In the early 1960s, John Moores became chairman of Everton Football Club. A ruthless businessman, he had built his empire on the back of the success of his Littlewood’s Pools business.
It wasn’t long after the takeover that Everton acquired a new manager in Harry Catterick and made a rash of signings including Gordon West and Alex Young. As a result of this investment Everton were, somewhat sarcastically saddled with the nickname the ‘Bank of England club’.
Fast-forward fifty years to this current summer and Everton’s transfer policy can only be described as barren. For the second consecutive season it appears that they will not spend anything in the transfer window (whilst Arsenal has begun what could be a sustained attempt to take Phil Jagielka).
Fans of the club have begun to turn their anger upon the board, namely chairman Bill Kenwright. He has been widely criticised for the inability to sell the club to richer owners, as well as for the potential ground moves that the club has flirted with during his tenure.
Problems can be found in the figures of the financial reports covering June 2009 to May 2010. Everton’s turnover in this time increased by £500,000 to £79.6million. However, in this same period the club’s debt rose by £7million (to £44.9million). This combined with a wage bill that now consumes 69% of the club’s turnover shows an organisation struggling financially.
Kenwright is not an overly wealthy man. Some sources cite his personal wealth as being as low as £10million. Considering these figures it is all the more impressive that he doesn’t take a salary from the club.
When compared with the £17billion of Sheikh Mansour or even the £700million of Mohammed Al Fayed it’s easy to see why Kenwright has been most vocal about the need to sell the club. In its current incarnation the situation is untenable for the long-term.
For Kenwright, and other chairmen, Manchester City has changed the game. Prior to the arrival of Sheikh Mansour chairmen could talk of the difficulty in attracting investment from businessmen who were only interested in the so-called ‘big clubs’. But after City, a team bereft of honours and a recent history of yo-yoing between leagues, were pumped to near-bursting with Arabian cash the excuses began to sound hollow.
In truth Manchester City won the lottery when they were taken over. In terms of attracting a buyer their only real asset was a fantastic stadium, which is rented from the local council. Geographically, they had also been in the shadow of their successful neighbours (another argument that supporters of Kenwright have sighted for the lack of investment).
Kenwright has talked, sometimes cryptically of interest from various ‘sources’. The identity of these sources has never been divulged. Officials claim this is because of confidentiality clauses in the negotiations. Whether or not this is true it has still led to Evertonians feeling ostracized from the board and its handling of potential takeovers.
The question of Everton’s difficulty in attracting buyers is an interesting one. Their debt, whilst large for a club of their revenue streams is hardly out of control. The manager is regarded as one of the best around, and the squad is healthy with talented players. The biggest issue is the stadium.
Goodison Park, whilst being an iconic structure in English football is grossly out of date, both commercially and in terms of capacity. Crowds of 35,000 per game are not enough. For the 2009-10 season Manchester United made £100million from match day revenue. Everton made £19million. For the Blues to compete they need to move.
A potential takeover of Everton wouldn’t, by Premier League standards cost much money.
Bernie Mullin, a former CEO at Atlanta’s hockey and basketball teams put together a document in which he claims any would-be investor would have to part with £75-100m to buy out the Everton board.
As stated this amount isn’t a vast sum. However, the stadium then becomes the issue. The prospect of supplying a new ground for the club can add £250-£300million onto any possible purchase.
Better the devil you know! Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do me a favour Bill, Stop writeing this shit.
You have destroyed 133years of history,
Your time is up.
Um, i’m not Bill. He’s rich and successful, and i was never in the ‘Liver Birds’ or ‘Coronation Street’.
The article was just my opinion on the situation at Everton. Obviously, you have your opinion as well.
I just feel that not all people buy Premier League clubs for the right reasons. You may have been right that the ‘better the devil you know’ line was had more than a touch of cliche about it. But I think the point remains the same…