It seems like every protest can be reduced to a simple easy-to-follow message that people willingly get behind. That never sits well with me as life has made me a rounded thinker.

I think this is best explained by an example. ‘Just Stop Oil’ was an easy message that people got behind passionately and on occasion endangered their own lives and others. They wanted an end to fossil fuels and yet probably travelled back from their protests powered by fossil fuels to the warmth of their fossil energy homes.

My point is there is no such thing as a simple message. The consequences or what comes next are the real extent of the simple message. In this example, we all freeze and go back to living in caves.

‘Sack the Board’ is another simple message that fan groups and supporters can easily get behind. I can understand that. The board have been responsible for overseeing a pretty awful period of Everton history with the highlight being avoiding relegation!

It’s the same message we heard for a very long time before Mr Moshiri arrived. Many fans then wanted a billionaire owner, funds to spend, and trophies to win. They got two out of three, so why complain?

I wrote an article that was posted back then, warning that what glitters is not always what you need. Billionaire owners are by their very nature naturally sociopathic in business. Mr Moshiri has done it his way because that is how he does business and I doubt he will change until he makes his next billion or is down to his last penny.

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Do the best fans in the world truly believe that sit-ins, or waving bed sheets with 'Sack the Board' messages will make one iota of positive difference? I say 'positive' because I think the difference is negative to a team devoid of confidence and a manager feeling the pressure.

Think again. To the groups behind it, you are letting emotions rule your heads and, whilst you may feel doing something empowers you, think beyond the simple message: What next?

It is Everton that is in danger of relegation, shackled by reckless spending into avoiding breaching Profitability and Sustainability rules, and down to one or two cards left to play. We all need to think a little smarter on where this could go. In essence, a reality check on how we all move forward.

Let me start with what we don’t want. In one word – relegation:  it would be a financial disaster. Unless you are over 68 years old, no Everton fan has experienced it.

We have the second-best record for continuous top-flight years and the most in total due to being formed 10 years ahead of Arsenal. We are one of only 6 clubs to have been continuously in the Premier League and by some measure the least successful of that elite group. If we have to have a simple message, let it be ‘No Relegation’.

In my business life, we worked to a 5-year plan. If the plan is realistic, viable, and deliverable, you stick to it. The plan is the outcome you want to achieve. How that happens can be fine-tuned or amended if circumstances change, but the plan remains the same.

In Everton’s case, it may be financially sustainable and winning more than we lose. I appreciate some fans will want more, but look where we are now. Our one ace left is the increased revenue stream from the new stadium when completed.

Mr Moshiri is no fool and essentially, is a very successful investor. He needs to build the value of Everton to secure a return or achieve an acceptable loss. His timing to sell will be dictated by time and financials.

In the meantime, if the board changes it will be his decision. Being a supporter and buying tickets to watch Everton games does not give you rights on how and by whom the club is run. 

If the board actually run the club, they have done some good work, but sadly not on the main operational activity of winning football matches. They will know that. If they are just figureheads then, changing them will make no difference.

If the board has genuine input into the running of the club, then perhaps they should seriously consider the best interests of the club and consider their positions in a planned restructuring of the board.

It seems crazy but, apart from doing their jobs to the best of their ability, Lampard and the players can only do what they are paid to do. Additions will be a better mix perhaps for a more balanced team.

If we are lucky, we can get a game-changing loanee in the mould of a striker who scores goals. But we have shown ourselves to be a fractious club for managers and players, so I doubt we will be anybody’s first choice for a move.

Supporters need to breathe in. Forget emotion and reset expectations based on the real world. Yes, there are ways they can protest, as money talks. An empty Goodison Park would be impactful. No shirt sales etc.

And yet the very important question: Hurting the board hurts Everton more so to do what they do best – give the team 100% and remain positive. The Fan Advisory Board was an interesting development.

Reading the resignation communications was disappointing. It would be nice to have more detail on why those who resigned felt the need to. I can’t believe they feel more effective in driving change from outside that group.

I understand we all have opinions and behave accordingly. The part I struggle with is supporter groups who somehow feel a club in discord with its supporters is a good look.

The 27 Years Campaign, who are now called NSNOW, were named after 27 years without a trophy. I get that, but would argue the next 27 days and winning the games we can influence is more important. We are in for a bumpy ride, but better we share a united Everton bumpy ride.

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Reader Comments (29)

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James Flynn
1 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:31:13
Everyone's united in not wanting relegation. EVERYONE.

"The part I struggle with is supporter groups who somehow feel a club in discord with its supporters is a good look."

Nonsense.

These aren't some random rabble-rousers. They are die-in-the-wool Everton supporters attempting to DO SOMETHING about the Club they love sinking before their eyes.

Your recommended "Do something" is,

"Yes, there are ways they can protest, as money talks. An empty Goodison Park would be impactful. No shirt sales etc."

Nice.

So just when the team needs full, in-person supporter attendance, home and away, you suggest not going, by 10s of thousands.

Need to "breath in"? Take your own advice.

Congratulations to all the supporter groups, including the moderators of this website, uniting as one voice protesting the years-long poor performance by the Club's hierarchy. And demanding action.

And in your unity, please, PLEASE, ignore any knuckle-headed calls like the one above for boycotting the games just when the team most needs it.

Dave Lynch
2 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:42:53
I posted in another thread.

If Everton went out of existence tommorow, we would get on with our lives, we would still have our jobs and families.

If we stopped going the game tomorrow Everton would cease to exist.
They need us more than we need them to exist.

Nick Page
3 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:48:53
That’s true Dave but why should people stop doing something they love because a lying, cheating millionaire sociopath who has made a fortune out of selling some shares he never owned in the first place has ruined it for you? We, the people demand change. It’s not up to him anymore; we now have a fight on our hands with the entire system to keep Everton in existence. We have to show them that we are not the baddies here.
Rick Tarleton
4 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:51:57
Sack the Board! How? They own the club.
Lynn Maher
5 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:51:59
I for one would be delighted, if Lampard and the players actually did their extremely well paid jobs, to the best of their ability! Herein is part of the problem.
Dennis Stevens
6 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:52:14
I was pleased to see Moshiri come in as the major share-holder with a bit more money than Kenwright [i.e. some], even if it wasn't some Sovereign Wealth Fund worth hundreds of billions. My main hope was that he would get a grip on the running of the Club. However, I was dismayed to learn that Moshiri basically proposed to let Kenwright carry on as before whilst letting him squander the new man's cash. It's been a tragic case of mismanagement & profligacy with only the new stadium representing any success in the Moshiri era. At this stage I assume we'll be stuck with the current set up until the stadium is complete & Moshiri then, presumably, endeavours to recoup his investment. I desperately hope this will all happen whilst we hang on to our top flight status but feel this is the worst situation since 1998, it's that grim.
Dave Lynch
7 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:53:35
So we stay away Nick...it wouldn't take long for the message to hit home.

They are taking us for fucking mugs...The club doing nothing about the situation is one thing...telling lies and blackening the name of its own fans is another matter all together.

Joe Corgan
8 Posted 14/01/2023 at 20:57:45
There is so much in this article I disagree with. It could almost have been written by one of Moshiri’s right hand men! But two lines really stick out.

“Moshiri is no fool.”

On what evidence? Being a billionaire doesn’t make you smarter than the rest of us. Some of the world’s most prominent billionaires are absolute idiots. Idiots who came from money and were willing and able to do what was necessary to grow their fortunes. ALL evidence suggests that, when it comes to running a football club, Moshiri is absolutely a fool. There is no evidence to contradict that. None.

“Being a supporter and buying tickets to watch Everton games does not give you rights on how and by whom the club is run.”

It gives you the right to have an opinion and a right to be heard. A sports club is not like any another business. We don’t primarily purchase a club’s products or services to our own benefit. A cynic would say we’re purchasing entertainment, but even that is questionable. Unlike any other form of business, fans will be loyal no matter what. There is no competition lest we all turn our backs and find another club to support. That loyalty, carried through generations, gives every fan a right to be heard, especially collectively. Moshiri may own the shares of The Everton Football Club Company Ltd but he, nor anybody else, will ever own the club.

The club exists and will exist regardless of the status of the parent company. It could go bankrupt tomorrow yet Everton would live on. And while we, as fans, may have no legal rights, don’t think for one second that we don’t collectively have the power to influence change. We do.

Danny Baily
9 Posted 14/01/2023 at 21:00:02
The time for infighting has passed. The board are not the problem. Our problems are out there on the field and in the dugout, and it's too late to address them, at least as they were a few weeks back.

Our focus now should be on moving on players whore will be surplus to requirements or who will be unwilling to turn out for us next season. Also, we should have one eye on the type of player who could help us out next season (e.g., Diaz or Gyorkes).

In the meantime, we should get behind the team for what it's worth. I've been banging on about sacking Lampard but I'll give it a rest for the time being. Emotions running high will only benefit the RS fans, who'll be dining out on this for decades to come.

Dave Lynch
10 Posted 14/01/2023 at 21:06:45
No club can exist without a fan base.

I don't care if its Barcelona or Bury...a fan base is what clubs exist for, Without it they are meaningless.

For years we've been told otherwise, told that clubs thrive on sponsorship deals and Sky TV money. That's bollocks!

If a club has no fans it is not a club, its a memory that will fade with time.

Peter Fearon
11 Posted 14/01/2023 at 22:58:12
If only Everton’s problems were as simple as “sack the board.” They aren’t. For years people had a hate on for Kenwright and wanted him to sell to some rich Arab who would pump millions into the club and build a new stadium. Well Moshiri isn’t’ an Arab but he has pumped hundreds of millions into the club and is building a remarkable new stadium but our problems are actually worse year by year. This is not down to Kenwright. The real issues are at executive level. We need new business management and sadly we need yet another team manager and director of football who will improve recruitment. Thelwell isn’t getting it done.. We let our best players go and replace them, on the whole with mediocrities. You can’t keep doing that no matter what business you are in. I was impressed by the fervor of the protest Saturday. I think a picket of the merchandising outlets would also send a solid message. But the message shouldn’t be “Sack the Board” It’s naive. “We want Football.” Maybe. A slogan isn’t really necessary. Bumper stickers don’t solve problems.
Si Cooper
12 Posted 15/01/2023 at 17:37:49
Sorry, but it should be obvious to anyone with any sort of life experience that ‘simple messages’ don’t necessarily translate into simple answers as the poster seems to imply.

The real point of ‘Just Stop Oil’ and ‘Sack the Board’ is that for necessary change to happen you first have to remove the over-reliance on the very things that are going to end up destroying you.

Peter (11), BK didn’t deliver everything people wanted because the main thing was a desire for BK to relinquish his amateur influence and allow real change. Maybe then the millions would have been spent better.

Michael Fisher
13 Posted 15/01/2023 at 18:32:17
As the writer of the article the point I was making was that protests are ineffective when the owner has no interest in what anyone else thinks.

I wrote the article before the Southampton game. I read that the Directors had been advised not to attend the game with suggestions of perceived risk to them. I also read of other issues after the game. True or not the image of Everton is being hurt. We will need a new owner one day.

I don’t believe the board has control of the club. So getting rid of them is pointless. The replacements would be cut from the same cloth.

I did not suggest wanting an empty Goodison Park, but money talks. I was making the point that ultimately that is the only true protest. The fact that my article has been edited into neat little paragraphs with the following paragraph starting so taking my comment out of context. I do not start new sentences with ‘And’ as I lead to what hurts the board hurts Everton more. Thus, not a proposal at all

And no I don’t work for Moshiri, but I wish I did because I would most certainly tell him what I thought of his ownership. I guess referring to him as a sociopath would not have been a smart move either.

Just thought it was worth stating.

Si Cooper
14 Posted 15/01/2023 at 20:29:40
Michael, the ‘sociopath’ reference is not aimed at Moshiri.

It is aimed at someone on the board who people think has retained too much influence and who could be removed by the owner if he sacked the board.

The fact that you don’t believe that control of the club resides mainly with the board puts you at odds with many posters who believe it does.

A critique of Moshiri’s career could conclude that his personal wealth has been accrued whilst swimming in the wake of bigger fish rather than being a proven business genius in his own right.

Jay Harris
15 Posted 15/01/2023 at 21:03:50
There can be no doubt that Moshiri is unwilling and incapable of finding at least 3 "football" people to replace the so-called Board of directors.

They are not going to sack themselves although Barrett-Baxendale has promised us for over a year she is looking for another job. That length of time speaks for itself and to be fair she is the only one who communicates with the fans even if she doesn't listen. Perhaps she could have a career in WWW (World Wide Wrestling) after she managed to resist a head lock recently (allegedly).

K enwright has always found the knack of extracting wealth from other people and enhancing his own wealth but has never transferred that ability to the club who were asset-rich when he took it over and I daren't even look at the balance sheet now.

So we are stuck with the 3 stooges at the head of the club and the only room for immediate improvement is sack the manager.

And so the downward spiral continues.

Barry Rathbone
16 Posted 15/01/2023 at 21:29:18
Michael Fisher, good post that.

The "sack the board" chant is utterly mindless but at least not hypocritical like the "stop oil" cultists.

I would take issue with Mosh being clever on account of his wealth I've lost count of the number of affluent blockheads I've met. Most being rich by dint of circumstance (family mostly) rather than intelligence.

It would be nice if matchgoers could replicate last seasons call to arms but they can't, they're sick and tired of the entire farago.

As I keep saying we're in the lap of the gods

Anthony A Hughes
17 Posted 15/01/2023 at 21:43:46
Moshiri may not be a fool in his other business aspects but when it comes to running a football club he's a grade A moron.
The proof is right before us
Joseph Connolly
18 Posted 16/01/2023 at 00:51:12
Let's ignore the whys, who is wrong or who is right.

The bald fact is that a significant number of Everton fans have lost faith in Mr Kenwright. So to heal the wound, a true Evertonian would simply resign, take the heat out of the argument.

Mr Kenwright is not the only person in the world who can be Chairman of Everton, there are other competent people on the planet.

So come on Mr Kenwright staunch the blood loss in the club, do the right thing, resign and remember…… Vox populi, vox Dei.

“The voice of the people is the voice of God"

Pete Clarke
19 Posted 16/01/2023 at 02:52:03
A big banner should be written for Kenwright. One that is not offensive but may hit a nerve.

A message from Everton Football Club to Bill Kenwright.
Please release me, let me go
For I don't love you anymore
You have ruined the name of Everton
Release me and let me win again.

Maybe we could get the announcer to play it over and over just to run it in. If he ever returns to Goodison that is.

David Currie
20 Posted 16/01/2023 at 03:10:18
Pete 19,

That would be a great banner, and sadly for all of us, Bill will be back stronger than ever.

Matt Traynor
21 Posted 16/01/2023 at 04:08:14
Peter #11,

Farhad Moshiri is an Arab – he was born in Iran. He also happens to have acquired British Nationality.

I'm no longer based in UK but watching from afar, we've been circling the drain for too long. Law of averages was always going to catch up with us.

If the worst turns into the inevitable over the last few weeks, what an appalling epitaph that will be to Kenwright's stranglehold on the club he professes to love. It's given all of us moments of joy (particularly the older Blues), and abject pain. It's given him more millions than he could've made in his chosen Thespian career.

My fear is, as well as the indignation of the last season at Goodison being in the Championship, we'll be the big scalp for a lot of teams, and right now this current team lacks fire. We won't be back so easily.

Steve Brown
22 Posted 16/01/2023 at 04:55:17
Persians come from Iran.

Moshiri is Persian, not Arab!

Alexander Murphy
23 Posted 21/01/2023 at 00:03:25
Evertonians!

Form a Ring of Disappointment around Goodison Park at at 2 pm next Saturday!!!

We turn up near our turnstiles.
We form a chain.
By holding hands.
We say nothing.
We hold hands.
We stay for 15 minutes.
We leave.

Peaceful.
Solid.
Thousands.

No other club would do this.
Silent protest in absence.

Andy Crooks
24 Posted 22/01/2023 at 00:13:24
Alexander,

I didn't think anything could make smile tonight but, "a ring of disappointment round Goodison Park" has sent me to bed with a laugh.

Cheers

Rob Halligan
25 Posted 22/01/2023 at 00:56:37
Alexander #23.

Absolute bonkers, but it just sounds like a brilliant idea.

Like Andy, I can't stop laughing and smiling at the thought of thousands just stood around Goodison, holding hands and not saying a dickie bird, then just literally walking away, without an inkling of who you've just been stood next to, or not having spoken to, for 15 minutes!!

Mike Gaynes
26 Posted 22/01/2023 at 01:25:09
Rob, that was my technique in singles bars back in the day.

It was notably unsuccessful.

Nick Page
27 Posted 22/01/2023 at 01:28:09
Sorry - Farhad Moshiri is not an Arab. He was born in Iran. Which likely makes him Persian. Fuck's sake!
Eric Myles
28 Posted 22/01/2023 at 01:48:22
"Yes, there are ways they can protest, as money talks. An empty Goodison Park would be impactful. No shirt sales etc."

The Club don't make money from shirt sales, it's been outsourced.

Same with match day catering, no money goes to the Club.

I wouldn't be surprised if programmes are outsourced too.

Home fans are mostly season ticket holders so the Club already have your money whether you turn up or not. They sell a few hundred on StubHub, that's all, plus the 3,000 (?) for away supporters.

So in that case, money is as silent as an empty stadium would be.

Don Alexander
29 Posted 22/01/2023 at 05:57:13
Semantics obfuscate this piece.

We've been run by morons - end of, for decades.

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