Bill Kenwright only wanted the best for Everton but game changed too fast
That Bill Kenwright was devoted to Everton, and wanted the best for his beloved club, is without question. He died this week at 78, still the club chairman, in the job he loved – even if it had brought him untold trouble and disappointment. No trophy was lifted during his almost 20 years in the chair, though he had been on the club’s board when the FA Cup – Joe Royle, Joe Parkinson, Paul Rideout and all that – was won in 1995. There were the David Moyes years, too, 11 years when Everton, routinely cash-strapped, always punched above their weight and became a model for solidity, endeavour and a tight bond between fans and players. “The people’s club,” they called it, a knowing nod to that more globalised, corporate lot across Stanley Park.
This was the era of the “Big Four”, of “Grand Slam Sunday”, when Chelsea’s Russian cash injection saw them challenge the traditional powers of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. And yet Moyes’ men, in 2004-05, finished a deserved fourth. The next season’s playoff qualifier for Big Cup, against Villarreal, might perhaps be the pivotal moment of the Kenwright/ Moyes alliance. The referee, Pierluigi Collina, ruling out what looked a legit Big Dunc Ferguson header was a stroke of poor fortune almost as deep as drawing a crack Spanish outfit who would end up a missed Juan Román Riquelme penalty from reaching that season’s final.
The perennial problem was that Kenwright, a successful theatre impresario, was not anything like a billionaire, as had become increasingly necessary. He never had the cash to copperbottom the club into being top-four certainties. It gave rise to accusations of tight-fistedness, of clinging on when those with deeper pockets sought control. Evertonians had to get used to their best players being cashed out, from Mikel Arteta to John Stones, Joleon Lescott to, sorriest of all, Wayne Rooney. As a deal was being struck with Manchester United in the summer of 2004, Kenwright asked for one last phone call.
“They’re stealing our boy, they’re stealing our boy,” sobbed Bill. He then passed the phone to Alex Ferguson. “Don’t you dare think you’re getting that boy for nothing, that boy’s worth £50m,” growled a female voice, which turned out to be Bill’s old mum, Hope. There was very often a thespian touch to Kenwright’s public action, as one might expect from someone who played Gordon Clegg, Betty Turpin’s long-lost son and heir to her Coronation Street hotpot empire.
The billions eventually came, but perhaps not all billionaires are made equal. During Farhad Moshiri’s involvement, Everton became a byword for spending lots of money quickly and badly. Kenwright was further tainted by association. A distressing coda to the end of a life of devotion, of being constantly active within Liverpudlian civic life, his actions for the Hillsborough campaign recalled fondly among the tributes, is Everton reportedly staring down a potential 12-point deduction. He departs as regretful proof that those who want the best for a club cannot
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I met Bobby Charlton on one of my first journalistic assignments (for the school magazine) when we wrote to the new Preston manager requesting an interview, never imagining we would get one. All three of us on the ‘editorial board’ wanted in on the scoop, and he gave us as much time as we wanted” – Big Paper’s own Tony Paley on meeting Sir Bobby Charlton, just one of many lovely anecdotes in this piece.
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FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“James Maddison’s corner-taking antics [Monday’s Football Daily] provided almost as much amusement as those of the Hull fans on Saturday, who were very much in pantomime mood. Every time Southampton lined up to take a corner, the adjacent home fans jeered and pointed to the quadrant, causing the referee to hold up play and check the ball was legally placed (which it always was). It was surprising how many times the referee fell for it … Oh yes he did!” – David Burnby.*
“Re: MLS in Tuesday’s Bits and Bobs (full email edition). Once again I am forced to explain that the MLS has three Canadian teams. How would you like it if we Canadians referred to England, Scotland and Wales as one and the same?” – Rick Costigan [it’s a fair cop – Football Daily Ed].
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“I’m all for using as few words as possible when Googling, but this is what happens if you just use two: “Rangers shirt”. Still, it could have been worse” – Noble Francis.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … David Burnby.
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