Michael Kenrick 02/10/2025 18comments  |  Jump to last

Steve Allinson, formerly Chairman of Everton Shareholders Association, has been found not guilty at Liverpool Crown Court of serious charges relating to the attempted theft of seats from Goodison Park at the penultimate home game last season as a memento.

Allinson was a prominent Everton supporter in the early days of the internet,  amongst other things providing a fantastic service to displaced and overseas fans in helping them get tickets for Everton games home and away.   

He was charged with attempted theft and criminal damage and appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday 1 October. But the prosecution decided to drop the case and 'not guilty' verdicts were recorded. Newspapers are reporting that the club has banned him from Everton's new ground until "at least" the end of the season, but we understand that the prosecution's application for a banning order was not pursued.

"The prosecution do not intend to proceed. I submit that there is evidence on which he could have been convicted," said Mr Iain Criddle, prosecuting.

"The defendant was captured on CCTV. The prosecution would say that this showed him attempting to remove seats and causing damage. Given the payment of the money to Everton in the Community, given the circumstances in which the offence was allegedly committed and the harm caused, the prosecution would take the view that it would not be in the public interest to proceed with this."

Judge Neil Flewitt KC said that he "presumably didn't want to pay £90 that the club was charging". Jonathan Duffy, defending, said his client and other supporters had "tried to remove an entire row of seats by removing bolts from the framework".

Mr Criddle said: "It is a rather daft thing for a 65-year-old man to find himself in a crown court for. There has been an informal resolution, which involved Mr Allinson agreeing to pay some money to Everton in the Community.

"They are happy with that as a resolution, and the prosecution is happy with that as a resolution. The defendant has now been banned from the new stadium until at least the end of the season."

Judge Flewitt, who earlier noted that the "Crown Court was rather busy with more serious cases", therefore recorded formal 'not guilty' verdicts against Allinson and said: "I am not in any way condoning what he did, but it is inconceivable that this case will ever see the light of day again. I am going to direct that not guilty verdicts be recorded in this case. Mr Allinson, you are free to go."

Quotes sourced from Daily Star

Reader Comments (18)

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Jeff Spiers
1 Posted 02/10/2025 at 09:54:18
Is that seat taken?!!!
Michael Kenrick
2 Posted 02/10/2025 at 10:04:17
Ha ha ha... Good one, Jeff.

I think Steve helped me (and plenty of others) get my first Everton Share back in the day.

Our archives contain a number of interesting contributions Steve made, the most memorable being when he and others — calling themselves Reform!!! — staged a coup to take over control of Everton Shareholders Association in a concerted effort to put heavy pressure on Bill Kenwright and the Everton hierarchy, pushing for a Rights Issue to broaden the shareholding base...

Ah, Happy Days!

Matt Traynor
3 Posted 02/10/2025 at 10:14:05
I saw the article from the Echo on social media. Those loveable Reds having a field day because his address was Hertfordshire...

Fair play to "Ticket Bastard" - he sorted me and countless others with away tickets in the late 90s / early 00s.

At least the judge had a sense of humour, and Steve and the club reached an amicable settlement -- although I heard Steve asked for the ban to be 3 years...

Colin Glassar
4 Posted 02/10/2025 at 10:20:41
Silly old sod😂😂
Jerome Shields
5 Posted 02/10/2025 at 11:11:12
They could have talked to him rather than dragging him to court.

Obviously someone pushing on at Everton, only for someone with sense intervene.

Colin Malone
6 Posted 02/10/2025 at 11:52:56
Not worth paying or robbing. No frame, no back rest.

No engraving, Just a flat bit of plastic. I would call it a food tray. Tight bastards.

Andrew Ellams
7 Posted 02/10/2025 at 12:14:22
Penultimate home game?

He wasn't giving too much consideration to anybody who might sit on those seats at the final home game.

Brendan McLaughlin
8 Posted 02/10/2025 at 13:20:52
Is there a specific market on Merseyside for stolen seats or are all makes in demand?
Paul Hewitt
9 Posted 02/10/2025 at 13:31:42
Couldn't he have just been asked to pay a charity sum to EITC and keep the seat?

Court for that. Bloody ridiculous.

Liam Mogan
10 Posted 02/10/2025 at 14:00:57
Sounds like he wanted to piss the powers that be at the club off, and they, given his meddlesome history, wanted to piss him off.

Viva La Revolucion!

Terry McLavey
11 Posted 02/10/2025 at 14:03:13
A true scouser ! Proud of yer son!
Dennis Stevens
12 Posted 02/10/2025 at 14:41:01
He wanted a seat - not the bench!
Mark Murphy
13 Posted 02/10/2025 at 15:11:50
Free the NTAS one!!
A true Blue gent and veteran of the battle of the Antwerp Arms.
Not guilty m’lud!
Neil Lawson
14 Posted 02/10/2025 at 16:16:44
Whatever your view is of his actions, the time, effort and cost involved in prosecuting him is a sad indictment of our current judicial system. There are thousands of what may fairly be described as more serious cases with victims of crime awaiting justice which are stuck in a horrible backlog. The fact that a case of this sort should be allowed to proceed to the doors of the Crown Court ahead of outstanding burglaries, assaults, robberies, child abuse etc etc is appalling. All the parties involved bear some responsibility, but, ultimately, it has become all to easy to play and to defeat a criminal justice system which is becoming ever more broken.
John Raftery
15 Posted 02/10/2025 at 18:59:24
Neil (14) You have said all that needs to be said about this case.
John Pickles
16 Posted 02/10/2025 at 19:08:26
Well, it says he was the Chairman.

Prosecuting him for it though, it doesn't sit right with me.

Christy Ring
17 Posted 02/10/2025 at 19:40:48
I can't believe the club brought him to court, definitely over reacted and literally threw him under the bus, embarrassing.
Ged Simpson
18 Posted 02/10/2025 at 20:10:53
How silly. There should be a fair number of people at the club and in legal profession extremely embarrassed by this whole episode.

And the defendant?

Plonker!

Now can we get back to discussing a £25m fee or £200k a week and whether either is sanity?

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