Everton FC: Paul Tyrrell Has Resigned His Post As Everton’s Director Of Communications.

Or Ignore Social Media At Your Peril (parts One, Two, and Three)

Paul Tyrrell's Everton Legacy

 

Revelations of 'supporter blacklists' compiled by the former Liverpool FC employee have left Paul Tyrrell nowhere else to go.

News of the demise of Paul Tyrrell broke late last night across social media as The Telegraph reported the ex-Manchester City, ex-Liverpool and now ex-Everton director of communications had stepped down from his position at the club.

Tyrrell's position at Everton had become untenable once documents compiled whilst in employment at Anfield were revealed across the internet and picked up by thousands of Liverpool and Everton supporters on social media sites.

The dossier, compiled by Kopite Tyrrell, revealed the former communication officer had labelled well known Liverpool supporters and journalists such as Tony Evans (The Times), Tony Barrett (The Times) and Andy Hunter (The Guardian) as 'a sporting version of the Khmer Rouge' and 'Trotskyist independents' who were, according to Tyrrell, 'prepared to allow Liverpool FC to plummet down divisions, go bust and reform in a pure socialist form.'

Gone

Supporters named in the dossier have confirmed to the local press they are considering taking legal action over a number of the claims made within the 'Tyrrell document.' The Farm frontman and well known Kopite, Peter Hooton also told supporters on web forums he would be "getting his lawyers on to this."

Tyrrell's short career at Everton has been similarly shadowed by controversy. None more so than the appalling treatment of primary school teacher and Everton supporter and season ticket holder Richard Knights. Richard has been passionately opposed to Everton FC's 'free school' and had organised public meetings and lobbied both the club, local politicians, those involved in the school project and even Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, who had praised Richard's passion and tenacity. 

To his amazement and disgust, Richard Knight was then treated as a criminal by the club he loves. More importantly, the steps taken by Paul Tyrrell had put Richard's very livelihood in jeopardy. Read more on the ongoing Richard Knights story here.  

Paul Tyrrell has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor out of the Goodison Park door. Former director of communications, Ian Ross having also left the club in similar and embarrassing circumstances.

The hope now for Evertonians has to be the appointment of a communications director whose agenda is not to dictate but to, well, communicate. 

As Tyrrell and Ian Ross before him eventually discovered, dictating to Evertonians will invariably lead to the exit door.

In other news, Roberto Martinez is the new Everton manager.

Everton vs Manchester City FA Cup Final 1933

The 1933 FA Cup Final Programme

29 April at Wembley Stadium

Attendance: 92,950

Everton 3 (Stein 41’, Dean 52’, Dunn 80’)
vs
Manchester City 0

 

Everton: Sagar, Cook, Cresswell, Britton, White,
Thomson, Geldard, Dunn, Dean, Johnson, Stein.

Manchester City: Langford, Cann, Dale, Busby,
Cowan, Bray, Toseland, Marshall, Herd, Mcmullan, Brook.

Referee: Mr. E. Wood. Sheffield.

The afternoon of Saturday 29 April, 1933, was a rain soaked one in London. Earlier the same day, a violent thunder storm had broken across the capital. The late night edition of the London Evening Standard reported the absence of the King at the 1933 FA Cup Final was due to ‘the uncertain weather,’ but thankfully, for the 92,950 football supporters who had braved the elements and packed into Wembley Stadium, come 3 o'clock, the downpour had abated.

For the eventual victors, Everton, this would be a momentous, memorable FA Cup final in more ways than one. Promoted as 1930-31 Second Division champions, crowned Football League Champions in 1931-32 and now, in 1933, with the biggest winning margin in the final for 18 years, convincing 3-0 winners of the FA Cup. This was a sequence of success never before or since accomplished and, undoubtedly, one never to be repeated. Everton Football Club found themselves at one of the highest pinnacle’s of their long illustrious history.

The 1933 final would be Everton’s second cup final win, the first at Wembley, and remain the only FA Cup final appearance for Everton legends, goalkeeper Ted Sagar and the goal scoring phenomenon that was Dixie Dean. It would also be 33 years before the club tasted another FA Cup final victory.

This, the 62nd final and just the 11th to be held at Wembley, will also forever be remembered as the first in which the players were allocated and wore numbered shirts. The Everton players wore 1 to 11, with ‘keeper Sagar taking the number 1 jersey and Dean, sporting the now legendary strikers signature, number 9. That superstar Dean should be the first to wear the iconic ‘9’ shirt, is certainly a fitting tribute to arguably the greatest ever centre-forward. Wembley opponents, Manchester City, were allocated numbers 12 to 22, with outside-left Eric Brook wearing 12 and the Citizens ‘keeper Langford, donning the number 22 shirt.

Tickets for the all Lancashire final, with standing in the East Enclosure priced at a grand ‘2/6 (including tax),’ were as gold dust and reported to have been sold out ‘weeks’ before the event. This prompted The Guardian to forewarn ticketless supporters of ‘ten miles of barbed wire’ to be strategically placed around the stadium in the hope of preventing ‘unauthorised entry.’

On the day of the final, The London Evening News ran with a front page spread, including a biographical entry on each player and portrait photographs of the probable line-ups, as well as a wonderful headline and description of the exodus of supporters from the North West of England to London:

‘Lancashire Invades London For Cup Final - 200,000 Visitors Arrive In The Early Hours
Lancashire invaded London today for the Football Association Cup Final - Manchester City v. Everton - at Wembley. The first train-load arrived at 3 a.m, and from then until 9 o’clock 140 special trains brought 200,000 football fans from all over the country.

At least half of them do not even hope to get inside the ground - it holds fewer than 100,000 -  and all tickets were sold weeks ago. No decision has yet been made whether the King will be present; it all depends on the weather.

Manchester lads are a bit worried. Their forward line will not be chosen until just before the kick-off for there is still some doubt whether Tilson’s injured leg will be fit enough for him to play.’

The Manchester ‘lads’ worries were proved to be fully justified. Fred Tilson’s leg apparently failed to be ‘fit enough’ and City’s top scorer would miss the final. Manager Wilf Wild, chose to move Alec Herd from inside-right to centre-forward and brought in Bobby Marshall to replace the injured Tilson.

It would be Dixie Dean, in consultation with Ted Sagar, who would pick the managerless Everton side. The team selection was not without controversy as Dean took the decision to drop semi-final match winner Ted Critchley in favour of the precocious teenage outside-right, Albert Geldard. 

With the weather proving too much for King George V, the teams were, according to The Times, introduced to guests of honour the Duke and Duchess of York who were joined by a wide range of the great and good at Wembley that afternoon, including Lord Derby, chairman of the Football Association Sir Charles Clegg, Austrian envoy Baron von Franckenstein and the touring West Indies cricket team!

The packed crowd were entertained pre-match with a somewhat eclectic mix of tunes. Led by The Band of His Majesty's Irish Guards, ‘The Programme Of Music’ ranged from ‘The Soldiers Of The King’ march, to a waltz medley entitled ‘The Gay 90’s.’  The Irish Guards also threw in ‘The Teddy Bears Picnic’ for good measure.

The revelry continued with ‘Community Singing,’ led by conductor Mr. T. P. Ratcliffe, accompanied by His Majesty’s Royal and Blues Horse Guards Band. The climax to the proceedings followed at 2.50 p.m. as the 92,950 supporters rose as one, to belt out a stirring rendition of ‘God Save The King.’

Once Sheffield referee, Mr. Eddie Wood, had ordered the captains to the centre circle, it was Everton skipper Dean who won the toss and chose to kick-off with ‘the sun on our backs.’ An earlier flipping of a coin had seen Manchester City given the choice of determining the teams colours. With the clubs usually running out in blue, the FA’s ruling, requiring both teams to wear alternative colours, was invoked. Thankfully for Evertonians, the Manchester club decided upon wearing red, meaning Everton would play in the specially-tailored-for-the-final, white shirts, black shorts and black socks with royal blue trimmings.

A triumphant Everton led by Dixie Dean

 As both teams lined-up, in the familiar to the era 2-3-5 formation, it was Everton who quickly took control of the game, with imperious captain Dean leading the way. The City right-back, Sid Cann, was given a torrid time by flying outside-left Jimmy Stein, and it was the Scot, that will forever have the distinction of being Everton’s first ever Wembley goal scorer, who gave Everton a 41st minute lead. Under pressure from the on-rushing Dixie Dean, the Manchester City goalkeeper Len Langford, fumbled a Cliff Britton cross, allowing Stein to steal in and find the empty net with his right foot. It would not be the last time Langford was to see Dixie Dean on this historic afternoon.

It was City who came out with the greater purpose after the break yet, despite plenty of possession, they failed to breach a strong Everton defence. With goalkeeper Ted Sagar largely untroubled, it was Everton who doubled their lead seven minutes into the second half. Once more, City ‘keeper Langford failed to deal with yet another accurate Britton centre from the right, and inevitably, it was left to the predator Dean to put the ball, the goalkeeper and himself into the City net.

At 2-0 down, Manchester City pushed to get back in the game but the Toffees defence held firm, with the stand-out ‘Prince of full-backs’ Warney Cresswell, putting in an ‘almost perfect performance’ on the left flank of the Everton back line.

In the 80th minute, the near 50,000 Evertonians inside Wembley could finally begin celebrating in earnest. The City defence, including a young Matt Busby at right-half back, failed to deal with an Albert Geldard corner and the 5ft. 6ins. ‘wee’ Jimmy Dunn rose majestically above his marker to head home the Toffee’s third.

The 1933 FA Cup was secured and it was the great William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean who led his team up the famous steps to the Wembley royal box. There he received the iconic trophy from the Duchess of York.

The Manchester City captain, Sam Cowan, was later gracious in defeat: “We have no quarrel. Dean was an inspiration to his men, and the whole 11 played awfully well.”

Cowan would go on to lead Manchester City to FA Cup glory the following season.

But 1933 was Everton’s year, and Dean could now add a FA Cup winners medal to his two Football League Championships to cement his place in world football’s hall of fame. When mentioning the great man’s name, it would be remiss not to recall his mind-blowing goal scoring achievements; in a career stretching 16 years, Dixie Dean scored an incredible total of 473 goals in 502 games, including an amazing 37 hat-tricks. In the 1927-28 season, aged just 21, Dean led Everton to the English Football League Championship with a return of 60 league goals. A record that will surely always be out of reach.

After celebrating with a glitzy winners reception and dinner in the Edward VII rooms, at the aptly named Victoria Hotel in London, the triumphant Everton team eventually returned to Liverpool on the following Monday, where they received a hero’s welcome from huge crowds gathered at the Town Hall. Here the players were honoured with a civic reception by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Alfred Gates. Evertonians later lined the streets from the city centre and up to Walton and Goodison Park, as the players paraded the FA Cup aboard a replica of the horse-drawn carriage previously used for the club's first FA cup win, back in 1906.

From the ever reliable Ted Sagar (app. 495) in goal, the strong yet classy defending of Cliff Britton (240) (3), Billy Cook (250) (6), Tommy White (201) (66), and Warney Cresswell (306) (1). The midfield pace, trickery and goal threat offered by Jimmy Stein (215) (65), Jimmy Dunn (155) (49) and Albert Geldard (179) (37), complemented by the strength of Jock Thompson (296) (5). The precision passing and vision of Tommy Johnson (161) (65),  and of course, the force of will, the leadership and naturally, the goal return of the immense William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean (431) (377). The 1933 FA Cup winning team will rightly be remembered as one of the greatest to represent Everton Football Club. Very few teams, before or since, have been more deserving of such an accolade. Eight Englishmen, two Scots and a Northern Irishman, who, after a 27 year hiatus, brought the cup back to Goodison Park.

Everton FC: The 1933 Road To Wembley:
 
Rd. 3: Leicester vs Everton: 2-3 (Dean, Stein, Dunn)
Rd. 4: Everton vs Bury: 3-1 (Johnson x 2, Dean)
Rd. 5: Everton vs Leeds United: 2-0 (Dean, Stein)
Rd. 6: Everton vs Luton Town: 6-0 (Stein x 2, Johnson x 2, Dunn, Dean)
S/F. Molineux: Everton vs West Ham United: 2-1 (Dunn, Critchley)

​
*Much of the research for this piece was gathered using the fantastic resource that is The Everton Collection website. Visit, use and enjoy it, here:
http://www.evertoncollection.org.uk/home

The Colin Fitzpatrick Interview, Part Two

Everton supporter, Secretary of Keeping Everton In Our City (KEIOC) and Communications Officer of Everton supporters umbrella group The Blue Union, Colin Fitzpatrick speaks openly and frankly on his past dealings with the Everton hierarchy, the press and media, football activism, and his hopes and fears for the future of his beloved Everton Football Club.

The Blue Union March Filled Goodison Road

The ‘calling in’ of the Destination Kirkby planning application sounded the death knell for Bill Kenwright’s horribly flawed attempt to relocate Everton Football Club out of the City of Liverpool. Yet again, and despite the pre-public inquiry resignation of original ‘Kirkby champion,’ Keith Wyness, KEIOC’s warnings to the clubs major shareholders of the madness of pressing on with the doomed scheme, fell on deaf ears.

The blind refusal to accept any sort of advice from any individual or group, who were not their own paid advisors, or those of their partners in the scheme, would cost the club millions of pounds it could ill afford to throw away. Arguably even more critical to the clubs future, would be the loss of yet more years, wasted on the folly of Bill Kenwright and his board of directors.

Colin Fitzpatrick is clear on why the ‘calling in’ was the final nail in the club’s Kirkby coffin. “The truth is the fate of Destination Kirkby was not determined by the Public Inquiry. The inquiry was the execution, a very public execution of a property con that would have succeeded if the government hadn't called the application in, which meant it would then undergo the strict planning examination it avoided when passed on the nod of the sheep that are the unswerving servants of Knowsley's Labour Party.”

More than a year prior to the opening of the public inquiry, KEIOC set in motion a pivotal intervention which, despite a report in the Liverpool Daily Post to the contrary, would see Liverpool City Council, join Sefton Borough Council, and Lancashire County Council in opposing the Destination Kirkby application.

As far as Everton's stadium was concerned its fate was actually sealed on a typically bright and sunny June Liverpool morning when the monstrous application went before Liverpool City Council's Planning Committee. KEIOC had been concerned that the planning officers report on the application was weak and failed to offer the "right" guidance to the council's planning committee.

“Liverpool, as a neighbouring authority, had the right to support or oppose the application, so KEIOC lobbied first the leader of the council and then, the leader of the opposition group, current Mayor Joe Anderson. Both had been supportive of KEIOC in the past, in fact in the previous year KEIOC went to great lengths to have the City Council adopt a resolution supporting keeping Everton in the city. Strangely for a planning meeting the council chamber was packed. Mostly with Evertonians affiliated to KEIOC, who watched what was later described at the public inquiry by the counsel of Tesco and Everton as, ‘an unprecedented event.’ First of all Warren Bradley rose to address the planning committee, then Joe Anderson and finally, KEIOC chairman Dave Kelly. Needless to say the City opposed the application unanimously and even described it as little more than a con for a very good reason....it was!”

In the run up to the opening of the public inquiry, the opposition to Destination Kirkby was becoming overwhelming with amongst others, the neighbouring local authorities, MPs and councillors, joining KEIOC, retail giants Grosvenor, developers St. Modwens and various Kirkby residents groups in objecting to the ‘scorched earth’ planning application.

For KEIOC’s part, whilst their aim was abundantly transparent to all at the inquiry, it would be their focus on presenting a coherent, relevant opposing case, combined with producing the crucial ‘closing statement,’ that would concentrate their minds.

“We were advised by many, in particular a nationally known figure and a well known QC whose advice was clear. Get it called in and no matter what happens during the inquiry, no matter how many dirty tricks were played against us, we just needed to concentrate on delivering a powerful closing statement as this is what our objection was really going to be measured on.”

It must have been an extraordinary sight for the multi billion pound backed QC’s of Tesco, Everton and KMBC, as a ragtag bunch of Evertonians promptly entered the Kirkby Suite at 10:00 am on Wednesday, November 19, 2008. It was a portrayal Fitzpatrick and his colleagues were only too pleased to fulfill. Given the huge resources available to the applicants at the public inquiry, to describe the forthcoming nine weeks as a David and Goliath battle, can only be a fitting characterization.

“On reflection, I think we initially bit off a bit more than we could chew in getting involved in the inquiry. It was very similar to a law court environment and without doubt the QC's, barristers and lawyers were in their element. We, on the other hand, were fish out of water but fish that would learn very quickly and stand our ground. Dirty tricks were employed against us but we also weren't averse to doing the same. I can't go into too much detail but someone who shall be nameless had a terrible habit of responding to inquiry officials by email and then later accidentally copying them in on other emails with private documents attached in full knowledge that a certain amount of gossiping was taking place!! Oh how we played the enthusiastic amateur card, Bill (Kenwright) would have been proud!!!”


After 37 working days of argument and counter argument, the no nonsense planning inspector and chair of the public inquiry, Mrs Wendy Burden, invited all parties to present their crucial closing statements. Not though, before KEIOC lightened the mood by presenting Everton CEO Robert Elstone with a Keep Everton In Our City - car sticker, which was gratefully received by the second club CEO to have worked on the Kirkby project. And with the inquiry programme officer sporting a fetching Everton shirt with her name ‘PARKER,’ emblazoned on the back, the proponents and opponents of Destination Kirkby, prepared themselves for the finale of a nine week marathon.

“The day came that we were waiting for, at the very end of the inquiry. When your closing statement was delivered. Unlike during the rest of the inquiry, you were not interrupted by anybody. I suppose the inquiry people had by now rumbled that we were a bit more organised than we let on. At the beginning of the inquiry we delivered box after box of inquiry documents, all professionally bound and containing more evidence than even Everton had submitted. 

Everton CEO Robert Elstone

The closing statement was prepared by myself, and the meff who's writing this article!!!

Instead of delivering an impassioned plea about Everton leaving the city, it was planning objection after planning objection after planning objection, and we left in the full knowledge that we gave it our best and that, it was inevitable it was going to be refused permission by the secretary of state.”

In closing the public inquiry, and regardless of the rather desperate pleas of the Tesco, Everton and KMBC representatives for the inspector to ‘fast track’ her decision, Mrs. Burden indicated that due to the sheer size and complexity of the planning application, it would be at least six months before the inquiry report could be ready to go to the Secretary of State for consideration. Despite regular contradictory noises from both Everton, Tesco and the local press, it would in fact be a full 10 months before the new Secretary of State, John Denham MP, would deliver the final axe to the neck of Destination Kirkby.

The intervening months between the climax of the public inquiry and final decision, allowed KEIOC to once again focus its attention on exploring alternative plans for the Everton stadium issue. Unlike the club, who had stubbornly and blindly put all their eggs in the Tesco basket, KEIOC were and remain open to investigate all possible avenues. A case in point and one that is possibly more relevant today as it has ever been, is the spiky and perennial debate around a shared stadium for Everton and Liverpool football clubs. Colin’s work with architect and stadium designer Trevor Skempton, only served to reinforce his views on the myriad of complex difficulties a shared stadium throws up.

“After the inquiry, we investigated alternative solutions to Everton's stadium problem. Myself and Trevor Skempton produced quite a substantial document looking into the possibilities of a shared stadium and presented it to both the leader of the council and the leader of the opposition group in the leaders office. It was an interesting exercise, sited in the area around Liverpool Waters, it was purely a design concept that addressed the potential problems of a shared stadium in many innovative ways. Two problems with the concept were relatively insurmountable. Firstly Bradley took the concept to John Whittaker at Peel and he had no interest in a stadium whatsoever. The second problem is that Everton and Liverpool have such diverse target markets that it would be relatively impossible and completely undesirable to accommodate such a potentially compromising situation, particularly for Everton. People who unthinkingly state that a shared stadium is the best solution for the City are complete idiots in my opinion.”

Very nearly 3 years had passed since Keith Wyness announced Everton’s plan of relocating to Kirkby, when, in late November, 2009, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham MP, revealed the joint Tesco, Everton, KMBC Destination Kirkby planning application had been rejected.

Prior to the full inspectorate report being published, a formal letter from the Secretary of State’s office, spelt out the main conclusions against the development to the interested parties. The scheme, as KEIOC, back in the early summer of 2007 had correctly predicted, had breached a raft of national and regional planning policy. The whole project was rejected outright. According to a senior aide of Mr. Denham MP,  “when it came to the crunch, the Secretary of State had no other option.”

All parties with a vested interest in the planning application, whether for or against, were made aware a decision was imminent 24 hours before the official word was broken.  It was a very nervy time for almost all Everton supporters, as Colin recalls.

“The day before the decision, which I think was the Wednesday, we knew an announcement was being made the next day, we even put it on our site which was probably a bad move as the phones never stopped. I remember, I think it was Billy Thorndyke, better known in Everton circles as Billy Bullens, who said “everyone was panicking except Dave (Kelly) and Colin.” People were on a roller coaster of emotions but I never doubted the politicians and experts we'd had, they were a great bunch of Evertonians. Even our QC was a blue!!

When the announcement came, in the early evening, the phones were ringing off the hook, a lot of KEIOC were at Hull City for the game. One guy on the way to Hull, and convinced the decision was going to go against us, drank a bottle of Jack Daniels to commiserate and drank another on the way home to celebrate!! We didn't gloat or anything, the three or four line announcement of the decision is still on the KEIOC site.”

In the aftermath of the rejection, Bill Kenwright broke his longterm  silence on Destination Kirkby when quoted in the Liverpool Echo, on November 29.

Kenwright oversaw the Kirkby debacle

“The first thing to say in terms of Kirkby is that the chapter is over and the book is closed. The motivation has only ever been to improve the finances of the football club. They need to be stabilised, improved and expanded. As everyone knows, the club doesn't currently have a chairman or a board in a position to do those things.”

It was, when you take into consideration the storm that had surrounded the Kirkby project, an understated, somewhat anaemic, throwaway statement from the Everton chairman. It was as though he had neither a hand in the project, nor any comprehension of the effect on the fanbase.  As if he hadn’t been at all affected by it.

Whilst some fans called for Kenwright’s head, others, including some local journalists, urged the Everton chairman to lead the club into a reconciliation process, a call to bring the club and supporters together. Regrettably, none of those things were to happen.

Throughout the duration of KEIOC’s Kirkby campaign, the relations between the group, Everton and various other interested parties, including the press and media, varied over time, sometimes wildly. Fitzpatrick has no qualms in expressing some sympathy with local journalists whom, at the time, had produced more balanced reports that ‘simply weren’t published,’ nor in revealing a ‘reasonable relationship’ between KEIOC and the then fresh faced CEO, Robert Elstone.

Sadly for all concerned, and more than three years on since the Kirkby project met its end, the relations between supporters groups and the club leadership, are in effect, irrevocably damaged.

The Blue Union was a coming together of various concerned Everton supporter groups with a similar purpose and design. As Communications Officer of the supporters umbrella organisation, Fitzpatrick passionately explains its origins.

“The Blue Union was a tremendous solution to the problem of many fan groups with slightly differing aims and objectives all wanting to have a go at what they at least knew was the root cause of the problem at Everton, the ownership. Without the structure of the Blue Union certain things would never have happened. The protest marches must have chilled the management to the bone, well we knew they did. Watching Goodison Road filled with Evertonians fed up with the years of lies and deception was fantastic. The keyboard warriors who criticised those guys who protested mean nothing to me, call me old fashioned but some loner sitting their in their underpants telling match going Evertonians that they're wrong from the middle of some god forsaken place, I tend not to worry about. I worry about the lads outside the pubs and on the sidewalks clapping the marchers; put your pint down and do something for your club. We let the Spirit of Shankly lads see the videos from the march, they were amazed how we got so many, all they got was three hundred. The public meetings we held were very well attended to. It goes to show there's a real passion for information out there, beyond the Neanderthal offerings of sites that pander to the club hierarchy, the ones they can rely on.”

Everton Supporters Umbrella Group The Blue Union

Patently, if there was ever an opportunity to address the fracture between supporters and the hierarchy of Everton, the collapse of the Kirkby debacle was it. However, the lack of initiative or will from Everton to address the elephant in the room and with supporters groups now calling for the Chairman and board to appoint an independent group of professionals to oversee the sale of the club, a 14 year objective yet to be fulfilled by Kenwright, it seems the opportunity may have been forever  lost.​

On Monday, 11 March, ex-footballer turned broadcaster, Stan Collymore, dedicated more than two hours on the national radio station, TalkSport, to Everton Football Club. He had been approached by a club spokesperson who, for some unthinkable reason wanted to remain anonymous, yet had agreed to answer a list of 12 questions put together by Collymore. Amongst the answers garnered from the former employee of Manchester City, was the ‘revelation’ that Bill Kenwright and his fellow major shareholders were willing to sell their stake in Everton and valued the club in the region of £125 million. The biannual link to ‘Middle Eastern interest’ also reared its familiar head.
 
Question number four on Stan Collymore’s list, ‘Why has there been no sale of Everton Football Club? Also received a familiar comeback; ‘The stadium issue is a millstone around the clubs neck.’

I thought it would be remiss not to ask Colin Fitzpatrick for his view on the same question. Colin’s answer turned out to be somewhat more detailed than that of the anonymous Everton spokesperson.​

Why has there been no sale of Everton Football Club?

“If anything has been proven, in recent years, it is that the directors are only interested in obtaining the maximum amount of money when they depart. Kenwright admitted to chasing a guy to sign the contract to sell the club who lived in a bedsit in Singapore. Obviously, it would never have happened but the fact he was chasing him should concern every Evertonian.

Then there was the Kirkby con, in which the £52 million cross-subsidy, that was meant to pay 40% of the total cost of the stadium didn't actually exist, but was a value that would have ended up on the balance sheet and realised once the club was sold. A need for a new stadium did not drive the move to Kirkby, it was the chance to correct the balance sheet that was being slowly eroded. The recent revelation that they're looking for a £125 million return, after paying just over £20 million, only confirms what they're in it for.

Don't get me wrong, if they'd invested in the infrastructure, made sure the commercial dealings were the best we could get, I'd be the first to wish them best of luck. The problem is they haven't done any of that, they've used the assets to keep the club going. Under Kenwright’s leadership, we’ve gone from a £20 million positive balance sheet in 2000, to a £44 million negative balance sheet today. We find the business simply doesn't generate any money and that's what a business is for.

A key metric used to calculate this, EBITDA, has been falling and falling at the club in recent years, from almost £9 million in 2008 it's now dropped to minus £6 million. The reason for this is the commercial performance of the club, it simply isn't good enough and what do the board of directors do to alter this situation? What do the individual members of Everton's board actually do anyway?  I often see, as opposed to hear, people say, "Be careful what you wish for" when they talk about Kenwright, not a ringing endorsement obviously, but that's about all people can say before following it up with a list of clubs that have got into trouble. I always wonder why the previous owners of those clubs sold out to these people, and nine times out of ten it's all about money, as much money as possible and there's the problem, our board, a board with a justified reputation for failure and a readily stated desire to obtain £100 million, tells me they'd sell to anyone. Thankfully people who have earned their money have looked at our club, looked at the books and looked at the asking price and said you're having a giraffe. 

The best salesman for Everton?

Of course in 2013/14 Everton should increase their turnover by £25 million due to the new TV deal but TV money has increased before, without any finding its way to the club.”

Sadly, and somewhat bizarrely, given the fractious past of supporter - club relationships, judging by the outcome of the recent meeting between Everton CEO Robert Elstone and the Shareholders Association Executive, relations between the Everton hierarchy and the supporters who are genuinely concerned about their clubs future, are seemingly at an all time low. Remarkably, Everton Football Club’s officers, chairman and board of directors find themselves in the peculiar position of refusing to acknowledge the very existence of a section of the clubs own match going fanbase.

At some point, in the very near future, this damaging stand off between Chairman, board and officers of Everton versus supporters and supporters groups, simply has to be resolved.

For the good of Everton Football Club, something has got to give.


Colin Fitzpatrick was talking to OTS, March 2013.

First published by these Football times

The Birth Of South American Football

An historic journey through the birth and early years of South American football. From the first UK migrants to superstars in today's game like Messi, Cavani and Neymar. 

 

South American Footballing Legend Pele

Collectively, the three South American footballing giants, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, have been crowned World Champions on nine occasions. Between them they have competed in 11 of the 19 finals played.

The inaugural FIFA World Cup finals were hosted by the eventual winners and reigning Olympic champions Uruguay, who were crowned World Champions in 1930 after a 4-2 victory against Argentina in front of a 95,000 crowd in Montevideo. Having not competed in the finals of 1934 and 1938, Uruguay made their post WWII return to the competition twenty years and two finals later, where they repeated their triumph of 1930 in another all South American final, defeating hosts Brazil 2-1 in Rio de Janeiro. With Brazil going into the match as overwhelming favourites, the 1950 final would go down as one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history. The game would also be remarkable due to the attendance of 200,000 spectators. A World Cup record that will surely never be broken.
​
Brazil of course, would go on to win five of the following 14 competitions. Becoming the first country to win the trophy away from their own continent, as a 17 year-old Pele took the 1958 Swedish finals by storm. Meanwhile, Argentina would have to wait until a Buenos Aires final, 20 years later, to lift the ultimate prize in football. A feat they repeated in Mexico City in 1986.

On Thursday, June 12, 2014, the world will be watching as once again, the brilliant Brazilian hosts kick off the 20th FIFA World Cup Finals in Rio De Janeiro. All eyes will be on global footballing superstars, Messi, Neymar and Cavani, as they attempt to take back the greatest prize in football from European hands, and return the World Cup to South America for a 10th time.

 

‘Today there will be a football match at Palermo; we believe it will be the first kick off ever given in Buenos Aires, and we understand that half the town will be there if the weather proves favourable.’  

The (Argentine) Standard, 25 May, 1867.

 

The Pioneers

By the 1860’s, there was a thriving British community in Argentina. The country, incorporated into the United Kingdom’s informal empire, had seen an influx of British settlers stretching back almost 60 years. However, it was British investment in the development of the Argentine railway system that paved the way for the arrival of tens of thousands of migrant Victorian construction workers and civil engineers to Buenos Aires.

Railway workers, James and Thomas Hogg were amongst the many who braved the 7000 mile ocean crossing to the promise of a new life. And it would be the Yorkshire born brothers whom, on 20 June, 1867, organised an Association Football match in the Argentine capital. The first ever official match to be played on the continent of South America.
After having placed a notice in the Buenos Aires English language newspaper, The Standard, seeking to bring together fellow migrants with an interest in playing the game of football, the brothers Hogg, alongside three fellow northern Englishmen and railway workers, Thomas Jackson, Thomas Barlow Smith, and Walter Heald, went on to form Buenos Aires Football Club.

The inaugural match, played at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground, in the capital’s neighbourhood of Palermo, was contested between 16 players, with each team wearing red and white caps respectively. The game kicked off at 12:30pm and, finishing two hours later, it was reported that James Hogg’s ‘Rojos’ triumphed with a 4-0 victory over the  ‘Blancos,’ captained by his older sibling Thomas. And South American football was born.

 
“This is the best hobby and the easiest and most affordable one for the middle and working-class youth.”  

Thomas Hogg, 20 June, 1867.

 
Whilst it was the Hogg brothers who had laid the footballing foundations in the new world, according to the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, the crucial building blocks that enabled the advancement of the game were put in place by ‘the father of South American football’ Alexander (Alejandro) Watson Hutton.

As one of around 500,000 immigrants who had arrived in Argentina within a two year period, the Glaswegian born Edinburgh University graduate disembarked in Buenos Aires in 1882,  initially to oversee the running of St Andrews School. There he would introduce Association Football as a fundamental component of the schools physical education programme. Shortly after, Watson Hutton would go on to found his own educational establishment, The English High School, where eventually, the Gorbals born schoolmaster would create the now legendary Alumni Athletic Football Club.

Between 1900 and 1911, Alumni would be crowned Argentine Primera División champions on no less that 10 occasions, their only blip coming in 1904 as they finished runners-up to Belgrano Athletic. This impressive run of success was a fitting tribute to Watson Hutton who had, on February 21, 1893, reformed the Argentine Association Football League. The first league to be recognised outside of Great Britain, and one which Hutton would preside over as President, until his retirement in 1911.

The first decade of the 20th century would see the branching out of the Argentine railway development into neighbouring Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and beyond. The expansion of the railway brought with it Association Football to those countries, which in turn would be the catalyst for the further spread of the game across a continent and crucially, for the first ‘international matches’ to be organised and held across South America.

 

The Second Wave

Seeking to build upon the growth in popularity of the game, both in participation and as a spectator sport, in 1909, the Argentine and Uruguayan associations devised an ambitious plan to invite professional English clubs on an official footballing tour of both countries. In March 1909, Everton Football Club received a letter from Frederick J. Wall, Secretary of the English Football Association, cordially inviting the club, who had finished as 1908/09 runners-up in the English First Division, to embark on a ground breaking tour of Argentina and Uruguay. Everton were requested by the FA to select a team of first class players to participate in a series of games in South America against several Argentine and Uruguayan clubs, as well as the 1908/09 English Second Division runners-up, Tottenham Hotspur. The North London club, as Everton before them, eventually agreed to take up the FA’s extraordinary offer.

The invitation, documented within the 1908/09 Everton Football Club Minutes Book, records the South American FA’s offer of payment for first class travel to the continent, as well as covering all hotel expenses for twenty days for the teams players and two accompanying Directors of the club. In accepting the invitation Everton would, alongside the Spurs team, write footballing history as the first clubs to undertake such an epic overseas football tour.

In April 1909, Everton Football Club registered 13 players who would take the 14,000 mile round trip from Southampton to Buenos Aires. Travelling alongside the chosen players, the Everton Directors leading the party to Argentina, were Mr E. Bainbridge and Mr A. Wade.

The secretary of Everton confirmed the club's decision to go ahead with the series of matches, noting the duration of the tour in his minutes as ‘to last 9 weeks (3 weeks travelling each way & 20 days in Argentina).’

With the offer accepted, Everton received notice from FA Secretary Mr. Wall, of the booking of berths for a party of 16, on a ship set to sail from Southampton to Buenos Aires on 14 May, 1909.

The 16 strong Everton party left Liverpool Lime Street Station for London Euston on 13 May, arriving in good time at Southampton docks for boarding upon the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company ship, RMS Aruguaya.

Seemingly, the Tottenham team were less prompt, rolling up at the docks only to find the steamer had cast off without them. Reportedly leaving them no other option but to appropriate a Southampton registered tugboat to pursue RMS Aruguaya down the Solent. The steamer eventually slowing to allow the undoubtedly sheepish Spurs party the opportunity to board the South America bound ship.

On June 5th, 1909, after three weeks at sea, football history was made when, within hours of the teams’ disembarkation at Buenos Aires, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, played out the first ever professional football match in South America. A 2-2 draw in front of 10,000 supporters in Palermo, the exact same suburb of the Argentine capital where, 31 years earlier, the Hogg brothers had organised the very first game of Association Football. A fortnight later, Everton would inflict a 4-0 defeat on the North Londoners. Spurs’ only reverse in their seven games on the tour.

In just 20 days, the English clubs would face a hectic schedule coming up against Alexander Watson Hutton’s famous Argentinian champions Alumni, who fielded Hutton’s son in both games. As well as matches played against Rosario, Argentinos, and an Argentinian football league XI, both teams would also travel to Montevideo to face a Uruguayan league representative side.

Whilst the crowds flocked in their thousands to see the home sides take on the might of English football, it was left to Mr. Bainbridge to keep the ardent supporters back in Liverpool informed of the progress of their team on the faraway continent. With the Liverpool Echo’s coverage of the tour, including match reports, based on the Everton Director’s telegrammed daily diary.

The nine week tour of South America undertaken by Everton and Tottenham was deemed a resounding success for all involved. Those 32 men were the second wave of football pioneers. Following in the footsteps of the Hogg brothers, Thomas Jackson, Thomas Barlow Smith, Walter Heald and ‘the father of South American football’ Alexander Watson Hutton and many more besides.  The footballing forefathers who perhaps unwittingly but nevertheless, had been responsible for the rapid growth and advancement of a game that has since become a legacy intrinsically woven into a continents culture.

Fast forward almost 115 years exactly from the day Everton met Tottenham in Buenos Aires and again, it will be the South American continent hosting the greatest footballing show on Earth. Once more, it will undoubtedly be the three dominant South American countries that will go into the 20th FIFA World Cup finals right up there as favourites to lift the famous trophy.

Thankfully for all disciples of the beautiful game, for all those who have, and continue to wonder at the skill, style and tenacity of South American football, it is to these men, who brought with them a love of the sport to a far flung continent, The South American Football Pioneers, who we should all be eternally grateful. They certainly have a lot to answer for.


Everton Football Club - South American Tour Squad:
 
Berry, Balmer, Maconnachie, Harris, Taylor, Adamson, Clifford, Jones, Lacey, Freeman, White, Rafferty and Mountford.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club - South American Tour Squad:


Boreham, Coquet, Wilkes, Bull, Steel, MacFarlane, Curtis, Minter, Tull, Clarke, McConnor, Morris and Middlemiss.

Tour Results:
 
05 June: Everton 2 -2 Spurs
10 June: Alumni 2 - 2 Everton
13 June: Uruguay XI 1 - 2 Everton
19 June: Spurs 0 - 4 Everton
20 June: Liga Argentina 0 - 4 Everton


​10 June: Uruguay XI 0 - 8 Spurs
13 June: Argentinos 0 - 1 Spurs
16 June: Liga Argentina 1 - 4 Spurs
20 June: Rosario 0 - 9 Spurs
24 June: Alumni 0 - 5 Spurs
 
Acknowledgements:
 
The goldmine that is, http://www.evertoncollection.org.uk/home
http://www.topspurs.com/
http://www.afa.org.ar/

 

The Save Grassroots Football Campaign

Meet Kenny Saunders, founder of the Save Grassroots Football campaign. This worthy cause is sweeping across football in Britain as it aims to change the landscape of the game for players, coaches, officials and parents. 

 

Abject amenities threaten amateur football across the UK

 

Grassroots football is in real danger; squeezed by near intolerable financial pressures, local authorities are no longer able to support the grassroots game. With dilapidated facilities, abject amenities and poor pitches being cited as reasons for both declining participation and a disincentive to attract new players, many of those on the front line are convinced that if nothing is done to address the threat, the gradual extinction of urban grassroots football is more than a mere possibility.

The issues are numerous, the concerns irrefutable and the consequences for the national sport would doubtlessly be far reaching. It is a bizarre state of affairs then, that in this global footballing day and age of millionaire superstar players, billionaire club owners and multi billion pound Premier League broadcasting rights deals, the very lifeblood that feeds the professional game could be on the verge of being severed.

In 2010, Sport England, the organisation responsible for funding grassroots sports, published its Active People Survey. The study presented a worrying 3 year trend of declining participation in football with a decrease of more than 143,000 regular active players. Worryingly, the survey pointed to a ‘significant decrease’ in participation in football in the 16-19 age group.

It is a trend more than familiar to Woolton FC junior football club Kenny Saunders, senior coach at the club which boasts 55 teams as well as 135 5-6 year olds. Size, however, is no benchmark for great facilities; according to Saunders, “We haven’t even got a toilet.” The Liverpool-born youth coach has set in motion a campaign to challenge football's governing bodies to face up to, and deal with, the real issues they are facing.

“Government cuts mean that local authorities are no longer able to fund grassroots football. Fees for basic facilities are climbing to the point where ordinary people are being priced out of our national sport.”

For Saunders, it doesn’t end with government cuts, “The Football Foundation, FA and Premier League are all out of date with what is happening in grassroots football and lack of funding since 1999.” It’s a worringly accurate statement. The Premier League currently invest only 1% of their revenue in grassroots football – a figure which they claimed would rise to 5% in 1999. Fourteen years on and nothing.

The Save Grassroots Football campaign has the support of Bolton North East MP David Crausby who has set up an e-petition calling on the Premier League to increase its financial assistance to grassroots football. In the last year the Premier League has contributed £12m to the Football Foundation from an income of a mammoth £1.26bn. Of the £12m contribution, £6m is actually diverted to an agreed stadium investment fund for non-league clubs. Taking the latest Premier League television rights deal into account, that huge annual income figure is set to increase by £1.25bn. With global rights, this figure could rise to as much as £5bn over the next three years. Campaigners are requesting the multi-billion pound body raise its funding contribution of annual earnings from 1% to 7.5%.

Crausby, who in 2012 backed an early day motion in parliament which called for a 50% windfall tax on Premier League broadcasting deals, with the proceeds going to the Football Foundation, said: “Owners, players and agents are making billions of pounds out of these huge TV deals, but without proper funding for decent facilities we can’t develop the players of the future or encourage more children to get involved with our favourite sport. The Premier League has had plenty of opportunities to act in the interest of the sport, but we continue to see the money hoarded at the top. I think it is time to look at new solutions.”

The Bolton North East MP’s e-petition has received the backing of Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, Steve Rotheram, and Luciana Berger, Labour & Co-operative MP for Liverpool Wavertree. A HM Government e-petition needs to secure 100,000 signatures in order for a Parliamentary Debate to be triggered.

With interest in the cause boosted by social media, the Save Grassroots Football campaign’s rapidly growing support coincides with this week's launch of the English Football Association’s ‘national facilities strategy.’ The FA is guaranteeing £150m over three years to improve dilapidated urban football facilities including enhancement of 3,000 grass pitches, a pledge to lay 100 new artificial pitches and the renovation of 150 more. The strategy also prioritises new build and improvement of changing facilities and toilets, small grant programmes for smaller clubs and the possibility of larger grassroots clubs becoming the owners of the pitch they currently play on.

Some may question whether the Premier League as a body and its member clubs actually need to invest in grassroots football. Aside from their responsibility as the most powerful organization in domestic football, Saunders says, “The Premier League clubs need grassroots football because that is where the future Gerrard’s and Rooney’s come from.” Very true. If the English game is to compete against the very best in Europe, the facilities for coaches and players will need to improve.

The concern for the Save Grassroots Football campaign is the FA’s strategy will not be funded by new money, but instead be a re-routing of the Football Foundations £50m annual budget. Funded by the FA, the Premier League and Sport England, this allowance is highly unlikely to be increased. Kenny Saunders is unimpressed by the FA’s announcement.

“It's a disgrace what the FA have announced, we need so much more investment from them and the Premier League. Facilities are horrendous, worse than they were when I was playing as a boy 40 years ago.”

"We've had to call off matches in 11 of the last 13 weekends and we don't have any toilets. We're going to cut off the lifeblood of the game, our young players, if we're not careful."

Saunders has already resorted to extreme measures to bring the issue to the wider public. “In November last year Sefton Borough Council were increasing pitch fees in mini soccer from £150 to £600 and 11-a-side pitches from £550 to £1600. I organized, from the Liverpool area, a boycott of the week ending 1st/2nd December. We had 9000 kids not playing which it is something I did not want to do but I felt that I had to for their cause. We had a demonstration on the 2nd which was well attended by children, parents, Sky Sports, BBC, Granada etc. with maximum publicity. A week later the council ripped the consultation document up, first time in 100 years, and the fees in Sefton remained the same.”

It was an extreme measure but it ended up with a long term solution. The hardest thing for many coaches is the challenge in facing such a predicament. The army of youth coaches in the UK execute their job for one reason; to improve the standard of the game and to positively impact on children’s lives. To stop them from playing is about as extreme a measure as any coach could ever resort to. In the world’s wealthiest football nation it’s beggars belief that in 2013 this is still an option many coaches are having to consider.

For Kenny Saunders and the countless volunteers like him up and down the country, it is at grassroots and amateur level where football matters and matters most. It is a tradition to be proud of, nurtured and cherished. Football brings people and communities together; it always has and always should. It is a cause worth fighting for and undoubtedly the Save Grassroots Football campaign is determined and ready to battle for the future of the beautiful game.

Perhaps it’s appropriate to give the final word to Saunders, “My fears are if we don’t do something, grassroots football will finish in a matter of years. However with this campaign and e-petition we, the people of grassroots football up and down the country, can have a massive say to what goes on in the future.”

Don’t be the one who only talks. Do something and join the volunteers, children, parents, referees and coaches who make grassroots football the beating heart of our national game.



Support the Save Grassroots Football campaign by signing the petition:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/46134

Follow the campaign on Twitter: @savegrassroots