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| Kenwright: Divisive, to say the least. |
The perception of Mr. Bill Kenwright among fans of Everton
Football Club is not a unanimous one. For every Evertonian who wants the club
purged of its owner for not investing as he should and seemingly not looking to
sell up either, there is a fellow Blue who believes in Kenwright's commitment
and is thankful for him keeping the club afloat.
Now there is nothing wrong with being thankful to Kenwright
for helping stabilise the club. But there is a sense that he has lived on that reputation
for far too long. And so on the flipside there is also nothing wrong with
wanting the owner show more ambition than he does or for him to sell the club
on to somebody who can propel Everton Football Club to new highs.
And this is the fundamental problem. Kenwright is the good
guy and the bad guy at the same time; if the owner is guilty of the accusations
that many Evertonians will level at him, then he sits in an idyllic position on
his royal blue throne. As long as there remains a split between the fans,
Kenwright will keep hold of the reins of our club until something forces him to
sell.
Understandably, everything seems somewhat foggy to say the
least.
A perfect example of this is the infamous question, "where's
the Arteta money?", used so often in a humorous manner that it has become
a parody of itself. However, if you think about it, it sums up the exact type
of confusion that is generated by Everton's board; at the time the club was
struggling for cash to spend on players and a large sum of money seemed to
simply disappear into thin air.
Robert Elstone admitted it had all been used up on players'
contracts, loan fees and further internal matters. Regardless of whether or not
the chief executive's explanation was the truth, why was there such a great
deal of secrecy around the whole incident in the first place?
This is seemingly typical of our club these days. Just like
Kenwright appears to be both Jekyll and Hyde at the exact same time, it is not
clear where money goes and why particular decisions are made. Surveys emerge
now and again in which enigmatic Evertonians seem to have reached a consensus
that the club is run very well, which contributes to intensified confusion.
Throw in the odd mention of potential investment and a new stadium and suddenly
nobody knows which way is up and which is down.
In addition to this the Liverpoool
Echo's stance on these stigmatised matters does not help. First of all, Lee
Carsley's article on the owner painted Kenwright as some sort of perfect
saviour, which links to a point made earlier in this article: he is still
supported by the reputation he created for himself many years ago. Furthermore,
what has incensed many Evertonians is how the Echo questioned Liverpool's three-year absence of trophies and not
Everton’s two-decade void. Again, questions have arisen: WHY is the topic of
Everton's mediocre ownership quite so stigmatised? WHY is it barely ever
questioned in the media? WHY is the club's situation painted as fine and dandy
when in reality it is not? WHY are there never any answers to these questions?
If this unrest is going no further than Twitter and online
forums - for it will not reach national level if it is not gaining regional
exposure - then what hope do we have? Even the Newcastle fans' attempt at
boycotting their home fixture against Tottenham did not have its desired effect.
Although the attendance was a season-long low and has therefore made significant
news, there were still around 47,000 people at St. James’ Park. Perhaps this is also due to a divided stance:
while the Magpies are evidently under-performing at the moment, there is also hope
of a new manager and money to spend on the horizon.
On the other hand a striking amount of AC Milan fans
recently boycotted the club's Serie A fixture against Cagliari, encouraged by
the fan group Curva Sud. Many of those who attended the match brought banners
to protest about the club's poor ownership and mediocrity as they sit 9th in
the league and without European competition. Depressingly, the San Siro was
virtually empty; yet creditably the fans have made their stance on the club’s
ownership very clear.
A statement on Curvasudmilano.it read:
"How many times have we made sacrifices for Milan? How
many times have we saved up to buy a new shirt, to be able to go to the
stadium, to renew our season tickets? There's one thing that's been
lacking...clarity!"
And it is the same problem back at Goodison Park. When we
need it most, there is no clarity. There seems to be no real objective, minimal
funds available and to add even more kindle to this huge fire the performances
have been mostly embarrassing and infuriating this season.
It is unlikely that there is a major conspiracy ongoing
behind closed doors at Goodison Park; yet it is evident that something is not
right, and the fans who pour money into the club week in, week out, are not
treated with the respect they deserve. Nobody seems to know what is truly going
on, there are more questions than answers and it seems very unlikely that the
brilliant and historic Everton Football Club will ever consistently hit top
form until everything becomes clear or it changes hands. Attempting to gain an
understanding of what is going on here really is like trying to catch smoke
with your bare hands.
To conclude then, below is a quotation taken from the
Guardian archives. The article from which it comes is entitled ‘Dream script for Kenwright’ and is
dated Wednesday 26th January, 2000 when Bill Kenwright had just
taken over Everton Football Club. Take a moment to reflect on how little his
words seem to ring true today:
“Acquiring Peter
Johnson's shares is only the first step to restoring a great club to where it
belongs - to where it should be. If you are going to run a successful football
club you need two qualities: you need to be realistic and you need a plan. I'm
realistic and I have a plan.”
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