The one thing that is apparent though is that Everton’s business plan under Kenwright is pretty much non-existent. Before the contentious ‘Destination Kirby’ plans actually went south the club had already pointed out that if said ground move collapsed there was no ‘Plan B’ in existence. What kind of signal does that send out? The re-development of the Park End side of the ground onWalton Lanealso seems to have died a death, which is understandable in the financial mess they’re in, but surely that constitutes a ‘Plan B’ doesn’t it?
The other humiliation to come out of all this from Everton’s perspective is the assertion by Kenwright that Keith Harris is directly involved in trying to find a buyer for the club. Strangely this contradicts the evidence that Chief Executive Robert Elstone gave to the Kirby inquiry to say the least. Does the left hand actually know what the right hand is doing? At least get your story straight. Whilst we’re on the subject of humiliation the ICI deal deserves a mention. How on earth can you get as far as due diligence before you discover that your potential investor lives in a bed-sit in Manchester? Its not quite Michael Knighton territory but its not too far off.
Yet for all Kenwright’s purported faults he surely has Everton’s best interests at heart. Football fans do have notoriously short memories, after all this is the man who saved Everton from Peter Johnson’s reign of terror. He has also stuck by, arguably, Everton’s greatest asset in manager David Moyes. You only have to look at the truly bizarre sacking of Sam Allardyce at Blackburn, following the Venky’s takeover, to realise that, in terms of the manager’s position at the club, Kenwright knows exactly what he is doing. Yet some fans will never tire of telling you that Kenwright got lucky in appointing Moyes because he actually had Gary Megson down as first choice. That appointment probably wouldn’t have turned out quite so well.
The one thing you can’t get away from is the way Moyes has behaved through all of this. He knows he hasn’t got any money to spend and he knew that was always going to be the case when he took the job, but he gets on with his lot, which he is very handsomely rewarded for you might add? He gave a cautiously sanguine interview to Radio Merseyside before the QPR match where he stated that he was well aware of the constraints that the club was under and that they could struggle to finish in the top half of the table this season. Is he boxing clever and trying to lower expectations amongst the fans, you can but wonder? When the chips are down Moyes, Kenwright and Everton do have a tendency to come out fighting after all.
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