Kings Dock - It was clear for a long time that Goodison was not fit for purpose. It was also clear that the club didn't have the required amouts to change that. An opportunity of a lifetime with enabling partners that didn't want a pound of flesh arose and through Gregg we would have been able to fund it. The reason Gregg was ousted was because his solution would have eventually seen him take control of the club.
Despite this the value of the club would have rose exponentially and several different revenue streams opened. 50% of something, or even 10% is better than a hundred percent of fcuk all, which based on several informed opinions, is what the club is now worth.
While pretty much the whole football world recognized the game was changing and massive new audiences and opportunities were opening up with regard to corporate hospitality, non-matchday income and brand identities we have sat on our hands at Goodison Park without making a single noticeable change for the whole of Kenwrights reign.
Corporate hospitality - Sodexho are in charge of every aspect of our food and drinks sales, hospitality and almost everything a club can use to generate matchday income. The reason for this is because it was managed so, so poorly in the past. I couldn't give a definite figure of how much they make from us but what we can say is that managed properly, money they make could have been ours. It also means that we lose control of what we offer and what our brand standards are.
Merchandising - Kitbag now control all our merchandising for another 8 years for a set fee. Over the past three to five years there's been a massive uplift in sponsors fees paid to clubs just to manufacture kits. The reason for this is the massive exposure the PL offers in almost every corner of the world.
A seperate entity now plays a massive part in how we negotiate and what the relationship is with our supplier. What if Nike decided they cannot work within the confines of our deal with Kitbag? We could have lost out on major business relationships due to this deal. Also, why go in to such a long term deal at an average of £3m a season when the trend is showing the amounts clubs are recieving is growing at a massive rate. What is the benefit for Everton by signing such a long term deal?
How much we will lose out on over the life of this deal will depend on how well we perform but we have been up towards the top end of the table for a long time.
Kit deal - Villa recieve £6m from thier kit supplier. We recieved £650k. In what way are aston villa a bigger brand to associate yourself with than us? This would be enough to wipe out our annual shortfall that means we have to trade a player every year. And in terms of sales we still don't profit from that as Kitbag control that.
Kirkby - I can't even believe wasting over £4m on a scheme that broke every planning law about needs to even be debated. Never mind every other issue associated with it. The 1000 cyclists that would have gone the game every fortbight would have been some sight though.
The sale - Keith Harris, a man who Kenwright has said is involved in the sale of the club, stated on Sky that the club is up for sale at around £150m. Ignore the ridiculous price and the amount you would need to spend on ground upgrades and look at it from a business sense.
You are buying a business that you would no doubt like to grow. What area will you start?
In ground, Sodexho have got that sewn up. No room for manouvre. You will recieve the same fee the last group did.
Merchandising? If you spend a bit on players and grow the club then new fans will want to spend money on kits, merchandise and everything else. You may even be at the point where your looking to open stores abroad if your clever. Real madrid claimed both Ronaldo and Beckhams shirt sales paid for the players transfer fee's comfortably.
Except, You'd have to wait 8 years until you can take advantage of any kind. Because any uplift in sales will benefit Kitbag. Any store you open will be opened by kitbag. Any new kit deal you go after will have to be within whatever Kitbag find agreeable.
Sponsors may offer a route to grow but you have a long term deal in place with Chang. So you would again be limited. That deal is also well below what clubs such as Fulham and other recieve.
Debt payments. Aston Villa, Bolton, Fulham and a few other clubs have debt well over double what most estimates of ours are. Despite this we spend around £4.5m a year interest payments while they all pay under a mill.
The most ridiculous thing that I can't get my head around when I see people support this regime is how they think they do a decent job when it took 5 months to get our wall rebuilt. A wall, not a ground.
