Forbes:
West Ham $117million
Watford $139 m
Wolves $140m
Bournemouth $145m
Leicester $200m
Liverpool $208m
Brighton $340m
MUFC $561m
Spurs $838m
Chelsea $1.8bn

Chelsea's debts are basically to Ambromovich and will probably be written off. MUFC actually do make an operating profit, but it is less than 10% of their debt.
EFC are not in this list, although I imagine you can spin the debt numbers in a bunch of different creative accounting ways.. but the bottom line it is a totally SHIT picture all round.
Whilst we laugh at US sport (basically fat guys in helmets) at least it is run on financially solid grounds. The NFL teams MAKE money and costs are carefully controlled.
I am totally serious when I say I would like to see strict wage caps introduced in English football, and an increased forced % of home grown Academy players to be included in a squad and FIELDED on the pitch.
I am sick of watching overpriced SHITE from foreign mercenaries on huge salaries, especially when the massive debts being incurred are jeopardising the existence of clubs, including the lower league clubs
EFC are suffering from this particularly right now, but I hate to see English football in a financial mire generally, particularly lower league clubs.
People were complaining about these issues back in the 90s shortly after the Prem formed, they are even more true today.

Paul, there is tomfoolery afoot but also "Other" aspects at play I believe. Read the post above yours for just one possible angle.

I agree with you that many proper controls and a change of direction would be favourable, let alone necessary. I don't hold out much hope.

"Whilst we laugh at US sport (basically fat guys in helmets)"

Bit harsh! And not true.