Everton FC: Bill Kenwright and his board of directors set to face third EGM
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Since William Kenwright CBE eased himself in to the Everton chairman's seat back in 2004, the former Coronation Street actor has faced some searching questions from the club's minor shareholders.
Despite the Everton hierarchy's best efforts to gag any form of dissent - both AGMs and EGMs being effectively banned as the clubs Articles of Association were 'tweaked' - the small shareholders, having overcome the obstacles put before them by their chairman and board, have successfully forced a third EGM in nine years.
The Shareholders Association's reasons for forcing this EGM are simple and clear. They were left with no choice by an Everton chairman and board of directors who flatly refused to voluntarily reconvene an Annual General Meeting.
Now, on the eve of a meeting called with the aim of holding the current custodians to account, OTS brings you a selection of the best quotes from the 2004 EGM. And in doing so, perhaps offer a small insight into exactly why Everton Football Club's hierarchy were so keen to make it nigh on impossible for small shareholders to call for a minimum of corporate transparency.
The Everton Football Club Company Limited, Extraordinary General Meeting, Thursday September 9, 2004
Bill Kenwright: "Of the hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world – and I meet them everywhere – on the streets of New York, on the streets of Australia, on the streets of Brixton. Someone’s always coming up to me and saying,“Hello Blue, how are you? How’s the team?"
"The directors of Everton Football Club have also been deeply concerned with the current state of affairs and have been working 24 hours a day to make the club successful again. We obviously haven't succeeded – we’re not fools, we know that too - but it certainly hasn't been for the want of trying"
"We were close to doing a media deal with NTL when NTL went bust, out of business in that particular area of its activities. It was literally on the day that we were accepting a cheque for over £30m. Literally on the day. That was the very final major deal, not to be completed in this case, but after that there was no other major deal so we were in the ……whatever."
"Trevor Brooking said on television quite recently, 'I believe Bill Kenwright and his gang are the very last of the breed of chairmen who put their own money into football clubs.'
"I don’t believe that will ever happen again."
"What’s clear going forward is that if we are to compete then we have to drive the revenue line forward rapidly. Our income is far far far under what it should be, what it has to be, what it’s got to be.
In short, we have to come to accept that performance off the pitch is the only sustainable way to drive performance on the pitch and by that I mean the performances of the directors in knocking even more doors down – taking even more blondes out to supper."
"The People’s Club has to communicate with its supporters. There has to be an end to this kind of EGM. Other EGM’s…..smashing……but an EGM where you say, ‘hey guys, you’re crap, you’re doing it badly, we want you out’. If we’re to stay in, if we’re to run this Club there has to be better communication."
"I would say to you that if you had a Jack Walker, if you had a Jack Hayward, if you had a Roman Abramovich………..if you had one of those, you should go for it.
I don’t think you have, I don’t think they’re around."
“He (former CEO Trevor Birch) left the football club after seven weeks. I became chairman on the day he became chief executive. I’m not going to go into the private reasons why he left.”
Unknown: “Why not?”
Bill Kenwright: “Because I’m not going to."
Unknown: “Transparency?”
Bill Kenwright: “It’s not transparency that Trevor desires.”
Unknown: “He’s been silent.”
Bill Kenwright: “He has indeed and he’s going to remain silent.”
Unknown: “Is that part of the deal?”
Bill Kenwright: “And he’s going to remain silent.”
Unknown: “But you won’t tell us why?”
Bill Kenwright: “I will not.”
Unknown: “Perhaps when this CEO goes you’ll tell us why?”
Bill Kenwright: “Thank you."
Unknown: “No answer I see.”
Bill Kenwright: “No, you got a perfectly good answer.
I’m not going to tell you.”
“The reported deal, the Fortress Sports Fund, is an absolute possibility and hopefully will be sewn up in the next few weeks.”
"I got the Private Eye thing that you sent to me and thank you very much for sending it to me. I got it checked out immediately and I think it’s going to be the subject of a court case. And obviously as a football club we’ve done all of the searches that you need and all the names mentioned, they’ve all come out A1"
"To find a Geneva based institution that has got a lot of money; that is interested in putting money into the football club. It has been a long hard trawl. It’s something to be celebrated personally.”
"There’s going to be a new share issue. So they (Fortress Sports Fund) are not going to give the money to go into the football club. The idea is, contract, is for two share issues of a year or two years which will hopefully bring us about £30m – and from the way I talk to them, that will be a minimum and they want to invest again."
“You know, and I know, I am not going to answer that question.Because of confidentiality but Philip Green has been an extraordinary supporter and worked by my side for the last three months, and I’ve needed it, believe me.”
“I will remain the Chairman. I suppose if you put a lot of money in…..does Abramovich have control of Chelsea? Yes, he absolutely does. If they get fifty one per cent……..but they’re not going to get fifty one per cent."
More quotes from the second forced (2008) EGM can be read here.
The third forced EGM will be held in the Liverpool Philarmonic Hall,
Hope Street on Wednesday June 26 at 6.00 pm.
By changing the Articles of Association to remove Annual General
Meetings from the agenda, the current major shareholders of Everton
have enjoyed 5 years of unaccountability. This week, a number of
Evertonians will be attempting to overturn this self-serving decision.
We wish them all the very best.
NSNO
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