{"id":295123,"date":"2023-11-01T18:25:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T18:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=295123"},"modified":"2023-11-01T18:25:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T18:25:17","slug":"simon-jordan-there-should-always-be-a-place-for-people-like-blue-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/simon-jordan-there-should-always-be-a-place-for-people-like-blue-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"SIMON JORDAN:\u00a0There should always be a place for people like Blue Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
There are football club owners and then there are people like Bill Kenwright.<\/p>\n
Football deserves what it gets at times but I\u2019m not sure it deserves people of the decency, integrity and commitment of William Kenwright CBE. He embodied the expression \u2018winners are dreamers who never give up\u2019.<\/p>\n
There is a school of thought that the strange, curious world of football has moved on and there is no place in a modern game populated by nation states and billionaires for people like Bill.<\/p>\n
But how can there not be? If we\u2019re lucky, there will be another like him. A Bill Kenwright with a slightly harder heart and a few more noughts on his bank balance would perhaps be the ideal owner, and if you end up with someone like that you may just be the luckiest club in the world.<\/p>\n
His aim was always the same: to achieve things for Everton. I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s the case with many current owners who seem more concerned with achieving things for themselves through the club they own rather than for the club and supporters.<\/p>\n
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The late Everton chairman Bill Kenwright always aimed to achieve things for his football club<\/p>\n
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Everton supporters have paid tribute to Kenwright following his death aged 78 last month<\/p>\n
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Mail Sport’s Simon Jordan has reflected on his dealings with Kenwright within football<\/p>\n
Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n
I read Oliver Holt\u2019s wonderfully written eulogy this week and it took me back to my first trip to Goodison Park with Crystal Palace. I was 32, a young owner and those more established in the game viewed me with disdain or as an object of curiosity. I got the high-hat from lots of them. Some of that treatment was of my own making, I admit, but the attitude was very much, \u2018You don\u2019t know anything, you\u2019re just a kid with a few quid and a lot to say for yourself\u2019.<\/p>\n
But Bill was different. He made time for me and always made me feel welcome. He offered valuable advice about patience, making decisions for the right reasons and ensuring the fans and the club were always central to my thinking. Now some of it, I admit, I thought \u2018Yeah, yeah, yeah\u2019 but I always remembered his kindness and generosity and we developed a relationship from it.<\/p>\n
There was a warmth about Bill, an inclusivity. He wasn\u2019t challenged by sharing information or giving advice even though we were all in the battle of trying to win things for our clubs. That trip to Goodison ended in a Palace win on penalties and he was the first to say, \u2018Well done, son\u2019. Most chairmen would have been far less gracious.<\/p>\n
He used to laugh at me because I was very forthright. I was dynamic and aggressive \u2014 or assertive, as I prefer to say \u2014 and he always had a wry smile on his face when we came across one another. A look as if to say, \u2018What mischief have you been getting into now?\u2019<\/p>\n
At Premier League meetings, he was always a sensible, balanced voice. David Dein, Freddy Shepherd, David Gill and a variety of others were at my first one and were talking about a bonus for Richard Scudamore.<\/p>\n
Gill announced they had approved a \u00a31million bonus and I said: \u2018How f*****g much? What is he getting a bonus for, doing his job?\u2019 Dein looked at me in surprise, Shepherd kicked me under the table, but Bill took a different approach, leaned over and said, \u2018Hey son, he\u2019s just got us a billion pounds, I think we can pay him a \u00a31m bonus\u2019.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t go to many Premier League meetings \u2014 Palace\u2019s relegation made sure of that \u2014 but from my experience, Bill was always grown up and constructive. He was never front and centre, wasn\u2019t a tub-thumper or someone who needed to be heard. More often than not, he brought people together rather than divided them.<\/p>\n
During negotiations to take Andy Johnson from Palace to Everton, I made a comment in the press about their \u00a37m bid a year earlier and asking if they were trying to buy his trainers. Just a bit of fun but when it came to selling Johnson, I pushed Bill because I had higher bids from Bolton and Wigan.<\/p>\n
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Kenwright’s approach helped Everton secure Andy Johnson for a lower fee from Crystal Palace<\/p>\n
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Kenwright’s legacy should not be poisoned by the association to owner Farhad Moshiri, left,<\/p>\n
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The appointment of\u00a0Rafa Benitez was among the mistakes during his final years at Everton<\/p>\n
In the end we did a deal for about \u00a39m despite those bigger offers. That was because of Bill. The smoothness, goodwill, integrity and decency of the transaction \u2014 and twisting his arm to pay it upfront and give us a pre-season friendly \u2014 meant I was comfortable with foregoing that money because I knew Johnson was going to a good club, manager and chairman.<\/p>\n
Bill wasn\u2019t perfect and, like everybody, he made mistakes. There will be the view that he was the one that sold the vision and value of Everton to Farhad Moshiri.<\/p>\n
When I asked Bill about the doomed flight of ludicrous fancy to employ Rafa Benitez and why he didn\u2019t stop it, he responded, \u2018You try telling a billionaire what to do\u2019. Like his fabulous theatre production Blood Brothers there is an element of pathos, tragedy and choices made from circumstances that haunted his last years at Everton.<\/p>\n
Yet, as the wheels came off, his only thoughts were for the fans. In a text conversation during the height of supporter outrage, when Bill and other board members were advised not to attend games, I told him it was time to go but he replied: \u2018All that matters is the club, which means the supporters, and I have to sort it out for that reason.\u2019<\/p>\n
He remained committed with the best of intentions. Everton always came first. Bill was vilified and brick-batted by supporters for his association with Moshiri but despite that, he considered them in everything he did.<\/p>\n
The globalisation of sport and the increasingly impossible task of keeping up with the top clubs led him to try to find the best opportunity for Everton.<\/p>\n
It is preposterous to accuse him of being responsible for the circumstances they find themselves in with Moshiri clearly having crashed and burned and the club facing the uncertainty of new owners in 777 Capital.<\/p>\n
The blame lies fairly and squarely with Moshiri\u2019s decision-making, and Bill\u2019s legacy should not be poisoned by association.<\/p>\n
Everton are undoubtedly much poorer without him. What football \u2014 and Everton \u2014 deserve is a few more Blue Bills, as he always signed off his texts to me, and perhaps fewer Moshiris and 777 Capitals. Or maybe that\u2019s me just being a dreamer.<\/p>\n
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Premier League clubs honoured Kenwright, who displayed warmth and grace while at Everton<\/p>\n
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Everton are poorer without Kenwright and clubs could do with more owners like him<\/p>\n
Sheffield\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wednesday chief throws his toys out of the pram<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It might be time for the EFL to intervene with Sheffield Wednesday regarding their embarrassing owner Dejphon Chansiri and his behaviour and remind him that \u2018fit and proper\u2019 people are supposed to run football clubs.<\/p>\n Having thrown his toys out of the pram and vowed not to put another penny in, he\u2019s now saying he can\u2019t put any more money into Wednesday and made the ridiculous proclamation about the necessity for fans to help with cash flow. Remind me which club charges the most for season tickets in the Championship? Oh yes, it\u2019s Wednesday.<\/p>\n He\u2019s spent \u00a3160m on a club that has been languishing outside the Premier League for 24 years and doesn\u2019t like being judged on his record. Now he\u2019s suggesting the very same fans he has gone to war with crowdfund so he can pay the Inland Revenue and avoid a transfer embargo. It\u2019s embarrassing and immature.<\/p>\n All owners have had times when you wonder why you\u2019re doing it and why you have to listen to criticism while you\u2019re doing your brains in economically. But that\u2019s the price on the ticket. You bought into the background noise and fans having scant tolerance for you. To be behaving the way he is and constantly remonstrating with fans who have supported that club in droves even when there\u2019s been nothing to watch is utterly ridiculous.<\/p>\n Sometimes as an owner you have to grit your teeth, take the criticism on the chin and get on with the job. Don\u2019t like the heat? Don\u2019t get in the kitchen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sheffield Wednesday owner\u00a0Dejphon Chansiri has asked fans to pay off a \u00a32million debt<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chansiri has gone to war with supporters after his ownership of the club has been criticised\u00a0<\/p>\n Rooney’s start confirms doubts over his Birmingham appointment<\/span><\/p>\n Wayne Rooney was a fantastic footballer and I hope he goes on to become a fantastic manager. It is very early days but after three defeats out of three, my doubts about his move to Birmingham City appear well-founded. I would be happy to eat my words but perhaps employing managers with 27 per cent win records is not a blueprint for success.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wayne Rooney has overseen three consecutive defeats since taking charge of Birmingham<\/p>\n It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\nIT’S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n