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Bill Kenwright

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Tom Hughes said:
I'd say stopping AGMs (twice) refutes the argument that he would always face up to fans. Not to mention the stage managed AGMs that did take place, often descending into farce when multiple shareholder's questions were often swept aside or answered only with lies. In fact, this is the crux of the matter and always has been.
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They were bureaucratic procedures. The issue here is actually facing a match day crowd and I don't remember him shirking that. That's one thing that can't be levelled at him and it goes to the heart of my point: BK was prevented from attending Goodison in his last year because he was told to fall in line with a decision to leave the directors box empty that week...and I doubt a Kenwright in full health would have allowed it to happen.

We can oppose BK with every fibre of our being and say what a rotten job he did overall with this club - as I and many others do - without denying the man something.

It's a flint-like heart that seeks to do him down on every single thing.

Bill Kenwrtight in full health 10 years ago tells his safety officer and comms man to GTF if they'd have told him to stop attending a match at Goodison.
 
bernie inn said:
I have no desire to defend him, or attack him, because sport is a pastime so ultimately; i don't really give a [Poor language removed] what business decisions he has made, and actually being a decent bloke is a good argument, isn't that what we all aspire to be?
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Did you know him personally? If not, (and often even if you did) you have no idea if he was a decent bloke or not. It's not just business decisions. What about the endless lies, terminating AGMs, dirty dealings with the likes of Philip Green and Samuelson? Killing off Kings Dock with betrayal of his former partners? The whole Destination Kirkby sell out, built on more lies? Other operating costs? More recently throwing the club's fanbase under the bus, closely followed by his fellow board members? There are decades of this... Does any of it describe decency? I've no doubt he did several good deeds but the cult of celebrity often renders reverence on even the greatest rogues, so I'd rather reserve judgement based on the whole history...
 
Tom Hughes said:
Did you know him personally? If not, (and often even if you did) you have no idea if he was a decent bloke or not. It's not just business decisions. What about the endless lies, terminating AGMs, dirty dealings with the likes of Philip Green and Samuelson? Killing off Kings Dock with betrayal of his former partners? The whole Destination Kirkby sell out, built on more lies? Other operating costs? More recently throwing the club's fanbase under the bus, closely followed by his fellow board members? There are decades of this... Does any of it describe decency? I've no doubt he did several good deeds but the cult of celebrity often renders reverence on even the greatest rogues, so I'd rather reserve judgement based on the whole history...
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👏👏👏👏👏
 

davek said:
They were bureaucratic procedures. The issue here is actually facing a match day crowd and I don't remember him shirking that. That's one thing that can't be levelled at him and it goes to the heart of my point: BK was prevented from attending Goodison in his last year because he was told to fall in line with a decision to leave the directors box empty that week...and I doubt a Kenwright in full health would have allowed it to happen.

We can oppose BK with every fibre of our being and say what a rotten job he did overall with this club - as I and many others do - without denying the man something.

It's a flint-like heart that seeks to do him down on every single thing.

Bill Kenwrtight in full health 10 years ago tells his safety officer and comms man to GTF if they'd have told him to stop attending a match at Goodison.
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Facing a matchday crowd? He wasn't sitting in the Gwladys St.

Being the first chairman in the club's history to cancel AGMs (twice) wasn't a beaurocratic procedure. It was to avoid facing shareholders and answering questions, which had almost descended into farce. Similarly, the whole recent security thing was a classic Kenwright.... that rightly backfired on him.
 
davek said:
It's a flint-like heart that seeks to do him down on every single thing.
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Well said Dave.

Kenwright had his faults, with one of the main criticisms being that he didn't or couldn't grow the club commercially. It was a valid criticism and still is. However, I've rarely, over the years, seen many people acknowledge the fact that a big portion of our fan base live in some of the most deprived areas in the country.

Was Bill lacking? Of course, but there's no magic marketing wand that is gonna solve the financial issues of many Evertonians.
 
Tom Hughes said:
Facing a matchday crowd? He wasn't sitting in the Gwladys St.

Being the first chairman in the club's history to cancel AGMs (twice) wasn't a beaurocratic procedure. It was to avoid facing shareholders and answering questions, which had almost descended into farce. Similarly, the whole recent security thing was a classic Kenwright.... that rightly backfired on him.
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I've seen him on Goodison Road on a match day facing the fans anger.

I have no idea what anyone gets from diminishing this man now. As I said, he'll be judged and found wanting in terms of the governance of the club, but that's an argument for another day. That's all to come. The train set stuff and Gregg and Green and Earl and Samuelson and all the other stuff. Until then can't we just all agree to STFU and let others who rated him have their time?

BTW, you laud a man who's been looking to get Everton a guilty verdict at that Commission that just sat..a man who who showed less than zero respect for an Everton fan killed working on our stadium. Maybe start out with a condemnation of him until a decent amount of time has passed to have a go at Kenwright.
 

davek said:
I've seen him on Goodison Road on a match day facing the fans anger.

I have no idea what anyone gets from diminishing this man now. As I said, he'll be judged and found wanting in terms of the governance of the club, but that's an argument for another day. That's all to come. The train set stuff and Gregg and Green and Earl and Samuelson and all the other stuff. Until then can't we just all agree to STFU and let others who rated him have their time?

BTW, you laud a man who's been looking to get Everton a guilty verdict at that Commission that just sat..a man who who showed less than zero respect for an Everton fan killed working on our stadium. Maybe start out with a condemnation of him until a decent amount of time has passed to have a go at Kenwright.
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He was rarely seen on Goodison Rd. He was noted for staying out of the limelight when things were sticky.

I've no idea who you are talking about regarding the commission..... but I'd say that whole episode is another case in point to the detriment of Kenwright.
 
It's over twenty years ago now, but used to see him on Goodison road before games chatting with fans, even said hello once. I think he loved the Goodison stage, and matchdays were his theatre, sometimes comic, sometimes great adventures, to often tragedy, but it's not like it was him on the field making a balls up.

Piteous that it soured so badly, it's very sad he couldn't sign off on terms with his head held high and the support all on side. There's not many match going kids that become self made successes and go on to own their beloved club.
 
I used to talk to him often years ago doing what I was doing and he was sound and the most dyed in the wool blue you could meet. I enjoyed our chats and he was an evidently really good human.

He held onto Everton ownership way too long to the detriment of the club and made some lousy decisions in leading this club that ruined my weekends and led us to where we are now. I also didn’t like the curtailing of AGMs and what I perceived to be an echo chamber in the club I support that inhibited its progression and happy weekends for me.

All in all my first paragraph there supersedes the second as that’s my value system. If yours is different then sound. A good man passed away so I’ll honour the human rather than the profession, which is always secondary to anyone who gets it.
 
davek said:
Yes, but IIRC that started under Moshiri.
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It didn’t mate:

“For many years, the Annual General Meeting was seen as a means by which small shareholders (numbering around 200 persons) could express their opinions and concerns on how the club was being run.

But things came to a head with a particularly raucous AGM in 2007 when Bill Kenwright was strongly challenged over issues with the previous failed stadium venture known as Destination Kirkby. Kenwright took the unilateral action to suspend AGMs for the next 7 years, denying the small shareholders any voice.”
 

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