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Blue Union Statement: Protest details
The Blue Union met with representatives from Merseyside Police this afternoon and have been given the green light to stage a peaceful protest march prior to Saturday’s game at Goodison Park against Aston Villa.
We will be congregating on the council ground on Spellow Lane, fifty yards behind the Everton One megastore, at 14:00pm with a view to marching down Goodison Road to the directors entrance shortly afterwards.
The Blue Union’s passion for the club and for the team simply cannot be brought into question despite the best efforts of our detractors. We totally subscribe to the view of giving our full support to the players and to the manager and we urge all Evertonians to cheer our team on to victory.
Everyone who is part of The Blue Union continues to support the team and the manager, but we oppose stagnation and we promote the concept that it’s time for a change.
The aim of The Blue Union is simple, it’s not to get Bill Kenwright out, it’s certainly not some mindless attempt to sack the board; its aim is to promote the concept of allowing the CEO to be left to concentrate on reducing costs, developing our revenue streams and repairing the relationship with the fanbase whilst leaving the board to appoint a fully autonomous group of professional individuals who can effectively develop and implement a strategy that will identify and sell the club to a buyer who can demonstrate an ability and a genuine desire to take the club forward on both a commercial and football level. The Blue Union will be publishing an open letter to Mr Kenwright in the coming days.
It is imperative to stress that our protest will be a peaceful one; and anyone who intends on compromising the credibility of the protest is simply not welcome.
We have a batch of limited edition Blue Union t-shirts that are available to purchase on Saturday for a £5 donation as well as the popular amber and blue protest scarves that are priced at £6. Proceeds from all merchandise will be reinvested directly into funding The Blue Union’s future endeavours.
The Evertonians in attendance at The Blue Union’s public meeting demonstrated that they will no longer accept the stagnation of the club and are ready and willing to rise as one.
It’s time for change. It’s time for protest.
The Blue Union
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58 Comments
Saturday is our chance to show the board and the watching world that as Evertonians we won’t let our club be dragged into the gutter any further.
Lets do it with class and dignity.
“won’t let our club be dragged into the gutter any further”.
So you’ll be cancelling the march then ?
Brilliant.
Great effort lads.
Total respect, let’s hope for a good turn out!
Count me out. What a worthless exercise.
Count me in. What a worthwhile exercise.
T-shirts. Scarves.
What about dummies ? And prams to throw them out of ?
Let’s call off the march what prats and let’s settle for the championship then because that’s where we are heading under kenwright good luck evertonians who march
Let’s call off the march.We can always sell Rodwell in January and Barkley in the summer. Bill can then carry on playing with his trainset for another couple of years. Kenwright Out.Enough is enough!
No, don’t cancel the march. Let’s hope the BU can persuade the chairman and board to resign en masse, and BU can take over the running of the club. As this appears to be their aim, I guess they have everything in place to do so. If so, great. If not, if they’re not part of the solution, they’re part of the problem.
1985, you are strengthening the cause with your comments.
The aims are clearly set out in the statement, and none of them involve The Blue Union taking over anything.
The fact you are unable to read or comprehend them perhaps says more than any words could.
Staveros : so if BU don’t take over, who does ?
Come on, spill the beans. No secrets.
Can you not read? It looks like they have released it all in black and white there in the statement what the plan is.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see anywhere that BU are claiming to have a buyer lined up, or that they are personally going to find one…so I have no idea where you are getting that from.
Staveros : Read ? Try reading between the lines. Try looking at the broader perspective. Try reading some of the recent postings on the site and elsewhere with regard to the general malaise.
Do you think that no one on the march will share Bazman’s sentiment “Kenwright out”. Surely you can’t be that naive.
Anyway, I’m off to conjugate a few verbs.
What doesn’t kill me will surely make me stronger.
How many of these pro Kenwright half wits that post on the Everton sites are actually on the Everton payroll?
Utter bullshit! What a waste of time, and effort. Your aim is not to force Bill Kenwright out? Haha good one. Let’s allow the man who saved us from Johnson to sell us to some other wanker and make us the nexts Leeds United.
Keep up the good work lads.
Marston: OMG words fail me. Any Evertonian supporting the board now must be unwilling to see the facts, stupid, on a WUM or some thing to do with the board, simple as that.
About 200 people will turn up. Pricks. Make sure you tape it
Blue Union: narcissism at its best – get a life, grow up and stop the ‘play ground’ bullying
How very sad that the dissenters on here seem to be absolutely settling for second best and for swallowing all the nonsense that Everton Football Club continue to feed them. I presume the people against this protest feel that everything at Everton is fine, that they are happy having no money to spend in 6 successive transfer windows, that they are happy selling our best players to appease banks and not reinvesting any of the money into the team, that they are happy with two failed stadium moves, one failed Park End redevelopment, lots of failed sale attempts to people who live in one bedroom flats in Manchester.
Sorry lads, you may be happy with that, but a lot of Evertonians aren’t, they’ve had enough and they will not let this board drag Everton down into the Championship and Administration, which we are clearly headed to at the moment. We’re not going to let that happen. You may be bizarrely in favour of the board’s current ‘disaster-plan’, but you’re not going to stop people dissenting. See the light, jump on board, and let’s show these rich, out-of-touch clowns that we’re going to make them accountable for their actions from this point forward.
Dear Blue Union – I have asked this question several times in several formats, but the only answer I get is “Kenwright Out”. I’ll try to ask it again.
Can someone please explain to me which new owner has improved their premiership club more than Everton over the last 10 years? seriously, Ashley, Gold & Sullivan, Yeung, etc have all taken their clubs down. Lerner has done good things at Villa, but even he has pulled the plug on investment (which is why O’Neill walked).
Which clubs outside the old “Sky Three” of Man U, Arsenal and the Shite, has managed to permanently break into their cosy Champions League funded dominance of the the Prem? To me it looks like it was only Chelsea, but City will be there too going forward. What do they have in common? Do you need me to point it out?
If Kenwright resigns, who will replace him? Ian Ross? Rob Esltone? Are you just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic? Or are you actually asking him to sell his shares?
The club needs major investment, not another pauper owner who can just about afford to buy the club and maybe give us £50m towards two decent players and their wages and agents fees. All the owners mentioned above are effectively pauper owners. They are multi-millionaires but they could not keep their clubs in the premiership because of their own “disadster plan”.
We have borrowed to fund player wages because we don’t earn enough to pay them otherwise. It was a gamble to get us into the CL, it almost worked, but we didn’t over stretch ourselves like Leeds did, and that was because our Board was more careful.
We borrowed to fund finch farm because we don’t have money to buy the rodwells and barkleys of this world, so we built the acedamy to develop them for us – hopefully it will continue to attract young talent.
Overall the Board hasn’t done too bad a job, other than a new stadium where have they failed? Do you honestly expect us to win the league when Arsenal or the Shyte can’t do it with their resources?
Any cup would be nice I know, but outside the Sky Four, or is it Sky Five now, only a few have done so and its largely down to luck, but I want more days at Wembley and in Europe.
We do need a new stadium, that is the one big area Bill has failed to deliver on, but he has certainly tried, no-one can deny that, but to deliver a mega stadium (which is what we need) will take massive investment, and it needs to be near the city centre for its road and rail links and post match entertainment.
Bill hasn’t got that, so he’s tried to cut our cloth accordingly, but this is why we need not just any new owner – I don’t buy this anything is better than what we have shit – few premiership clubs has been able to get as close to the top as consistently as we have in recent years.
we need a billionaire who can fund a new stadium and support the club over the time it takes to get us up to the next level, we do not needs just “anyone”.
So you dont want Bill Kenwright out then? Seems an amazing about turn from the clueless baffoons of Blue Union, so you want a interim board with the current chairman still in charge? How exactly will that help. I really dont think you have thought this through but eh at least you have pretty t-shirts so we can recognise you
Hear, hear Dixie.
very noticeable that not one of the detractors has come up with a single credible counter-argument against what the group is doing.
Either childlike insults, cliched mystic-meg predictions about doing “a Leeds”, or a blatant demonstration of misinformation with regards the state of the club when Bill Kenwright took over, to where we are today.
Keep fighting the good fight lads, it is well evident that the masses still haven’t found enlightenment..despite the massive amounts of factual information available on the internet with regards the state of our club, and the lies that have been told (DK etc).
Yet to hear a credible arguement from Blue Union, they want Bill out, they dont want Bill out. They want a interim board with Bill still in charge, they didnt have sexual relations with the president (oh wait that one might not be related).
Is there aim to actually sell some t shirts and scarves? Do BU own a t shirt shop and want to make a few pounds so they come up with this propaganda? Has Dave Kelly ever realised Bernie Ecclestone wont call him on his Everton ringtone mobile? (BBC M/Side Interview). Has Staveros realised the team he is meant to be supporting playing in blue and not white from North London? Did Joe actually take a business degree in Leeds and is now the world authority on running football clubs?
All these questions need answering
Staveros – is my post invisible to you?
Sack the Juggler…I disregarded it after the first line to be honest..”all I hear is Kenwright out”. Strange that, as it isn’t what the statement says at all, is it??
Which owner has improved their club more than Everton over the last 10 years?
Well, I would have to answer a question with a question..which I don’t like to do, but I can’t see another way around it.
My question is…what improvement? What improvement has Bill Kenwright made to Everton? The only ‘improvement’ I can see is that he found a manager who has been able to achieve results with a zero net spend, which has hugely masked the chairman’s consistent failings.
The debt has more than quadrupled in Kenwright’s time in charge, despite record incomes and performances on the pitch, and our commercial ‘improvements’ are absolutely laughable when compared like-for-like against our rival clubs (in terms of stature).
Aside from employing David Moyes, and sticking by him when other would have maybe pulled the trigger, tell me one positive thing that Bill Kenwright’s ownership has achieved??
Absolutely zero as far as I can see.
Simon Currie, why hide behind childish jibes? Tell us what Bill Kenwright’s ownership of Everton FC has done to take the club forward.
Be sure not to confuse that with a manager consistently bailing him out of course.
Have we found any external investment? Err, no. Has the chairman himself supported the manager with funds? Err, no. Have we at least managed to develop the business model to put the club on a sounder, more sustainable footing going forward? Err, no…quite the opposite, we have mortgaged or sold virtually every asset the club owned.
So tell me, those who are happy with the status quo, what is so good about the state of our club?
We don’t own our training ground
The manager has zero funds to work with
Season Ticket sales were mortgaged off many years ago
We have two failed stadium moves
A ground that should be just about ready to collapse now, according to Kenwright and Tom Cannon
The chairman has admitted that the current situation is unsustainable..but that he doesn’t have a plan to get out of it…
so tell us all, what are we missing, what are we being so unreasonable about??
Stavros – looks like my questions weren’t invisible to you then – you are just too blinkered to see them because you are living in your own world of conspiracies and hate.
Before Kenwright took over we were constant relegation fodder – every year I’d get an ulcer just dreading the day we finally got relegated, and those were the “easy” years when the gap between the top and the bottom wasn’t as great in terms of income.
We no longer have those relegation battles, now season end we are battling for a european place – I see that as improvement.
Yes a lot of this is down to Moyes, and Bill did borrow to pay the wages of those players to get us there, but we are in the prem – wages are high, if we want to compete then we have to pay those wages to attract and retain our players.
He could have said no we are not paying that, and I’m sure Moyes would have kept us in the prem and the club would have made a profit as we bubbled along in the bottom half, but instead he took us into europe.
Do you not see european football as an improvement over what we had in the 90′s? How is that not improvement? Or do you really expect us to win the league without investment?
He has developed finch farm and yes he has borrowed to do that, but we are seeing the benefits now.
Is debt your main issue? Debt is a necessary evil in the prem now – most clubs have debt, we have less than most.
No matter what you say is your mission statement I can guarantee that your protest march will descend in to “Kenwright Out” chants. If it doesn’t then hats off but there is no way that your ‘followers’ won’t resist the urge to do so, which is when you lose any credibility that you think you have.
The term ‘promote the concept’ is such a weak statement, it basically says to me ‘we want change but have no credible process/ideas/structure to bring that change’. Anybody can start up a group and say we want a new owner by having an interim board…it is needs to be backed up with a better plan of action, convince the board you know what you are talking about, convince the majority (yes I used the term majority on purpose) of fans that you are credible. All I see is a constant backlash against Blue Union as a group and this includes me.
By the way, what has Everton’s economic growth been year on year for the last few years? (genuine question) For Blue Union to use the term ‘stagnation’ this would have to be economic growth of < 1%.
Dear Blue Union can you please change your mission statement from “Kenwright out” to “Billionaire in” – its more positive and more focussed on what we need to take us forward.
Thanks in advance.
For the people who still defend Kenwright, you are clueless.
Why is it always “who will takeover, give me a name”.
Well here’s a thought, why not let Kenwright name a price for his shares? Didn’t Robert Elstone say at the Kirkby enquiry that we aren’t for sale? He wouldn’t lie to a government enquiry would he? Er???
It’s not all about a takeover too. It’s about having a board with a plan to take the club forward, not a board who bounce from one disaster to the disaster due to their ineptness and incompetence.
If you can’t see that, then you really are stupid.
Sack the Juggler, I’m sorry mate, but 100% of the improvements mentioned are down to Moyes. Kenwright got rid of Johnson and stuck by Moyes when we nearly got relegated. Other than that he’s done sweet FA. Major assets have been sold or Mortgaged, record debt levels, multiple stadium failures, the continued selling of our best players, consistently poor financial performances year on year.
The improvement in league positions – Moyes, every day of the week.
Bill borrowing to pay the wages, erm… no. ‘Everton’ borrowed to pay the wages. I know BK mortgaged his house to get Everton, but since then i’m not aware of any personal loans BK has taken out to help fund the club. If i’m wrong please correct me and i will withdraw the comment.
The point you make about the fact that Kenwright could have said no to paying higher wages is non-sensical. He only said yes because he gambled on Moyes getting Everton into the champions league again. BK increased Debt levels to unsustainable amounts in giving Moyes barely enough Money to keep us in our current position. When he should have been concerned with increasing Everton’s income, something sustainable rather relying on Debt to fund the club, which has been proven to be inherrantly unsustainable if you’re not making a profit! Anyone with a business brain would understand this.
Using Finch Farm as an example of how good Bill is backfires spectacularly. Don’t you remember that we had to sell our old training ground in order to help keep our club running. Short term gain of x million pounds (used to pay debts i assume), off set that ‘gain’ against the cost of leasing Finch Farm and you’ll see that in the medium to long term we end up losing out. Again. Granted we have a great training ground, but if the club had been managed correctly from the start and revenue’s improved we could have funded a redevelopment of our old facilities.
Whilst we have less debt than a lot of teams in the prem, until we had our fire sale (Pienaar, Arteta, Vaughn, Yak & Beckford) and loan of Yobo we were losing money year on year. No bank is going to lend money to a Firm that is losing money as the likelihood is they won’t get it back.
Man U are a company worth loaning money to because they make massive profits each season. We don’t. Who’s fault is it we don’t make massive profits… the people that run the club. They’ve had 10 years to turn a company with a current turnover of £75m into a profitable enterprise and they have failed. In any other industry, once a Firm stagnates or falls backwards consistently the man or woman at the top falls on their sword. BK needs to appoint an interim board to sell the club to the right person for a reasonable price and then stand back and let them do their jobs.
Just reading through some of the comments on here. It’s incredible how stupid some people are. No wonder we are fucked. To the clown who thinks because we are no longer in relegation battles is something to be proud of, get a grip! That’s more to do with Moyes than anything else. Have you actually heard of Nil Satis Nisi Optimum?
Sack the juggler – so you have just admitted it then? The improvements that you see, that you are so proud of…they are down to the manager, not the chairman? Unless I have missed something? I mean, I know you have added a bit of flowery piss and wind to try and make out otherwise..but that is essentially what you have said, isn’t it?
In actual fact, if you look at where we are now, there are some clear comparisons that can be drawn with the Johnson era. He too spent the money and paid the wages..Samways, Amokachi, Bilic, Barmby, Kanchelskis etc…the unfortunate things for him was that he had lesser managers at the helm, who wasted most of it.
In the end, the results on the pitch weren’t matching the investment made..and something had to give. Johnson settled on his exit strategy and started selling off players to pay back debt…i’m sure you recall Duncan Ferguson’s move to Newcastle??
In fact, aside from the achievements of David Moyes versus those of Mike Walker or Joe Royle, that the ONLY difference between the two men (Kenwright and Johnson)..is that one is ” a Blue..one of us”…an the other was “agent Johnson, the dirty Kopite”.
Bill Kenwright did manage to sustain his myth for a bit longer than Peter Johnson, because unlike Johnson he decided to go about systematically selling off every peripheral asset that the club had in order to maintain the illusion that the club was being run prudently, and moderately successfully.
Sadly for all concerned, there are no more assets left to sell. The banks can see that we have no security to fall back on, and the manager is fast running out of miracles.
The sales of McFadden, Pienaar, Vaughan, Arteta, Bellefield, etc etc…it’s Duncan Ferguson all over again, only some of you seem happy to let “Blue Bill” get away with it, cos he’s “one of us” like.
Well, i’m sorry, but if you can;t see the similarities there, with only your blinkered perception separating the two in any way, then there isn’t much down for you.
Add to that the catastrophe of KD and DK, the lies about Fortress Sports Fund and Christopher Samuelson…the “means to an end”, as Mr Ross put it, the attempt to move us to Kirkby against the known wishes of half the fanbase at least..the lies about Goodison Park and the safety certificates…the lies about Keith Harris…the changing of the club’s articles in order to avoid uncomfortable questioning…..it all adds up to something far, far different than the Kenwright defenders would have you eat.
So…tell me where i’ve got it wrong??
Simon, those questions are ridiculous, they don’t need answering at all, you need to concentrate on whatever you do and give up all hope of ever being a comedian; you are truly the Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf of the Everton fora.
STJ, you appear to be asking questions in the manner of “what have the Romans ever done for us?” For me you’re excluding the obvious answers and bracketing us with lesser clubs in a bid to perversely promote the tenure of Bill Kenwright as a successful one.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion; some people believe that [a] the world is round whilst other believe that [b] the world is flat; some people believe that [a] AIDS is caused by a retrovirus that primarily infects vital organs of the human immune system that progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumours whilst others believe that [b] it is the wrath of god sent down to cleanse debauched members of our society.
Like I said everybody is entitled to an opinion but ultimately it comes down to two things; you’re either right or you’re wrong and, more often than not, when the majority, who have been given the facts – [a] – and not a load of mumbo jumbo – [b] – they tend to be the ones that are right.
My opinion is that most people now consider that Bill Kenwright has indeed transformed the club; he’s transformed it from a poorly performing business into a truly disastrous one that the banks have had enough of to the extent that we have to look for finance from unknown offshore companies.
Over the past decade and more, in a bid to address these issues, Bill Kenwright has pursued two stadium moves, a proposed development in the Park End car park and alleged extensive search for either new investment or a new owner, these have all failed.
In hindsight they have all been poor business decisions. These are all irrefutable facts, or to put it another way they are an [a].
Throughout the above period, described above, supporters and shareholders of Everton have been subjected to a sustained campaign of spin and manipulation whose aim was to prevent the true position the club was in being known to those supporters and shareholders; this campaign could be described as the mumbo jumbo or as a [b].
After the recent revelations, from the lips of the chairman himself, the only individuals who continue with b over a are those who struggle with reality or those with an agenda to prevent the truth from emerging; my opinion of course.
I have no idea why you’re asking about who will replace Bill if he resigns; for me, this website and the Blue Union are making it perfectly clear what they’re proposing and, to my mind, it is a proposal that appears to address every fans concerns over what is needed to take the club forward. We’re been left behind for too long now and there’s no prospect whatsoever of this current board delivering the solution.
It’s time for change, to oppose this is illogical.
So I’ve answered your questions but you have all failed to answer any of mine – just as you have all failed to come up with a workable solution to life in the prem without a billionaire owner.
Its easy to slag off and put things down you lot are really good at that – everything is bad and its all everyone elses fault.
So I will ask again, and again, and again, maybe one day – one of you will have the balls to answer it truthfully
Can someone please explain to me which new owner has improved their premiership club more than Everton over the last 10 years? seriously, Ashley, Gold & Sullivan, Yeung, etc have all taken their clubs down. Lerner has done good things at Villa, but even he has pulled the plug on investment (which is why O’Neill walked).
Which clubs outside the old “Sky Three” of Man U, Arsenal and the Shite, has managed to permanently break into their cosy Champions League funded dominance of the the Prem? To me it looks like it was only Chelsea, but City will be there too going forward. What do they have in common? Do you need me to point it out?
Colin – my main issue with the blue union is not that I don’t want change, I do, we all do, but they seem to think that “Kenwright Out” protest marches will get us what that lot across the park got, a wealthy new owner who will lavish the clubs with £100m’s to spend on players.
I want a wealthy new owner, but what I don’t want is a forced sale to a bunch or no-marks without two bob to rub together that will at best maintain the status quo and at worst relegate the club.
And the worse part is that if we do sell to another pauper and the club either doesn’t change or we get relegated, the blue union lot will blame the new owner for being shite and not themselves for forcing a cheap sale.
We have to face facts, unlike some other clubs, we do not have a huge queue of billioniares lining up to by the club.
STJ…I will ask you again…in order to attempt to answer YOUR ‘question’…what improvements??
Seemingly you have been incapable of taking the point out of the 3 lengthy posts above, presumably because they are over your head, but in order to make a comparison..I need to understand what I am comparing against.
What improvements has Bill Kewnright made to Everton FC other than the appointment of David Moyes??
The floor is yours..
STJ, you appear to be labouring under a misconception; the protest by the blue union isn’t a “Kenwright Out” affair, it’s as plain as day, here it is again as you appear to have missed it:
“The aim of The Blue Union is simple, it’s not to get Bill Kenwright out, it’s certainly not some mindless attempt to sack the board; its aim is to promote the concept of allowing the CEO to be left to concentrate on reducing costs, developing our revenue streams and repairing the relationship with the fanbase whilst leaving the board to appoint a fully autonomous group of professional individuals who can effectively develop and implement a strategy that will identify and sell the club to a buyer who can demonstrate an ability and a genuine desire to take the club forward on both a commercial and football level.”
This all appears very logical to me; I’m at a loss as to why you feel the need to attempt to distort what is a plain and simple agenda.
As you’re obviously supportive of these aims I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
STJ,
Your question is
“Can someone please explain to me which new owner has improved their premiership club more than Everton over the last 10 years?”
In order to answer the question correctly we have to set a point of reference.
At best We can say kenwright appointed Moyes, who has taken Everton from Relegation candidates to a top half team. An increase of say 10 places.
So all we have to do is to find owners who’s teams have averaged at least a 10 place improvement since the clubs were taken over by them or improved their fortunes so that they have i dunno, won more trophies.
the Glazers took over man u in 2005, in the preceding 6 years they won 7 trophies, since the take over (also 6 years) they have won 12
Roman Abramovitch, bought Chelsea in 2003, you know the rest.
Mohamed Al-Fayed, got Fulham in 1997 and took them from the Championship to the premiership and since then on to Europe
Sheikh Mansour, City are now a club with a realistic shout of winning the league.
Peter Coates, bought Stoke in May 2006, the following season they were promoted and have remained in the premiership ever since.
Dave Whelan, bought wigan in 1995 as a division 3 team, they are now a Premier league team.
Steve Morgan, became wolves owner in 2007 since then Wolves have moved up from Championship regulars to playing in the Premiership.
New owners do not necessarily mean doom and gloom. What matters is getting the right owner with the right team behind him.
Mick – I agree a new owner is not necessarily a cause for doom, but it has to be the right buyer, not just any buyer and a forced sale will effectively go to whoever turns up with a bid.
Colin, see you in Wimslow mate – just don’t be wearing that embarassing t-shirt
STJ,
That’s the point, whomever puts a bid in to buy Everton will have to give guarantees to the Board. Just like with what happened with that lot across the park. The Bank insisted that they clear the debts and they did. Any interim board will insist that the purchaser of the shares will have to clear the debt and will have the funds and a realistic plan to bring the club forward, anyone without those things will be shown the door. As it stands now, with 20 million cash in since January (probably all used to clear a chunk of the debt) and 10-12 million off the wages, Everton is actually a much healthier club (financially) than we’ve been in a long time.
If our net debt is now 25m and our outgoings are 10-12m lower, we should in theory make a profit this season (even taking into account the reduced gate receipts) and provided we finish at least mid table. Not where i want us to be, but lets be realistic, we’re not winning the league this season.
Oh by the way Mick – you proved the point I was making; Stoke, Wolves, Fulham, Wigan, etc have improved massively to the point where they are now midtable teams – but the only way for any team to make the step up to the next level is through massive investment of £1bn or more, which Abramovich and Sheik Mansour have done.
Mick – sorry our posts crossed
The Question you asked has been answered though (albeit loosely).
I agree that we’re not going to be a top 4 club without serious investment, the point a lot of people are making is that Kenwright has failed to find that investment in a decade of trying, he has consistently failed to push the club forward, he has failed to deliver a new stadium (which has been a priority well before he took control of the board), he has failed to keep the club on an even keel financially. His only saving grace has been David Moyes.
Without him we would have been relegated long ago.
The one thing you have to note in all the examples i gave, each owner (other than the Sheikh) has a proven track record in business and they have applied business models to their clubs and have moved their clubs forward. Kenwright is an actor who produces theatre, he’s admitted he hasn’t really got a clue in business and in my opinion is having the wool pulled over his eyes by people that do. We need a Business man not a Theatre producer.
correction,
Kenwright is an actor who produces theatre, he’s admitted he hasn’t really got a clue in business and in my opinion is having the wool pulled over his eyes by people that *say* they do. We need a Business man not a Theatre producer.
Thats why you get CEO in Mick, he has never claimed to be the all seeing, all knowing Chairman. If Bill could do all these things then there would be no need for Elstone
villa fans i know cant wait until saturday because of protest they think we are there for the taking . couldnt agree more with them , well done knobheads
Graham, we haven’t even played the game and you’re already slagging TBU off like we’ve lost… what if we win?
I will be there cheering us on hopefully to victory . can you make sure the march doesnt go to close to the turnstiles (family enlosure) just before the church as I cant be bothered with seeing all that ,just meet behind the club shop and hang about there the cameras can film you there . thank you
Members of the BU & other EFC groups MUST hold law degrees & whilst I fully endorse the non-violent march ethic, and statements on this website of not ejecting BK EFC’s position make decisive action critical. These law-degree-holding individuals must be put to use as EFC are looking at the same fate as Rushden & Diamonds. Concrete assets – grounds, training grounds, etc., can only be sold once, and once sold are gone. The same for players if not replaced – which is currently happening (with people deluding themselves in the hope that the academy will spring a ‘miracle’ and produce another Rooney to sell – do you not think if that ‘miracle’ occured you’d all be screaming to keep him, be realistic!).
If individuals in Board-holding positions are not doing their jobs – some are obviously not seen at matches, some never make statements, BK refuses to answers questions now, AGM’s have now become Q&A’s, then there MUST be a LEGAL challenge which can be mounted, to FORCE them to act on the positions they hold (season-ticket-holders basically pay the wages of the Board to act on thier behalf).
In Germany their is a system in place at most, if not at all clubs, which works exceedingly well (look at the 4-1 score last summer, look at how they produce young players vs English record, etc.) where fans DO “own” the clubs – so do not “rant” on on this or other sites that you need MBA’s and 50 years business experience – if BU want a fan-model of ownership go look at Bundesliga clubs.
Perhaps a serious proposal – drawn up by lawyer members of BU – of retaining money from current Board (until other options could be found?) and fan-base running of club along Bundesliga lines would be a start for EFC and an acceptable solution for the banks?
The leaders of your march on the weekend will also need to win the PR “war” with BK/EFC.
Your march will be covered by the media – and you need to come out of this looking “positive” – not like a “bunch of pot-bellied, drunken dockers out on a booze-up” (which is how the opposition will do everything it can to get you seen!) So, the leaders of the march – those likely to be interviewed, need to look “presentable”, preferably with a brand-name (Polo) t-shirt showing if wearing jeans (borrow one if you have to). No running shoes, wear casual shoes! You just know BK & co. will be wearing suits if interviewed.
This comes down to what is known in media/communications studies as “the Tiffany theory” – something given in a box from the Tiffany store (or Harrods store) is “perceived” to be more “valuable” than something just wrapped in plain paper or tissue paper – it doesn’t matter that you could wrap the identical item in the Tiffany or Harrods box and then in the plain paper – it is “perceived” to be worth more coming out of the “labelled” box!
Same with people giving interviews – the “smartly dressed” guy is “perceived” to know what he is talking about!!! PLAY THEIR GAME!!! Nine times out of ten they have NO IDEA what they are talking about (ever watched the pundits on MOTD?) – but because they are “smartly packaged” people buy into what they are saying. You are trying to get your message across – if you are not going to play by their rules – you may as well stay at home!
You might not like it, but that’s how the modern media works – it was there before you & it will be there after you, hence, you have to adapt to it (not the other way ’round).
You have done your “glass is half empty” routine (which, undeniably, it is). The march on the weekend affords you the opportunity, if you take it, to move to the next phase in your campaign – visibly & verbally – “the glass is half full.”
What is the difference?
Until now people have been stating (the obvious, and correctly) that EFC’s finances are in a TERRIBLE state, the banks are taking every penny they can, there is no money for new transfers, and interest/debt is growing. This situation has happened and grown worse under the current Board’s tenure.
Re-statement of these “facts” will:
a) not change them
b) do nothing about them
Hence, a cohesive business plan (as I suggested above) needs to be drawn up with the aid of people holding law (and business) degrees (people who have some idea of what the hell they are doing/where to look for answers quickly).
After this weekend’s march the sale of scarves, etc, whilst showing “solidarity” at 5 pounds each will NOT bring in the kind of money needed to keep EFC afloat therefore is a waste of time/resources and time/resources should be focussed elsewhere.
1. As MUCH (positive) media attention for the march on the weekend is needed as posible. Internet, TV, radio, local (and national?) papers. How many have you phoned? Phone them again! Coverage ON the march, interviews post-march; etc, etc. Business shows on radio? Children’s shows (the future?); History shows (EFC is part of City of Liverpool history).
The “business plan” I mentioned in earlier post – focus on promoting that at EVERY opportunity – forget 9/9/11 and before, that is the “past”. Present “this is our model for EFC: The Future” Show you are serious/ Show you have a plan/ Show glass is half full!!!
Might cancel my pre match pint sat and watch this train wreck in action. Can just hear the chants now from the BU, “What do we want”….”err dunno like, thought we want Bill out” or “we want to appoint a interim board with no powers what so ever, because Bill is not being forced to sell by the banks”
You going stav?
People cancelling their pre-match pint this weekend to sit back and “watch train wrecks in action” should ask themselves are they EFC supporters at all – or just smug little bastards who like going on blogs to sound like smug know-it-alls? If they are the former they should stop sounding like the latter and DO SOMETHING! because if they sit back (even if they disagree with the action currently being taken, does not stop them suggesting/taking other action of their own) EFC WILL BE NO MORE. EFC WILL GO THE WAY OF RUSHDEN & DIAMONDS. Bitching between supporters will not save this club – action & only action, WILL. Please do NOT negatively knock others to sound smug. Suggest a positve action to save this club!
I have posted the below tonight as a contribution to an alternative thread. I would wish that evryone who views this site would take a moment to reflect on my comments, that are as genuinely felt as any alternative view. “I have previously posted on here stating that I am opposed not to the overall objectives of Blue Union (the taking over of Our Club by Owners who can provide the investment, without loading us with extended unsupportable debt, to move us forward). I just do not trust their (“BU’s”) judgement in deciding that BK and “The Board” are deliberately obstructing that process. AND I object to their assertions that they represent the majority of fans IN THEIR ADOPTED TACTICS. I was originaly so insensed by the prospect of our Club being dragged through the gutter by the Newshounds as a result of the “march” that I was instictively motivated to roundly “BOOO” everyone on said march that came within my sight. Then it struck me. That is wrong. As long as the march is peaceful, and quietly devoid of moronic inflamatory chanting, so as not to degenerate into a cheap (self) publicity stunt, it will still be reported, and make it’s point. THEN, PLEASE, guys, leave the protests outside the ground, and when you get inside, lets make the UNITED atmosphere more intimidating to the opposition, and more inspiring for OUR players than ever. PLEASE don’t bring the protest inside. THEN I may have much more respect for your position, and motives. Thank you.”
Sacko, come home, yer dinner’s ready…..
Staveros, just wondering what your take is on comments by Moyes, Cahiil, Baines in support of the chairman ?