How Everton' smart planning has built them a bright future — if they survive relegation

I would have commented sooner but I've been in the toilet throwing up since I read this pile of excrement.

Seriously!

What the...! A piece of satire, surely? Very poor work.

Did BK write this for i?

Looks like Bill's Personnel Assistant and PR has come up TRUMPS again.Denise has managed to find a sympathetic Journalist.

The Permanent Strategic Review has been replaced by Smart Planning.Glad it has gone, but Smart Planning getting through the mess and chaos is a bit hard too swallow.Benitez on half the wages of Ancelotti now is a end to a Expensive mistakes.He spent £1.5 million in total. Finch Farm Campers Club. Is going to rise like a phoenix..More Phoenix Nights than serious progress IMO.

It's going to be the same as usual at Everton. Seat of the pants stuff as usual and Self preservation even if Everton avoid relegation,according to the Everton Insider-The source of this article.

Lampard is going to have to hit the ground running this Summer to be able carry these parasites into next season.

I think this article was published late - file under 'April Fools'

It's amazing that some people still believe Kenwright remortgaged his house for Everton. HE DID NOT! And, just like Elvis and riding a bike to his beloved spot in the boys pen, it's all a fairytale.

Unlike his tenure at Goodison Park which has been a nightmare.

Don't even pay attention to this PR nonsense. It's bad juju.

We beat Chelsea 1-0. Leicester up next. The rest of this utter shite is just noise.

Jay, I've often wondered about how big Kenwright's house must have been if he re-mortgaged it to save the club? Where exactly did he live, Buckingham Palace? He probably thinks he's some kind of royalty, so maybe he did!!

I also see in that piece that Marco Silva used us as a stepping stone to greater things. Now I'm pretty certain that he was out of work until landing the Fulham job, though I stand to be corrected on that one.

Maybe the author was referring to Ronald Koeman landing his dream job at Barcelona, which went tits up.

The account I read in one of my Everton history books said Kenwright put up his house as collateral to secure a loan he used to buy shares of the club initially. I can't find the passage now, but I'm pretty sure it didn't say anything about a mortgage, and it certainly wasn't to generate transfer funds.

"All of this is overseen by highly respected chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, whose track record includes leading the fight against the breakaway European Super League last year."

Looks like we'll be okay then. I'll certainly sleep better tonight.

Excellent article. Not to those who will not be able to cope with Everton actually doing okay but great for those who have positivity.

Warning though, severe Kenwright Myth Alert. The reality is that nobody who posts on here knows what Kenwright did or didn't do with his house as collateral.

Martin #15

There is a difference between 'doing okay' and the reality of being in a relegation dogfight. It was poor internal management and waste of resources over a sustained period that caused it. It is a big stretch to believe those that were responsible will be able to deliver on any parts of their claims in this article, given the suspect reasons given.

You are entitled to your opinion, if you can justify it on the substance of the article, based on suggested 'Smart Planning',

Martin, you're either mad or an industrial-grade wind-up merchant.

Mike G,

Kenwright himself said he had remortgaged his house to "save" Everton.

His house was only worth £1 million at the time and, surprise, surprise, there was a £20M hole in the club's balance sheet the year after the £20M was put up to buy Peter Johnson out.

That's why there is much mocking of how many lawnmowers are at Finch Farm because Kenwright claimed that the £20M rise in other operating costs was due to lawnmowers etc for Finch Farm.

You always know when Kenwright is lying… he opens his mouth.

Furthermore, we had to have a massive fire sale of assets because Kenwright did not have the wherewithall to satisfy the banks so the overdraft facility was called in. There is absolutely nothing on record to say Kenwright put anything up as collateral.

Jay #19,

My understanding is that Everton cost Johnson £8 million and the £20 million plus got him well out. Kenwright, initially his side kick, was in the position to manoeuvre his way in without putting much of his own money in, if any.

He continued to run Everton the same, eventually running out of road. Then he found Moshiri (the goose with the golden egg); unfortunately Bill's skill set remained unchanged.

Jay@19 Or that he didn't? Just out of interest was it mandatory that he did?

Brian@17 Do you feel that everybody who doesn't share your bigoted views about Kenwright is mad or a wind up merchant? What a strange person you are. I don't like the bloke but there's a pile of pony posted on here by many who don't have a clue what Kenwright did or didn't do at the club. One thing that he did for sure was kept it running when it should have gone under. He's out of his depth now (my opinion) but he did some decent things along the way. We were far better in the Moyes BK years than we are now surely?

He has one fucking brass neck on him that Kenwright, I'll give him that. Everton is THE worst run club in the top two divisions bar none, and it's there for everyone to see in i) the league position and ii) the annual report. Did he write it himself under the pseudonym Sam Cunningham, I wonder? There is so much disinformation in this “story” the CIA would be proud. It's an absolute disgrace but carry on Bill, thinking you've done a great job and saved us all - people are finally waking up to your lies and we want you and your like gone.

Kenwright is an anachronism.

He is a Doug Ellis. He is not a man who like's to think he is ever wrong. You can't run a football club in London. It's a hobby for him, really. A corner shop club.

His showbiz superficiality and smoochy connections in which he orbits has seen him left alone in terms of criticism by sports Journalists.

That said - I do think that, should we survive, their are faint hopes of better days.

martin post 22. therin lies the problem with you and your mindset. Admittedly we are clinging for our lives but all you crave is the Moyes / kenright glory good times years. You couldn't even spell standards mate

I'll try some balance Martin, even if it puts me into a difference of opinion of those I tend to usually agree with. But we're all mates, Evertonians and grown ups, so that's fine. We can agree to disagree even though we are usually agreeing. As my younger, more sensible brother tells me after many of our debates, only Evertonians can argue of something we all agree on!!

I was never initially a Kenwright hater. I wouldn't use that phrase now but I want him gone from our club. As I saw at the time he took it on when no-one would touch us. He kept us afloat. But Everton's ambition should not be to stay afloat.

He has more than outstayed his welcome. Moyes was a perfect match as the two of them beat down the expectation of a generation of fans and allowed the club to stand still. And that is exactly what we've done, which is akin to walking backwards.

Like all, I am terrified of the position we are in right now. But it won't always be like this if we rid the club of the people who can't manage a club that wants to challenge for the title and trophies.

We haven't had that in 30 plus years. I'm sorry. Comfortable in 7th might seem appealing right now and we'd probably all take it, but it's not where I want Everton to be. To do that, we need change and that is not being venomous about Kenwright, just identifying him as the consistent over a period of standing still, lowering expectation and getting to the point we are at now even though he found a billionaire.

For all of you horrid jealous little people, I can tell you that Bill has been a member of my Lodge for many years and is a first class fellow.

Martin to use your tactic of where is the evidence. How do you figure that Kenwright kept us from going under. Kenwright got a club with a net asset position of 35 million and If you don't know what that means it means the club was in a healthy financial position.

Within 2 years it was in a negative liability position despite income from palyer sales meaning we had to sell Rooney and our training grounds at Bellefield and Netherfield as well as mortgaging Goodison so rather than saving Everton football club he nearly took us down.

Eddie, can you please clarify what qualifies someone as a first class fellow?

Well you learn something everyday Kenwright is an Anachronism I don't know where the spiders come into it but I thought he was an Impresario or an Entrypruner

Certainly Jay, he travels everywhere first class.

Whether we stay up or not there needs to be changes thoughout the club and that includes Kenwright retiring.
The reason we find ourselves where we are now is down to many people not just Kenwright or Moshiri. We have employed 'experts' to find suitable players who have made very poor choices, they are the main cuprits for me.

Lets get real though, the Premier League has a hell of a glass ceiling, unless you are in the European Cup the very best players don't want to play for you. Then you have Arab money increasingly coming into the game, it will be interesting to see what happens at Newcastle next season.

Whats not in dispute is that we should be finishing higher up the League when we have spent £500m on players and managers

Jay #18, do you have a link or citation for that particular quote? I'd really like to see exactly what he said. I've read multiple references to the comment, with varying versions of how the "mortgage" money was used (stock, players, now lawnmowers, which I hadn't seen before), but never found the actual comment.

I don't recall the books I've read by David France, James Corbett, Mark Platt or David Prentice quoting BK on this. Chris Feeley of this board once posted an article called "Mr Kenwright -- In Quotes" that went into harsh detail on things he actually said that didn't turn out to be true, but he didn't mention that particular comment.

Not trying to be contentious or skeptical here. I just want to know.

Jay@28 I was very familiar with the financial situation and know that we were effectively trading while bankrupt. I don't have the data now because it's water under the bridge and for me irrelevant. All I will say is that the null hypothesis is that he did good job at all times unless it can be clearly shown that he didn't. That isn't the case now and I can easily make the case for incompetence? That he kept us from going down is fact because he was the boss and we didn't go down?
Btw, I was in Azda Crawley Car Park today waiting for my wife and listening to Classic FM as you do. I had the windows open humming and singing along and then on Came Men Of Harlech. I was bellowing out in accompaniment especially on the Everton chant. What was it?

Mike@33
I really hate to talk a lot about BK because it doesn't get me any points at all but I have to defend the guy from some of the crap that comes his way.
Possibly the best approach to take on BK quotes from Evertonians is that whatever they report that he said he didn't actually say it. "The KD money has been ringfenced? The most famous? He never said it at any time, what he said was that if the money was forthcoming that it would be ring fenced. It never was.

Stephen Vincent nails this article in comment 1 on this thread.

The obnoxious supine crawler who wrote this article should have read Steve Hogan's recent article on TW and the positive feedback it received before he labelled Barrett “highly respected”. I knew there was a reason I don't read the i.

Martin if you check the club's balance sheet you will see we were certainly not "trading while bankrupt" when Kenwright took over and Martin I had contacts at the council who told me Kenwrifght has lied to them assuring them that the money was ringfenced for Kings Dock.

Mile I don't have the references now but if you go back into the press archives I'm sure you will see a quote from Kenwright saying he had to remortgage his house.

These stories don't just come from nowhere to badmouth the man.

Anyone who doubts his tendency to lie needs to check out the interview with Blue Union that was recorded.

Mike G.

I felt guilty making these claims from memory so here is a link showing that very statement:

https://peoplesgroup.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/the-blue-unions-meeting-with-bill-kenwright/

Hi Jay...

I wasn't debating your belief that he'd said something along those lines -- you've been posting on the Kenwright debate for many years and you know your stuff -- but believe me I used all my professional search engine skills (I'm a media guy) to check press accounts, and came up empty.

The link you provide delivers a paraphrase from a conversation... "as an example explained that he's the only blue to mortgage his house and has borrowed £10m."

Wow. It's a very big leap from that -- a paraphrase, not a quote -- to the assertions that he claimed to have remortgaged his home to save Everton, provide transfer funds for Moyes or support the groundskeeping at Finch Farm.

I do understand the claims don't come from "nowhere" but I also understand the years-long processes of extrapolation and exaggeration that take a kernel of truth and grow it into a legend. From Paul Revere to the Alamo to the current Trumpian hysteria sweeping America, there are many examples of pushing a point of view by taking a few words and sprinkling them with a truckload of... fertilizer.

I'd sure like to see an actual quote from the guy.