It can’t have surprised many that Time Magazine’s Person of the Year was the Protestor. From the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street (and the ever-so-slightly comical “Occupy Detroit”) to the London riots – protests were everywhere. In Washington DC, there was even growing tumult against protests, culminating in a “March to Restore Sanity”.
The atmosphere of revolt was bound to bounce over to the Premier League, but in doing so it has become ridiculous. We’ve had protests outside the ground, protests inside the ground, even protests flying over the ground, a liberal sprinkling of half time and full time boos and chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing”.
Yesterday I posted some of the most ridiculous banners I could find. The Guardian’s Barry Glendenning perhaps put it best :
“When it comes to sticking it to The Man, British football fans are always up for a protest as long as it doesn’t require much effort. Anything that results in them actually having to miss a game, or requires them to deviate from their usual match-day behaviour is out of the question, which means the ‘march’ from a pub they were going to be in anyway to a match they were going to anyway has become a staple of disaffected British football fans.”
Even stroppy Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs carry “Bates Out!” banners to their gigs, neatly fitting a protest in while they riff and wail. When we complain about not winning enough we can’t help sounding spoilt. New generations of football fans, brought up on minute-by-minute reports, and up-to-the-second Twitter feeds feel entitled to moan the instant things go wrong.
Arsenal fans against Tottenham were one massive James Corden tribute. The ultimate ingrate, a man poured into his ego but who forgot to say when, moaning that he didn’t win more Baftas. Last weekend Gooners were moaning en masse, until the tide turned and Arsenal spanked Spurs 5-2. These days holding out on booing until half time is considered long-termism. At Goodison, and online, the moans about Everton being destroyed by Man City actually happened before a ball had been kicked, solely on the strength of Moyes picking Hibbert at centre half. Where was the faith in our manager? It turns out faith only comes with three points these days.
Most football protests in the top flight are thoroughly ridiculous. We aren’t trying to overthrow a fascist regime, or topple a trigger happy dictator, this isn’t Homs, a city pock marked with bullets or a town razed by air strikes like Sirte. This is Ewood Park with Lancastrians dressed like chickens, or Goodison with a lady gamely tossing toffees from a basket at glum fans.
Last week malaise and discontent swept over The Emirates like a virus when Gooners thought they were going to lose to Spurs. Sacking Wenger is almost seen as logical by some despite the fact that they have never (N-E-V-E-R) finished outside the Champions League spots with him at the helm. Our collective rear view mirror is grubby and needs a clean, if we could look back to the 60′s we’d see a bubbling primordial soup where the league was totally unpredictable. Nowadays too many fans have become accustomed to success, finishing top four is almost seen as average for Arsenal.
If Moyes – on a nothing budget – can guide Everton to 7th in the Prem it will elicit nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders and a “meh” to some blues. Some would say that I’m accepting mediocrity, I maintain that Everton’s finishes in the toughest league in the world have not been mediocre.
We’re protesting because the chairmen of our clubs are “plunging” us into financial chaos, and their lapdog managers are “tactically inept/naive/clueless”. Except most of the time they aren’t. The language implies a descent into the bowels of hell, the reality is one season without European football, or a fat parachute payment for being asked to slum it in the Championship. It doesn’t matter that most of the Premier League is operating at a loss, that other clubs are in the same boat. Sunderland for example operate at a HUGE loss but the loss is written off at the end of the year by their owner.
So is the problem, beyond the moaning about lies and mismanagement, simply that BK cant write off losses; that he’s poor?
Who should replace the incumbents, you ask? Depends on if your talking about Owners or Managers. Everyone wants a filthy rich owner, as long as that owner isn’t Shinawatra, Venky’s, Abramovich, Ashley, Gillett & Hicks, Yeung, Usmanov, The Glazer family. So really we want a filthy rich owner, with crisp clean morals and a spend, spend, spend philosophy. Take care of the billionaire white knight owner and the rest will take care of itself. Kenwright has been attacked for not finding this person, but does this person even exist?
When it comes to managers, it’s a thoroughly kneejerkish story – win and we like you, lose or draw and we don’t. Win without style and we still don’t really like you. I remember the instant effect Moyes had on our team when he took over, Unsworth scored after thirty seconds. But somewhere along the line some blues have developed a ten-year itch.
7th, 17th, 4th, 11th, 6th, 5th, 5th, 8th, 7th, (currently 10th)
The code above should brings optimism. Whenever we lose faith in Moyes all we need to do is remind ourselves of his finishes in the Premier League. Somehow the protest groups have broken that code. They may claim that it isn’t about the manager, but we all know that it has a lot to do with it. I’m very doubtful the protests would have been half as successful earlier this season if the team hadn’t been stalling.
“Tackling Issues, Not Individuals“
I beg to differ. This is all about individuals. Just take a look at their latest poster.
Other online protest groups have become like the Life of Brian style Judean Peoples Front/Peoples Front of Judea/Popular Judean Peoples Front.
They are the 1%, blathering on about relegation, how we’re doomed, in tailspin, in a McCarthy-esque haze of paranoia. Extremism is their lifeblood. Most of the time they are the ones who stand on Oxford Street wailing “The End is Nigh!” as we squeeze past like disinterested shoppers. Have a look at some of these websites though. It’s shocking. Moyes is a c*nt, a sh*thouse, and Kenwright is pocketing cash.
How ridiculous we are to protest. How will a protest find a buyer? Yelling “Kenwright Out!” is an entirely different thing from getting him to sell. You can scream at him, but how will that find a buyer. For some, the philosophy seems akin to “the beatings will continue until morale improves”.
Social Media
Social Media is the vehicle for lots of Everton protests, it’s also something millions of people use on a regular basis. A recent study calculated that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third biggest in the world.
Everton FC Official Facebook Page
- 210,824 like this
- 12,568 talking about this
- 2,373 like this
- 246 talking about this
We all love the club. (We all want to find a buyer)
As far as Everton are concerned, the problem is simple. We love the club. All of us. The issue is that we love it in different ways, and pretty much all of us think that we love Everton the most.
- Those that sit in the stands come rain or shine think that they see the true Everton.
- Those that faithfully watch grainy intermittent internet feeds from corners of far flung lands think that they love Everton the most.
- Those that protest outside the ground think that they – clearly – love the club more than anyone else. They, after all, are the only ones with the balls to act before it’s too late. (I hate the way a few fans think that anyone who isn’t protesting – and that’s well over 90% of fans – is a Kenwright “apologist”. If there was one word that I could push off a cliff and watch it plummet to its doom, it’s “apologist”.)
- The millionaire impresario who is chairman of our club thinks he loves Everton more than anyone else. (I reject Kenwright’s assertion that no one loves the club more than him. I also find it funny that his enemies think he is unfit to sell the club. I would have thought a seasoned bullsh*t artiste with the gift of the gab and a twinkle in his eye would be perfect for selling us.)
This is the issue. Not that our impresario won’t let go of his train set, but that none of us will admit that we are anything but totally in the right. We’re right, you’re wrong. As black and white as Juventus, whereas the reality is more murky like the grey Man Utd shirt they wore for one half at the Dell.
As someone pointed out to me, protesting is definitely not Kopite behaviour. Or at least behaviour reserved for Kopites. We’ve been protesting for years, getting into a funk over everyone from Catterick to Kendall. Historically, we’ve been disgruntled for a very long time, as this Blue Kipper piece shows. Fans protested against Harry Catterick, attacking him when he dropped the Golden Vision for a young Joe Royle. He also got both barrels when he let Alan Ball go. Leaflets were spread demanding Howard Kendall’s sacking before he took Everton on our most successful period in our history. “Agent” Johnson was slammed for being a Kopite, and now we have Bill Kenwright and the current board. The man who presided over two failed stadium moves (although I’m quite glad one of them failed), and has spent 12 fruitless years looking for investment.
- Is he terrible at looking, or is there no one out there?
- Why has he cancelled meetings with shareholders?
- If he has nothing to hide, why is he using his power to silence the voices of the fans?
The various protest groups use the above questions as proof that Kenwright is unfit to run our club and that he has treated the fans disgracefully. When they moan from the cheap seats and look towards the gods, they see the smoke and mirror smile of a man whose whole raison d’etre is to hoodwink and gull. The chairman of our club, Bill Kenwright also believes he loves the club the most, and he doesn’t think anyone can do a better job than him.
In many ways Bill’s the Harry Redknapp of Chairmen, as his interview with the Blue Union shows. Like ‘Arry, Bill seems able to function without rudimentary skills; working as Chairman of Everton Football club and not even knowing what operating costs are. But Bill has ringfenced his mistakes with the fact that he is a True Blue, which to some lessens the “betrayal”. The BU have argued that if he wasn’t an Evertonian we’d have thrown him out a long time ago.
Kenwright has been slammed for his “lies” – as if he is promising something and purposefully failing to get it. I think his “lies” are those of an eternal optimist, not of a con-man. Yes he is strange. Most of the time he’s diagonally parked in a parallel universe, still sitting at the ’66 Cup Final, but is he an evil General Secretary crushing the club? No.
Bill is not whiter than white and not bluer than blue, but people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and in truth these protest groups pebble dashed their glass house a long time ago.
“the position has been clarified over and over. No recording was made. No agreement was made there were three of us there. He asked us to take notes. He talks quite passionately. It was fairly easy to recall certain aspects of the conversation. No doubt there is a lot from that meeting that we’ve missed.”
I am still very suspicious about the Blue Union meeting with Bill Kenwright. One that apparently had no secret recording devices, yet yielded forensically accurate report of the meeting. Here’s just a sample:
Simon, “Bill, can I just ask, hand on heart, Moyes has two years left on his contract, I think he’s our most important asset, what’s keeping him at Everton?” Bill, “Simon, I’ve survived three periods of death threats not to sack him, I’ve had the sh*t in the post, I’ve had the wreath, I’ve had we know where your mother lives…” Simon, “Bill, can I just say, that’s wrong, we would all….” Bill, “I know, I know, look, he’s my mate, we talk about everything.” Mark, “Okay, to answer Simon’s question, do you think he is going to extend his contract?” Bill, “Do you want him to?” Barry, “I do.” Mark, “Can’t you answer that question?” Bill, “Ask me if I’ve asked him to stay.” Mark, “Okay, have you asked him to stay?” Bill, “Yes, of course I’ve asked him.”
Mark then asked, “What’s Robert Earl’s interest in Everton?” Bill, “He bought the shares from Paul Gregg; he’s a brilliant marketer.” Mark, “But it hasn’t worked Bill….all we’ve seen is Rocky.” Barry, “Is it not in the interest of Robert Earl to come out and say I want to sell my shares?” Bill, “Well I’m speaking on behalf of Robert, Jon, Arthur and Philip; we’ve got the club, we own 75% of the Club”
To my eyes, that doesn’t look like scribbled notes, it looks like something transcribed from a recording. How do we know there isn’t a recording? Because the Blue Union told us to believe them. How do we know that Bill Kenwright is trying to sell Everton? Because Bill Kenwright has told us to believe him…
And by Dixie are both sides sensitive! Peering over statements with a magnifying glass, not looking for facts but for slights and digs no matter how small.
How do you feel about being accused of sabotaging the Club by CEO Robert Elstone?
— The Blue Union (@TheBlueUnion) January 13, 2012
Elstone said that some fans may be purposely sabotaging finances by not turning up (in itself a needless comment in a blog about finances) and the whole of Merseyside collapsed into moans. Spend a nanosecond online and you’ll find plenty of people saying that their absence from Goodison is because they hate the board and they hope it damages Kenwright’s hold on the club. You’ll fall over statements like that like a parent over their kid’s toys, they are everywhere… Elstone’s blog was actually a transparent look into our finances, and was applauded by fans of other clubs, but because of the culture of over sensitivity and drama at Everton – one aside was latched on to.
Bill Kenwright was asked today when the AGM’s would be reinstated. He replied “Not whilst The Blue Union control the shareholders”
— The Blue Union (@TheBlueUnion) January 7, 2012
On the other side, I’ve heard about Bill Kenwright’s capricious nature and his growing paranoia. The statement above sounds very bizarre.
Closing off AGM’s to the public is a PR disaster, tantamount to admitting that you sleep with a gun under your pillow. Kenwright’s School of Silence approach ensures that rumour and hearsay have grown out of all proportion. Calling yourself the People’s Club but removing lines of communication to the common fan? A horrible hypocrisy.
Open Letters – Closed Minds
While I’m mid rant, permit me to go a little off piste. Open letters are swiftly becoming a devalued currency. I wrote one once, and cringe at the thought of it now. They are utterly diluted by the sheer number of “open letters” out there. I’d love to throw them in my Room 101 along with the word “apologist”.
Watching the semi against United on ESPN Classic. Seems a millions years away. The board allowed that team to be smashed to pieces #tragic
— Joe Jennings (@JoeJennings9) January 23, 2012
A quick look at that team tells me that it hasn’t been slashed to pieces. That result should actually give us hope!
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini (Vaughan 102), Pienaar, Cahill, Saha (Rodwell 70).
Only 3 of those players, including those that came on as subs, no longer play for us.
Whatever the fee, I think we can all agree Moyes won’t see a penny, and the already smallest squad in the league is another player light. — The Blue Union (@TheBlueUnion) January 23, 2012
Moyes did spend money this January.
Below is a Tweet from our first interviewee for 60 Evertonians. Is this what you think too?
No Evertonian should ever approach a game wondering how many we’re going to get beat by. This is #EFC under the current incumbents #sad
— Joe Jennings (@JoeJennings9) January 11, 2012
Removing the apostrophe.
A friend told me that an apostrophe is the difference between a club that knows it’s sh*t, and a club that knows its sh*t. Moyes’ successes of late, our FA Cup run, and Kenwright’s efforts to bring Pienaar back, have eased the tension and removed that apostrophe once more.
The Blue Union and the Club will try to claim that I’m biased. I’m not. I’m slap bang in the middle. The money wasn’t ring fenced, the stadium won’t lose its safety certificates, Kenwright isn’t trying to drive the club into relegation and we did have money to spend this winter.
A plague on both your houses.
That’s put the cat well and truly among the bu pigeons.
Simply the best article I have EVER read on Kenwright/The BU/Protests etc. Brilliant.
What Joe said. Impassioned, articulate and actually worth the the ‘paper’ it is written on. I only wish that the various sides would read and understand why they would be better off looking for a joint solution to any issues and be pleased we aren’t one of the so called big clubs (although I think I missed the memo when Everton got demoted from this group despite being more successful than Spurs and Chelsea and on a par with Arsenal) contemplating sacking a manager because we expect to win the league every year and can’t.
Probably the most accomplished piece I have seen on the whole factions debate.
Great piece again Ed, there’s really nothing that can be added to it.
A very fine article indeed. But I’d just like to state as an Arsenal supporter that it is only some of our ‘fans’ who want Wenger out. And this is because Wenger has raised our bar so very high for so long that many impatient ‘fans’ have no concept of reality. It has a lot to do with the number of idiots per square yard of terrace or even prawn circle. Many believe there to be a greater density of idiots per square yard in football stadiums than other sports. Nothing personal, but we’ve all got them.
Most balanced comments I’ve ever read.
Tremendous!! Balanced, Well written and completely in line with my views on the lack of patience shown by the SKY induced fans!!
If the article wasn’t a mish mash of confusing criticism of Moyes with Kenwright, then it might be a balanced opinion piece. As it isn’t, it’s confused about whom it’s referring and means little.
Shame.
I’ve just realised I might have read this wrong – might this have been intended as separate articles?
Hi Jez –
I intended this to be one article. I understand that it’s a confusing one (not helped by poor formatting on my part).
The main thrust was that I refuse to rush into the arms of either the BU or Bill Kenwright, and that criticism of BK is usually tied in with criticism of Moyes. Again, sorry if it was confusing.
Without doubt the most balanced piece on the whole blue union debate and the writer is in the same place I find myself as regards this argument (along with many others)
Having read through this article we’re saddened that an Evertonian feels not only the need to attack and misrepresent the actions of fellow Evertonians but also to so vehemently misunderstand the role of the Blue Union; it’s even sadder that other Evertonians believe that this is the best article they’ve ever read [see comments] when there exists a plethora of factual information on the subject of the source of the angst between fan and board.
The piece is an amalgam of opinions backed up by little more than more opinion, which is, of course, the role of fan websites; but rather than attacking Evertonians for exposing what is going on at Goodison, it may be slightly more productive to look at what The Blue Union are really saying, what they’re actually advocating and gauge them on their results rather than on the perceptions of those removed from what is actually taking place.
This isn’t a popularity contest; this is about who is right and who is wrong; it’s about who really cares about the future of Evertonians and Everton in a thriving district of the city or who simply cares about their return on an investment made in buying the shares of a football club.
Consider this statement taken from the piece, “Everyone wants a filthy rich owner, a billionaire white knight owner and the rest will take care of itself.” Bill Kenwright advocates this, it’s here in this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quEVjOdqlzU&feature=fvwrel]; but The Blue Union don’t advocate it as we’re fully conversant with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations and their implementation will not allow a City or a Chelsea situation; hence why we simply state that the prospective owner should be one who can best demonstrate the resources to facilitate the change that is required to deliver real change and progression. These resources will not just be monetary resources; they include the ability to deliver a cohesive business plan through innovative strategies and professional personnel.
This has been Blue Union policy since the summer of 2011; we even named three likely candidates to conduct the sales process; professionals with a successful track record in the disposal of major sports businesses and only last week it was announced that one of these, Inner Circle Sports, has indeed been engaged by Everton in their quest to sell the club, just as we outlined.
We’re unaware of any madmen letting out bloodthirsty cheers at meetings nor have we met anyone who claims Kenwright has “trousered” the other operating costs other than employees of the club who used the faux accusation to move the spotlight away from the massive and still inadequately explained increase from £12m in 2007 to £23m in 2008; it’s an old trick and it’s easy to spot. The 85p in the pound was just such a tactic; a tactic to remove supporter’s attention away, from the now £24m other operating costs, as this only concentrates on 50% of these costs, which simple arithmetic we prove.
It is of course true that all football supporters are “volatile and will vacillate wildly” depending on results on the pitch; that observation is not limited to Blue Union supporters or Evertonians in general, it is a fact all supporters exhibit these characteristics; paradoxically these improved results on the Goodison pitch do nothing to address the root cause of Everton’s problem and that root cause is the real issue. Bill Kenwright is the chairman and self-styled spokesman for the owners of 76% of the club’s shares and it is his chairmanship, and the mechanism through which it is operated, that is the fundamental issue and no attacks have been made or will be made on his personal life or his business life outside of Everton Football Club.
We’re also unaware of The Blue Union denigrating David Moyes; one often used strapline is “Support the Team Oppose Stagnation”, hardly a denigration of the man whom the Blue Union wrote to, along with the players, explaining our argument is with the board and not the playing staff. But as in life, if you can’t attack your target with factually accurate information, simply make it up and use that.
The statement in the article relating to the sale of Bilyaletdinov is another prime example of the misinterpretation of The Blue Union, here’s the Blue Union quote in the form of a tweet,
“Whatever the fee, I think we can all agree Moyes won’t see a penny, and the already smallest squad in the league is another player light.”
This articles counter to this, regarding January transfer spending was, “Moyes did spend money this January”, which is of course true, we brought in Gibson for £500k and Nikica Jelavic for an initial fee of £1.5m but out went Saha and Bilyaletdinov, which more than covered any spending and our squad was further added to with loanees, Donavan, since departed, and Pienaar; the end result of which is we still have the smallest squad in the premiership and, as Moyes was promised some of the Arteta money, it’s safe to say he has not seen any of the Bilyaletdinov money as the Blue Union quote suggests.
At a period in time when our manager was crying out for funds, our chairman gave him a paltry amount representing far less than 10% of the income from the recent disposals of Ruddy, Jutkiewicz, Pienaar, Vaughan, Beckford, Yakubu, Arteta, Saha and Bilyaletdinov. Taking into account the £20m in savings in wage costs, that the disposal of these nine players represent, it’s a fair assumption that Moyes has not actually received a penny to this day.
The article states that “Kenwright has been attacked for not finding the person to sell the club to” and ponders if this person even exists. It’s a fair question, but only if you can identify the criteria being applied. We believe the person or organization to take the club forward, reduce the debt, restructure the clubs business activities and invest in the infrastructure to develop the business as a whole, does exist; but we also believe that nobody is willing to hand over good money to directors who have done little to enhance their business over the past twelve years in charge. This intransigence by the board over the value may well mean that even Inner Circle Sports will fail in securing a new owner.
An apostrophe maybe the difference for some supporters, it’s a great little anecdote, but we never believe Everton are anything other than the greatest team and that they are an proud asset of the City of Liverpool, the city region and its supporters.
Our beliefs are founded on fact; the fact that Bill Kenwright is without any shadow of doubt the worst chairman amongst Houlding, Jackson, Mahon, Baxter, Cuff, Green, Searle, Moores, Carter, Marsh and Johnson; some of the latter officials offering stiff competition, but factual evidence confirms Kenwright is the worst and an individual, as far as Evertonians are concerned, that cannot be trusted due to the available evidence.
This isn’t personal; this is just an indictment of Kenwright’s chairmanship which is the issue at Everton. A cursory glance at the relevant information is all that is needed. In 1999 when Kenwright formed True Blue Holdings to take over Everton from Johnson, Everton had £20m of assets on their balance sheet which revealed net debt of £20m; today that same balance sheet no longer has any assets whatsoever, it has £35m of liabilities primarily due to our net debt increasing to a record £47m.
Whilst other clubs are indeed more heavily indebted, their debt is to their owners; our debt is to institutions as no director on this current board, unlike Peter Johnson, has invested a single penny into the club.
Persistent poor financial performance has necessitated the disposal of assets, both on and off the field, to fund the deficit; examples of this being the sales of Rooney and the disposal of Bellefield, but it does not stop there, Everton, under Kenwright, became so indebted due to poor decisions, prior to the abortive NTL funding, that a securitisation loan was needed to address the level of debt; this will cost the club almost £70m over its term and did not address the underlying problem, so two years later Rooney was sold to save the club and the pattern fixed for a future hand to mouth existence. Despite record turnover, primarily due to media payments, Everton is in a worse position [financially] today than under Peter Johnson.
A consequence of this board’s actions is that we’ve even mortgaged our future ability to raise our own revenue or to put it another way the inability of a future owner to decide what to do with that revenue has been assured, as we’ve already spent money due to us two seasons in the future and we’ve sold our ability to generate revenue through merchandise and catering for a pittance of its value.
The performance of Bill Kenwright should not be judged by the finances alone; there has been a series of well-known decisions which have had devastating consequences on the club. The boardroom in-fighting between Bill Kenwright and Paul Gregg, the loss of a new stadium on the Kings Dock, the supposed investment by the mysterious Fortress Sports Fund and the equally mysterious appearance of Philip Green’s close friend Robert Earl claiming to own the shares currently residing in the name of a British Virgin Islands registered company, BCR Sports, but paid for by Philip Green himself according to their former owner, Paul Gregg.
Of course all of these events are open to interpretation; for example, long after the demise of the stadium on the Kings Dock the directors [Carter] claimed that the cost escalated to an unacceptable level but of course it could be said that continually failing to produce Everton’s £30m contribution caused the delays which caused the cost escalation in the first place.
These incidents are clearly a great source of debate because they’re open to interpretation; what isn’t open to interpretation is what happened over the proposed relocation to Kirkby because it is so well documented.
Everton told their shareholders and their fans that they were receiving £52m from Tesco, towards the cost of a new stadium; this is what they actually said:
“Normally when a club has to look for a new stadium, it has to look at financing the whole depth of the new stadium itself. In this case we have been able to work with Tesco and Knowsley to create a situation where Tesco will make a contribution of £50m towards the cost of a new stadium. That is a huge contribution and we believe that with stadium naming rights and proceeds from the sale of Goodison and with some additional debt that we will be able to deliver a world class stadium that will be up there with anything in the Premiership”
This was a blatant lie and no matter how much employees and PR consultants and journalists attempt to cover it up they can’t. There was no money, what Everton were receiving was a £52m value derived from the increased value of the land once planning permission was granted, a value that would have eventually appeared on the Everton balance sheet and was revealed in the report to the Secretary of State by the Government planning inspector when they described the stadium as being funded by the council through Tesco by the uplift in the value of its land to facilitate an increase in the value of the club for the benefit of its present owners and no doubt the value of the club to its owners would increase if a new stadium could be provided at a subsidised cost.
Notwithstanding the fact that Everton, in an era where non-football income will become vital [FFP], was being left marooned nine miles from the city centre with one of the worst transport provisions of any stadium; it was for the sole purpose of increasing the value of the club for the benefit of its owners, a benefit that would be realised when the club was quickly sold.
The Blue Union have never betrayed the club as Bill Kenwright suggested. His own guilt regarding betrayal of the club is palpable. An often repeated warning is that we should be careful what we wish for, meaning that we could end up with owners as bad as Portsmouth, Birmingham, West Ham or Rangers. The warning that should actually be taken on board is that this is what eventually happens with owners who do not have the resources to run professional football clubs.
The various factions of The Blue Union are working for Evertonians; we’ve suggested professionals are brought in and they have; we’ve suggested policy changes on how the club communicates with its fans and, during private meetings, we’ve suggested means of elevating hardship to encourage the next generation of fans all of which are being implemented. The KEIOC faction of the Blue Union has been working with the city council on improving the physical and business environment around the stadium with its Football Quarter programme which is designed to benefit future owners when they investigate stadium redevelopment as an option for the long-term future of the club.
We’re not acting against Everton; we’re working for Evertonians who support our club and don’t accept second best as only the best is good enough.
The Blue Union
[...] 2012 | 0 CommentsSeveral Blue Union supporters recently contacted various officers with a link to an article published on Everton fan site ‘Dixie’s Sixty’ which claimed to be a balanced view from a [...]
[...] Blue Union supporters recently contacted various officers with a link to an article here, published on Everton fan site ‘Dixie’s Sixty’ which claimed to be a balanced view from a [...]
Thanks for the reply Ed – I won’t lie, the formatting didn’t help!
I get the jist now, while I feel it’s a bit mixed up in terms of some of the assumptions made, there are a few points that I think the BU have clarified, but I think it can only be a good thing for that to be expressed in terms of honest feedback / analysis.
It’s only through an understanding of how any and all camps are perceived that the message can be clarified and the objectives explained to everyone.
Cheers Ed.
Strange how many of of you are rambling in about this article being factual and balanced. It most definitely was not balanced and contained quite a few innacuraces.
The sheep will read what they want I guess.
James – feel free to list the innacuracies.
[...] few days ago I wrote that: I’m very doubtful the protests would have been half as successful earlier this season if the [...]
[...] few days ago I wrote that: I’m very doubtful the protests would have been half as successful earlier this season if the [...]
People whinge too much, The BU they care but you know its just not right, obviously they raise some good points that some tings dont add up but in all honesty things could be alot worse. We could finish above liverpool this season… how good is that? you know we could be wolves and been relegated but we havent been.
I’m just going to say my fair share even though its probably way off i dont know many details in this whole topic but… I think Bill doesnt really want to sell and i dont blame him he’s probably looking for someone who wont screw us over like blackburn, but i think hes not telling us everything which is sad but when there is heaps of money involved people tend to not say much and do look out for themselves and you cant really blame them.
I dont know i dont care all i know is Most people reading and commenting love the club and like the writer said we all believe were the greatest fan….