Sorry Del.
I wasn't avoiding an answer, but I do have a life away from the laptop.
Taking my wife and family out for Sunday lunch is part of the " other life".
What has Bill Kenwright done for Everton in the last twenty years ?
I go back a bit, I don't know what age you are , but I remember the title winning team of 1970. Not terribly well because I was quite young, but I remember the holy trinity, Labone,Morrissey, Hurst, Whittle, West,Newton all the others and of course my own personal favourite Joe Royle.
I suppose I believed that was the way it would always be , winning trophies ,leagues at home and abroad.
I remember the fallow years that followed even better, when we lived with the reputation of being a big club but had nothing to show for it. succession of managers, some near misses but overall we were second best. That is hard to take, but even harder when it was our near neighbours who ruled the European roost for so long.
Then we had our revival in the 80s under Howard Kendall. This was the way things should be for Evertonians where we stood toe to toe with the best and gave as good as we got.
I remember us winning the league and various cups and again thinking that this was the future for EvertonFC.
After that we have had the "lost" years , with the cup win in 1995 acting as a reminder of what we were missing.
I remember the league games against Coventry and Wimbledon where we escaped relegation by a hairs breadth. I remember Everton teams filled with players full of honest endeavour but in all truth not good enough to wear the Blue of Everton. I remember the acceptance that any player of worth that came through the academy was to be sold , in fact those players needed to be sold to keep the club afloat.
What has Bill Kenwright done ? We must accept first of all that he didn't then or now have the money to invest that the club so badly needed...but then I have never seen a queue building up of investors who wanted to be part of Everton .
Over the last dozen years or so, first with David Moyes and then with Roberto Martinez the chairman and board have slowly rebuilt the club.
We went from a club that was 100% going to be relegated to a club that consolidated it's place in the premiership to a club that started to look away from the threat of relegation to the hope of European football. We have now progressedto being a club that is talked about as serious top four contenders.
We are now a club that can tell other club to go to hell when they enquire about Leighton Baines,Kevin Mirallas,James McCarthy,Ross Barkley and other or at the very least demand the kind of prices that the wealthy clubs hate paying as with Lescott and Fellaini.
We now have a twenty year old striker playing for us that cost 28m...yes twenty eight million pounds....real money...no fake bids.
We have Finch Farm which is the ultimate in training ground facilities and I don't think the quality of players being produced is dependent on the grounds being owned or leased.
Next Thurs we are back in Europe and we could put out eleven different players from the team that played against WBA and still possibly win the game.
The next and most important step of all is that we get a new ground
Without a new ground and the earning potential it offers our progress will always be limited.
What has Bill Kenwright done ?
I will readily admit he has made mistakes in his time, some more serious than other. He is a pauper in terms of the money needed to push forward quickly a premiership club.
But slowly over the years he has partially at least given me back the Everton Football Club that I expect to have.
We are still a work-in-progress and will be for many years unless some football mad Sheikh with more money than sense decides to buy us out as happened with City.
But, we still are progressing, moving forward , building and improving and the new ground is the next step.
That is my opinon and some will agree ,others will not as is their right.
I think that 30,000 plus season ticket holders might agree that we are moving in the right direction, but then there are some who will try to say this is all because of RM rather than the synergy brought about by all parts working together.
I wasn't avoiding an answer, but I do have a life away from the laptop.
Taking my wife and family out for Sunday lunch is part of the " other life".
What has Bill Kenwright done for Everton in the last twenty years ?
I go back a bit, I don't know what age you are , but I remember the title winning team of 1970. Not terribly well because I was quite young, but I remember the holy trinity, Labone,Morrissey, Hurst, Whittle, West,Newton all the others and of course my own personal favourite Joe Royle.
I suppose I believed that was the way it would always be , winning trophies ,leagues at home and abroad.
I remember the fallow years that followed even better, when we lived with the reputation of being a big club but had nothing to show for it. succession of managers, some near misses but overall we were second best. That is hard to take, but even harder when it was our near neighbours who ruled the European roost for so long.
Then we had our revival in the 80s under Howard Kendall. This was the way things should be for Evertonians where we stood toe to toe with the best and gave as good as we got.
I remember us winning the league and various cups and again thinking that this was the future for EvertonFC.
After that we have had the "lost" years , with the cup win in 1995 acting as a reminder of what we were missing.
I remember the league games against Coventry and Wimbledon where we escaped relegation by a hairs breadth. I remember Everton teams filled with players full of honest endeavour but in all truth not good enough to wear the Blue of Everton. I remember the acceptance that any player of worth that came through the academy was to be sold , in fact those players needed to be sold to keep the club afloat.
What has Bill Kenwright done ? We must accept first of all that he didn't then or now have the money to invest that the club so badly needed...but then I have never seen a queue building up of investors who wanted to be part of Everton .
Over the last dozen years or so, first with David Moyes and then with Roberto Martinez the chairman and board have slowly rebuilt the club.
We went from a club that was 100% going to be relegated to a club that consolidated it's place in the premiership to a club that started to look away from the threat of relegation to the hope of European football. We have now progressedto being a club that is talked about as serious top four contenders.
We are now a club that can tell other club to go to hell when they enquire about Leighton Baines,Kevin Mirallas,James McCarthy,Ross Barkley and other or at the very least demand the kind of prices that the wealthy clubs hate paying as with Lescott and Fellaini.
We now have a twenty year old striker playing for us that cost 28m...yes twenty eight million pounds....real money...no fake bids.
We have Finch Farm which is the ultimate in training ground facilities and I don't think the quality of players being produced is dependent on the grounds being owned or leased.
Next Thurs we are back in Europe and we could put out eleven different players from the team that played against WBA and still possibly win the game.
The next and most important step of all is that we get a new ground
Without a new ground and the earning potential it offers our progress will always be limited.
What has Bill Kenwright done ?
I will readily admit he has made mistakes in his time, some more serious than other. He is a pauper in terms of the money needed to push forward quickly a premiership club.
But slowly over the years he has partially at least given me back the Everton Football Club that I expect to have.
We are still a work-in-progress and will be for many years unless some football mad Sheikh with more money than sense decides to buy us out as happened with City.
But, we still are progressing, moving forward , building and improving and the new ground is the next step.
That is my opinon and some will agree ,others will not as is their right.
I think that 30,000 plus season ticket holders might agree that we are moving in the right direction, but then there are some who will try to say this is all because of RM rather than the synergy brought about by all parts working together.
