The Burning questions of our movement

Money. A curse. The root of all evil in the Premiership, says Richard Knights.

At the pinnacle of the financial hierarchy are Manchester United, hugely in debt, but with a massive income that enables them to pay off crippling interest charges, their world wide fan base encompasses an estimated 333 million glory hunters; if you include transfers and wages Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners have shelled out ₤1 billion over the last four years; that leaves Chelsea stranded in their slipstream because even Abramovich is getting gazumped in the transfer market.

In the second tier you’ll find Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, all with wealthy owners but struggling to keep up. There’s a similar picture in other European countries, Barcelona and Real Madrid have individualised their T rights leaving other clubs trailing. Last season Valencia were third, twenty one points behind second placed Real Madrid.

If Everton found a new owner they would need deep pockets. Everton’s turnover last season was ₤79 million as opposed to Man Utd’s ₤286 million. There’s also the fact that the issue of the stadium, redevelop Goodison or move to another site, has not been resolved. Factor in as well the global financial meltdown, Spur’s owner Joe Lewis is worth ₤2.8 billion, he’s rumoured to have lost ₤1 billion in the Bear Stearns collapse.

The Premiership has become rich, sclerotic and boring. Will we ever see clubs like Leeds and Liverpool who emerged from the lower division in the 1960s, or Brian Clough’s teams, Derby and Nottingham Forest?

Other fans might argue that it’s just sour grapes, in the 1960′s Everton were known as the ‘cheque book club’ because John Moores’ money enabled them to buy two or three good players every season. Now Man City just buy two complete teams, last Saturday their bench included Tevez, Balotelli and Milner. Even in that bastion of the free market, America, when they established the National Football League they introduced the draft so that the bottom team got the pick of the young college players. A league dominated by an elite of rich clubs would bore spectators.

However, we shouldn’t forget the financial mismanagement and dire commercial decisions that have blighted Everton’s finances – the NTL non-deal, the disappearing Fortress Sports Fund, ‘Destination Kirkby’, Dan Gosling, the Park End Non-Development and most recently mortgaging next year’s Premiership money. There’s the lack of any meaningful consultation with the fans.

We have to address the Bill Kenwright question, he claims that he worked ‘exclusively’ on transfers for two and a half months this summer, net result two loan signings. It also begs the question of what he was doing in the other nine and a half months and how can you run Everton from an office in London? Just how wealthy is Bill Kenwright? He doesn’t appear in the Sunday Times rich list. Some men build a train set in their loft, has he got Everton instead?

The Bill Kenwright question divides the fans, that’s the crucial difference to the Liverpool campaign against Gillett and Hicks or Manchester United where all the fans at Old Trafford were wearing green and gold scarves to show their opposition to the Glazer Brothers. The media will inevitably pile in behind Bill Kenwright, there was an article of stunning sycophancy in the Daily Mail that used terms like, ‘Blues brother’, ‘Fan-tastic’, ‘Romantic Evertonian’ and ‘Loyal supporter’. No attempt to speak to anyone from the Blue Union, so no prizes for guessing which particular part of Kenwright’s anatomy Martin Samuel’s muscular hydrostat was caressing.

The main danger is that many Evertonians will vote with their feet, the first warning signs of this was the 32,000 attendance at the Aston Villa game. The lack of real competition in the Premiership combined with the economic recession has forced clubs like like Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn to reduce ticket prices. On the other hand Arsenal’s lowest price season ticket is ₤951 and they have 40,000 people on their waiting list.

Undoubtedly the appeals by Moyes and Cahill to stop the protests will have some effect. Will it affect the team? As for the appeals for ’unity’, that is a false God, unity for what? Unity behind a club hierarchy that doesn’t sign any players for two years and is leading the club to decline and stagnation.

Over the last twenty years football has become more commercialised and we don’t have fans any more but spectators. There’s the lack of atmosphere in many grounds – the Arsenal library and the Old Trafford morgue. Before the match crowds used to chant and sing, no chance of that now because you’re drowned out by the PA system doing ridiculous competitions like ‘Spot the fan’ or ‘Challenge Changy’. The fans need to get out of their seats and join the protest.

We need to reclaim football and reclaim the club, the fantastic work by ‘Keep Everton in Our City’ showed what fans can achieve, against all the odds. We need to build on that. The Blue Union should have a formal membership and hold monthly members meetings. The danger is relying on the Internet and fans forums. There’s no commitment involved and the standard of debate is pretty abysmal.

During the Souness era some Liverpool fans wanted the club to lose games to resolve the situation and force him out. We’re a long way away from that. My own belief is that two years without a major signing, the loss of Arteta and Pienaar and the painfully thin squad will eventually tell. In January there is the prospect of a bank induced fire-sale of players with Jagielka, Fellaini, Baines, Coleman and Rodwell all in the shop window. Sadly, it might get fairly nasty and divisive. There’s the Blue Union, the die-hard Kenwright loyalists and the mass of supporters who are torn between loyalty to the club and the knowledge that we’re peering over the edge of a precipice.
The main problem with the sale of the club is around the issue of ’confidentiality’, no-one apart from Bill Kenwright knows who is bidding or what the asking price is – ₤100 million plus debts of ₤40 million? It might be a long haul, whoever does buy the club we need to remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, just look at Liverpool where Gillett and Hicks were handed the keys to the Shankly Gates, no questions asked.

No ruling class or caste leaves the scene of history without a struggle.