ANTICIPATION
By
Mickey Blue Eyes

Friday, 11th August, 2006, and another taped interview with Keith Wyness. The last interview was March 2006.

If you are an organised and sensible fans group or club, capable of decent manners, able to ask reasonably articulate questions, and generally act like civilised human beings, then there’s nothing to prevent you asking for an interview too. He apparently relishes the opportunity to get fans’ opinions and to eliminate urban myths. The offer remains open to all. There is no longer any excuse for any fan or group of fans to plead ignorance or lack of communication. Those days are long gone.

I did not ask for or was given special access or special consideration and there were no prior conditions placed on any of the interviews. The same would apply to you.

MBE: Can we réprise some of the things we spoke about before, Keith, and bring them up to date?

The David France Collection. What was the total sum needed for that?

KW: About £800,000.

MBE: So we have a shortfall at the moment?

KW: We have. But I have to say we’ve made a lot of good progress in the last six to eight weeks. We’ll be making a big announcement fairly soon and I don’t want to get in front of that. We’re feeling more confident than ever that we’ll be able to meet the goals and get the thing together.

MBE: So what’s the shortfall?

KW: As of today it’s about £450,000. We now have plans as to how we’ll handle that and we’re fairly confident we can get it.

MBE: Okay. I was going to ask you about funds-raising functions etc……………..

KW: I’d prefer to leave that until we can make a co-ordinated announcement but I will say we have some exciting things planned. We’re comfortable on it.

MBE: You don’t anticipate it is going to fail, then?

KW: We won’t fail. There’s no option. We’ve GOT to preserve the history of the club.

MBE: The JJB agreement.

Has it made a difference to turnover figures so far? How are sales figures standing up?

KW: Well, it has made a big difference. For the previous five years we made a loss on retail sales. This year we’ll be making a significant profit on the operation for the first time. We’re on track for record replica kit sales this year. Shirt sales are already at 16-17,000 for such an early stage.

MBE: How does that compare to previous sales?

KW: About twenty percent up. And a lot of that is because JJB have stocked their regional stores as promised. We’re getting a lot of co-operation there and that’s an encouraging sign. There are always teething problems in a relationship like this and we’re going through some of them right now. We’re addressing the customer service issues it has thrown up. But overall it has got off to a promising start.

MBE: Where do the fans buy things they want apart from the Megastore across the road? Any JJB store?

A: Any JJB store. In fact the JJB store in the centre of Liverpool will become the de facto Everton central store…………….

MBE: ……………………and that’s a good city centre position.

KW: It is. Unfortunately we’ve got some terrible neighbours! (A joke reference to the pinky store nearby – MBE.) But we’ll persevere with that and make the best of the location!

MBE: Do we have a printed catalogue?

KW: We do. There will be two issues of it. One that will come out in Summer and one just before Christmas.

MBE: Are they available in any of the shops?

KW: Yes, they’ve been available for quite a while now.

MBE: What percentage of overall turnover are the retail sales figures?

KW: About ten percent.

MBE: How does that compare to the rest of the league?

KW: On the low side. But we’ve certainly improved on our previous position of making a loss every year. Our projected profit from the new set-up will put us in the top eight. If the numbers go as we expect this year it should establish us in the top eight in terms of turnover and profit.

MBE: Do you see much more volume beyond that so you can aim higher?

KW: That’s our focus just now, not just in the UK but also internationally. We’re already creating new fans in Canada for instance – where we have a tie-up with the Ontario Soccer Association. They sold six hundred Everton shirts the first day they went on sale in Canada. It just shows there’s an untapped market.

MBE: Sure. But it’s always been the boast of Evertonians the world-wide fans base is quite large. I don’t know the actuality but it has been remarkable in my own travels around the planet just how often you bump into Evertonians, even in the most outlandish places.

KW: The Ontario Soccer Association has 450,000 members so there’s an opportunity to convert them to the right way of thinking! It’s a big market.

MBE: Apart from Canada where else?

KW: The USA, obviously. When you start talking about Asia, though, margins become very difficult to handle, it’s a very different market. We’re not basing our future on trying to create merchandising margins in Asia. We’re looking at each market and trying to get the products to suit them.

MBE: It’s a difficult one.

KW: Yes, but there are things you can do. Replica shirts might not go, but there are other smaller items that could margin and sell at a bigger volume.

MBE: Yes, I think it’s all very well talking about the size of the market. There are business friends of mine who have been very badly burned by rushing into Asia.

KW: Exactly. You can’t just have a broad brush approach. You have to have a very careful strategy.

MBE: Most people just tend to look at the population figures and think how easy it’s going to be, and it’s nothing of the sort.

Season ticket sales. What is the difference between this season and last season?

KW: First of all I have to say a big thanks to the fans who have renewed, the response has been remarkable. We’re very happy with that, although we are slightly down. But it’s still early days and we’re not finished yet. I think there will be a surge both before the Watford game and before the derby game. The overall figure has been slightly confused by the fact we have 2,000 new season ticket holders while 4,000 haven’t renewed yet. Which means crudely we are about 2,000 down to date. I hope we’re going to get a lot of those back and that they’re waiting until the last minute.

MBE: That’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

KW: No, it’s not. We’re just slightly below our target of last year.

MBE: I thought last season’s playing fortunes would have a heavy hit but those figures seem to contradict that.

KW: We’ve also marketed season tickets very differently this year.

MBE: Yes. That leads me on to the current season ticket card, which I think is a splendid idea and long overdue. But why is it so late in being sent out? A lot of people were beginning to get twitchy.

KW: You have to programme the cards and get all the right systems in place. It’s a big job to get it all ready. Other clubs are using the same system, Celtic for instance. We’ve had to share the technicians. We’ll be ready for the season, though. At the moment we’re about a week behind the old system of season ticket books.

MBE: Is the gate technology in place and is it tested?

KW: It is. It has been rigorously tested and has been tested again all through the week. In fact we’re having a bit of a dummy run tomorrow with some of the tickets.

MBE: How many “swipe” gates will there be?

KW: Every single turnstile will be like that. But you can only go through the numbered gate on your card – the others won’t accept it. This is also an improved crowd flow control method for greater safety.

MBE: Will help be available at each gate for anybody who gets confused by card use?

KW: Absolutely. We’ll be heavily stewarded. Every club has had to do this on the first day because there are always teething problems. Not necessarilly technology problems, also with fans who wave the card at the wrong part of the machine or trying to insert it in areas where it shouldn’t be inserted – in other words just human error. No matter what we do it will take a couple of games before it settles down. We’re going to have a massive “educational” campaign. We’ll also ask everyone to arrive early, which is the biggest thing of all. We’ll run a competition whereby all those inside the ground by 2.30 will have a chance to get their season ticket cost back. So we’re asking all fans to PLEASE change their routine slightly and arrive as early as possible. We don’t want a late kick-off.

MBE: Finances. We spent about 12-14 million for Andy Johnson and Joleon Lescott. That struck many of us as more than the budget would be. It’s a big investment. What are the origins of the finance for the deals?

KW: A lot depends on the terms of the deal. There’s no doubt we have “pushed the envelope” but we haven’t done anything dangerous or to jeopardise the club’s future.

MBE: That’s why I ask, because you made it clear in previous interviews that wouldn’t happen on your watch.

KW: That certainly is not going to happen. We thought as a board it was important to make the investment because two things are about to happen which make it imperative not to even flirt with relegation. One is the new TV deal coming in next year, and the second is the Sepp Blatter-FIFA proposal for eighteen teams in the Premiership (though this is far from settled). There are a lot of politics to sort before the Blatter proposal is decided one way or the other. Nevertheless, it means five clubs could be relegated if it is adopted. I emphasise there is lot to discuss before we get to that position and of course it might not go ahead at all.

MBE: It can’t happen this season, surely?

KW: Well, it would be very difficult but Blatter’s got time. When you look at European football Greece recently got banned for not following FIFA diktats. I don’t know if FIFA would want to tangle with the English FA or the Premier League in the same way. One would hope not. Nevertheless, you can’t ignore it, which is the point I am making. The “threat” is there. This all goes to ensure the directors have to keep the club in the Premiership. There are two duties of the board which are paramount – number one, make sure of the financial security of the club, and number two, make sure we stay in the Premiership. So it was important that we did “push the envelope” but we did it with good financial planning and we can manage the situation.

MBE: So have we borrowed more?

KW: It’s been done basically through deferred payments to get players on the pitch who show the fans we mean business.

MBE: Once again, it’s chicken-and-egg isn’t it, trying to reorganise the club while getting results on the pitch? It isn’t easy.

KW: Of course. Overall we’ve spent about forty million during the last few seasons. It’s a huge amount for a club of our size. We’re managing the club well, we’re increasing revenue in certain areas and we’re going to keep it that way.

MBE: We’ve come from a very difficult situation and I think the vast majority of the fans realise that and that’s why their patience has been phenomenal and why you get the season tickets returns you do. It’s like watching a player on the pitch – if English fans know you’re trying your best they’ll forgive you almost anything.

What does our long term debt stand at?

KW: It’s getting less each year as we pay down on the securitisation. It’s about twenty-six/twenty-seven million at the moment.

MBE: Well that figure hasn’t changed then has it?

KW: No, not much. Present payments take up the interest principle, just like a mortgage. Like any other mortgage it won’t start coming down substantially until we’re a bit further in, but it is being eaten away each year.

MBE: Have we had any inquiries from potential investors?

KW: Yes. There’s been a number. They’re coming from all over the place at the moment, but nothing at all viable. The phone rings a lot.

MBE: Surprising that, and gratifying in a way. Last time we spoke six months ago you said there had been a change in the way the game was viewed by investors.

KW: Well, a change in sentiment.

MBE: Has that feeling been reinforced by events since?

KW: It has. I think we are quite a compelling story now. We’ll carry on looking at any proposals and see what develops.

MBE: Does that mean we are going to hit anywhere near the sixty million turnover figure we had last season?

KW: We won’t be very far away. Given the fact that we finished fourth when we achieved the sixty million figure, and given we finished eleventh last season, and that each position is worth half-a-million pounds…………………

MBE: …………..that’s what’s taken my breath away, frankly. When you made that forecast last time I honestly thought you were being hopelessly optimistic or perhaps wishful………………

KW: …………..well, we’re not going to be far away. We’ll be a little bit down but not as much as pessimists hope. There’s been a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

MBE: If we can get within two-and-half or even five percent of the hoped for figure I think that will be excellent given the wretched season we had last time out.

The Academy. Is it on programme? What’s the completion date?

KW: June next year. It’s looking great now. If you were to go out there now you’d see a lot of steelwork poking out of the ground. David Moyes and everybody’s getting really excited about it now it’s becoming a reality. The good weather has greatly helped construction progress.

MBE: It’s a good, isolated spot, handy for motorways etc., a really good deal.

KW: It’s a fantastic location and a great deal. The project was stalled for about eight years, but I made it a priority when I came.

MBE: Why don’t you put some graphics of it up on the website, including the buildings?

KW: There have been. But we’re going to do a photoshoot at a more appropriate moment and that’s when you’ll see and hear more about the Academy. We don’t want to jump the gun or do it in bits and pieces.

MBE: How many pitches are there?

KW: Twelve altogether.

MBE: And the basic facilities are what? Is there anything innovative in the building and the site?

KW: Because we’ve been so late in developing the Academy we’ve been able to visit other academies and cherry pick the best ideas. The medical facilities are state-of-the-art. The hydrotherapy pools and swimming pools are built with the best equipment. The skills areas are all there, the all-weather pitches as well as normal pitches. In the grounds we have what’s called “Heartbreak Ridge,” which is a very testing running mound. The biggest step forward for us, though, is getting Bellefield and Netherton together and having everything in one campus. That’s where we believe you will see the benefits. As we’ve said before of the Academy, we’ve had the best people but the worst facilities.

MBE: It’s amazing they turned out what they did, actually.

KW: If you want to look at it in a strictly cold business fashion there’s been about fifty-three million pounds of revenue through the Academy. So it has been a big profits centre for the club. For us though it is important the first team and the youth players are close together. That’s where we expect to see some big steps forward.

MBE: Will there be any opportunities for fans’ visits when it is completed?

KW: Yes. We’ll be having open days and things like that. We want the fans to see what progress we’ve made. We hope they’ll be impressed by what they see.

MBE: What are the further educational provisions for youngsters coming into the Academy? Some of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds and need something more than football to carve a life for themselves. If they aren’t from Merseyside it can be lonely and hard to settle. If they don’t make it as a professional player things can be very difficult for them.

KW: One of our most valuable Academy assets is Mike Dickinson. He is our Welfare Officer and he has links with every education authority with schooling of all different types. He makes sure individual requirements are catered for. We’re very big on that because we want to make sure the kids have an education as well.

MBE: Of course the more that’s applied the more unforgettable it will be for the youngsters themselves whether they succeed or not at football. And that matters to the club too in terms of reputation amongst promising youngsters.

KW: It’s even more important because we have more and more international students coming in. It’s important to us they all see it as a true learning experience as well as a football opportunity. Parents are more and more demanding. We feel we’re in the forefront of that. We have great relationships with John Moores University and all the local education authorities.

MBE: Fans investment. You said last time something is in the offing. Has there been any further progress? Do you have an announcement date in mind?

KW: No announcement date yet, but I have spoken with three different investment advisors. The structure of the proposal depends upon market timing and how we pitch it. We’re still knocking around ideas. We’re looking to tie it into the Academy in some way. We have to make sure we get the financial project right.

MBE: Do you have a target amount yet?

KW: No. I’m not going to tie myself to any amount!

MBE: The new stadium. The local press has been replete with stories about Kirkby. How far along is that site as a project?

KW: The reality is that we have been offered three basic projects. Peel Holdings have one at Switch Island. The Kirkby project has been mentioned. And the city of Liverpool have a project they have offered to me just now. There’s also a fourth one that’s a bit of a dark horse. We have to decide which one offers the best chance of deliverability. As you know this can mean lots of things, such as raising the finance to do it, satisfying planning terms, getting it designed and built at a viable cost…………….so we’re analysing which of them can be genuinely deliverable in these and other terms. And of course we have to take into account the fans’ wishes and interests as well.

MBE: One of the fans’ expressed wishes about Kirkby is that it isn’t local, it isn’t in the city. Now we know it’s only four miles down the road…………………..

KW: ……………..three…………………

MBE: ……………..three, I stand corrected. But we know how parochial and chauvinist English football can be. However, based purely on anecdotal evidence and nothing more, it looks as though the fans are split about fifty-fifty on the Kirkby location. What’s your personal view on this question of locality?

KW: Well, I stress this is my personal view – we haven’t discussed this question at board level yet – that if boundaries hadn’t been redrawn in perhaps a quirky fashion then Knowsley might not exist and Kirkby would still be part of Liverpool. It’s the spiritual home of Z Cars as well ……………..

MBE: ………………I wondered whether you’d get that one in!……………

KW: ………………So I think given that it’s so close, and very much in Everton territory, there are many, many worse locations. Some of them aren’t in Evertonia.

MBE: Halton’s one of those.

KW: There’s a few I’ve heard about. I just think a mere local boundary drawn in arbitrary fashion should not be a deciding factor. There’s also those fans who don’t want to leave Goodison anyway. To be honest I wouldn’t want to leave Goodison if it could be made to work. But wherever we chose there’ll be raised voices. I wouldn’t expect it any other way.

MBE: So, to be clear, Keith – has the city of Liverpool made a counter-offer to you yet?

KW: We are examining one of the possibilities together with the city. The city have been excellent in helping us and have been unstinting in their efforts. We couldn’t ask for more.

MBE: The Daily Post edition of August 9th carried a front page banner headline “EFC Kirkby plan ‘ to halve jobless’ “ and said this was sourced from “a confidential consultants report.” In my view this was sloppy, irresponsible reporting. Having been involved in preparation of many such consultants reports in the past I can say they have to be treated with extreme caution. Very often they are cruelly misleading and give rise to false hopes merely to promote a project. Many of them are little more than guesswork and fail to have a holistic approach. In this case, whatever gets built in Kirkby you can almost guarantee it won’t “halve the jobless” there. It is wrong to raise hopes in this way.

KW: Well, you’d have to raise that with the editor of the Daily Post. I’m looking at what’s best for Everton Football Club. Obviously there are wider social responsibilities but it isn’t one of the major factors we’re looking at right now. That will happen at a suitable time.

MBE: Has the club yet started to put together a specification manual or a clear brief of what you want to see in the new stadium?

KW: Absolutely. There’s a lot of work left over on that from the Kings Dock. We’ve taken it out, dusted it off, and “re-engineered” it. Yes, we’ve got a very tight specification already of the things we need and want.

MBE: You’ll be hard put to beat the Kings Dock scheme. Had it gone ahead it would have been a quantum leap for the club. I don’t think we could afford to build that now.

In passing, my two pennorth on a new scheme is, I certainly wouldn’t go down the design road taken by Arsenal, in this sense: They have a double tier of corporate boxes that visually dominates the stadium. I think that a disastrous design error. I think the majority of fans – the game’s bedrock – get resentful about that kind of thing. In my view Manchester United have got it right by tucking the boxes out of most sight lines, under upper tier stands.

KW: I don’t want to comment on Arsenal’s new stadium, Mike. I would imagine their corporate economics are totally different to ours up here. London is completely different, the corporate market, the fans etc. I don’t think we’ll ever try to replicate that here. Anyway, we haven’t even got into a design phase yet!

MBE: The shared stadium appears to be dead. Has that dynamic changed at all since the pinkies lost preferred bidder status for European funds?

KW: No.

MBE: Some fans of course have seen – depending on how many pints they’ve had – your whole stadium strategy as a ploy to force the pinkies into a shared stadium.

KW: Oh, not the grassy knoll theory again! No, there’s nothing to it. We look to our own interests. Liverpool’s don’t come into it.

MBE: Internal admin. changes. I believe there have been more changes during the Summer? What were they and what are your priority areas for change now?

KW: Yes, there have been further changes. We have outsourced catering and, as I said, retailing, and these were our biggest challenges during the Summer. Overall we are looking for an improvement in what’s delivered to the fans. That means we have had a direct staff reduction of about seventy. What we’re looking to do now is build a new admin team to take us forward to the new stadium and into a new era. The changes will have to last through the exciting but difficult transition. It won’t be easy but nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.

MBE: Brian Labone. A very sad and poignant time for Brian’s family. I thought the club handled the Anglican Cathedral service and fans response with great sensitivity and dignity. Who organised it so well in such a short time?

KW: It was a combination of the family, the Former Players Foundation and the club together. The family’s wishes were of course paramount at all times. In the end it was an outpouring of good will and common sense to get it done in the right way. And while it was very, very sad, I think there was also a sense of celebration of Brian’s life. It was very moving and very powerful, but I felt it befitted the man himself.

MBE: Despite Evertonian loyalty and bias even I was taken aback by the attendance which filled the Cathedral and spilled over into the outside concourse. It was amazing to see so many people of all ages quietly respectful and dignified. It helps to restore one’s confidence in human nature.

KW: It was an incredible day. I know the family were very moved and appreciative of the tremendous level of support from the fans.

MBE: I only wish the north west media would have given it the coverage it deserved, in comparison to other clubs who shall be nameless.

KW: What’s important is we all know the feelings involved and the truth of the day. In that respect the media are immaterial.

MBE: The official club website and Everton TV. Congratulations on both of these too. I’ve heard nothing but praise from the fans for them. There’s a few glitches of course but I’m sure they’ll be ironed out.

KW: Mark Rowan is in charge of that area of the club. He deserves all the praise. He’s done a fantastic job in getting them going. It’s been a huge amount of hard work.

MBE: What website hits are we getting?

KW: I think we were the seventh most visited site in UK football before the World Cup.

MBE: I think that will go up.

KW: Yes, I think it will go up too. The freshness of the site appeals to everybody. And Everton TV has taken off a storm as well. And now we’ve got our own in-house camera crew to do the work. That’s becoming a powerful communication tool to the fans. We do everything we can to bring stories forward. There are so many things we take for granted that the fans want to know about.

MBE: And they are the ones who have a lot of interesting, original ideas and suggestions of what they’d like to see.

KW: I think the fans will see we do act on a lot of their suggestions in coming months.

MBE: How many subscribers are there for Everton TV?

KW: We’re over three thousand and closing down on five pretty hard. There are plans to expand the service much further.

MBE: The lounges. How are membership figures standing up after the first season of changes?

KW: Good. We’re roughly at the same figure as last season with a week to go. We’ve managed to stabilise that. And there have been catering changes behind the scenes which I think the fans will be happy with.

MBE: So you have outsourced on the catering side?

KW: Yes. We have made an agreement with Sodexho, a world leader in catering.

MBE: What do you see as their main changes and improvements to the previous in-house arrangement?

KW: Their skill at serving quality quicker than we could have done before. They do some of the major venues in the world, the Olympic Games etc. They understand for instance that at half time you’ve only got a ten to fifteen minutes window to get some things done. There’s a skill in doing that. We can improve in areas like that. In the lounges their high quality of service will be apparent to the fans, during functions as well. They have a pool of experienced operatives we as a football club could never hope to tap in to. That means we get a higher quality of chef and maitre de for example. We could not have kept them on our wage bill just for use every two weeks.

MBE: How many locals do they employ?

KW: It’s only the senior levels they bring in. By far most of the rest are local, who also gain from better training of the type we couldn’t offer. And the opportunity being part of that company gives them. They cater for different venues around the country, even around the world. It provides the opportunity of broader experience and to progress to a career in catering if that’s what they want.

MBE: On a more general level, the Italian football corruption scandal is notorious. Corruption has affected the game right across Europe. There’s no reason why England should be hugely different. But you made a vigorous defence in the Daily Telegraph right after Luton manager Mike Newell made serious allegations. I thought you were shooting from the hip and perhaps over-quickly too. As I see it, the problem in the English game is not necessarilly the way the Italians went about their nefarious ways. In England it’s how the football institutions are put together. For instance, footballers in England are allowed to bet on matches. Where does the Premier League stand in this? Why are footballers not banned from betting directly or through another party on ALL sports events? Even the Italians have that bar in place.

KW: I don’t know the answer, Mike, as to why that rule is there. It could well have something to do with human rights.

MBE: If the Italians have got it past the European Commission there is surely no reason why the English can’t?

KW: Yes, it seems natural to me you should not be able to bet on teams, and certainly not to lose. Common sense dictates you certainly shouldn’t be betting on your own sport. I don’t know how the game allowed that to develop.

MBE: So will Everton Football Club be pushing at Premiership meetings for the banning of such betting?

KW: I’ll investigate that and will be willing to discuss it further after I am fully briefed.

MBE: Agents fees. We talked last time of the fact that agents can get paid twice, by the clubs and by the players. Has there been any change at all in that?

KW: There has. Bill in particular has been very vociferous about this at Premier League meetings. At the last meeting the League voted to recommend the players pay all agents fees. There are tax consequences and a question of whether players can gross up wages to do that. We think over time that will see a reduction in agency fees. The recommendation will go to the FA for them to formulate the regulations. Of course as the Premier League we carry a lot of weight since it is us who pay the wages and transfer fees. So we expect it to go through.

MBE: You can see where the fans get very cynical about all of this, Keith?

KW: Sure. I’m frustrated as well because sometimes the agent’s very helpful to me, sometimes it’s very difficult to deal with them. It depends which side of the fence you’re on when you’re trying to make a deal.

MBE: For us fans the worst example of course is the ProActive agency and Paul Stretford. People are still VERY sore – rightly in my view – about how those two dealt with the Wayne Rooney episode. The fans have never lost that feeling and I don’t think they’re ever going to lose it. It would be remiss of me not to draw that to your attention. So, for the record, do we still deal with ProActive? Which of our players are represented by them?

KW: Certain players are still represented by them. I don’t think it’s fair for me to single them out. They have the right to choose their own advisors. Therefore we have to deal with them and we do so in the best interests of the club. I am absolutely aware of the way the fans feel.

MBE: Okay. For those fans who don’t know, how often does the Premier League meet?

KW: There are six meetings a year, normally attended by the chairmen and chief executives. In fact there’s one next Thursday. Usually they last a morning. Once a year we have a two-day meeting.

MBE: Where can the fans find the results of these meetings? Are they published?

KW: No, they’re not published. You’re best waiting for the leaks that appear before, during and after the meetings!

MBE: Why can they not post something on the official website?

KW: Well, they do if there are decisions made. Then they are announced, but the minutes aren’t published.

MBE: I don’t necessarilly mean the minutes, though that could be very informative if boring to wade through.

KW: But major decisions are always posted anyway. For instance the agency recommendation I mentioned earlier, that was published on the Premier League website. Details of decisions taken are certainly there.

MBE: Earlier we mentioned the TV deal. One of my bugbears is this: Why doesn’t the game own and run its own TV channel? That way money is kept more in the game and less leaks out to people like Rupert Murdoch, another figure ranked alongside the likes of Paul Stretford.

KW: During my time in Scotland I was one of the proponents of SPL TV. So I totally agree. My own view for a long time is that it is certainly worth investigating.

MBE: You’re in full control of your own product and you obtain all the revenues from advertising. Decisions are made in the interests of the game, not media transnational companies. To my mind it’s just common sense to cut out the middle men, many of whom have no interest in football except how it can boost their company profits.

KW: Maybe. But we might not be able to maximise revenue in the way we can with outside bidders at the moment. There are other reasons why companies like Sky pay the premium they do.

MBE: Sure. Where Sky are concerned their entire operation and profitability would be fatally undermined without football to sell. But that’s not the same thing as having the game’s best interests at heart. Again, I’m not saying it’s easy, Keith, only that most of us fans see it as our money being taken out of the game and there are viable alternatives to the present commercial set-up.

KW: There’s also an image problem, perhaps, if it was Premier League TV. There are ways to subcontract to a production company to cover matches. In some respects that’s an attractive business model. But it’s not the way the Premier League voted to go forward. It’s something I think we should always keep on the back burner.

MBE: Okay, so the present set-up increases revenue. There are other questions, though: How far down the road do you go in selling TV rights? What is the cut-off point for keeping control of your own affairs? Why should we subscribe to a useless satellite TV station that was notoriously on the brink of bankruptcy, that wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for football?

KW: There’s a couple of things which became apparent during the last session of TV negotiations. We didn’t have full control of the bidding process because the EU got involved, and they were using football as a political football. So we didn’t have full control of the process. I have to say Richard Scudamore did a fantastic job working with the EU to form the structure we eventually arrived at. After that we let the free market decide what the value of the Premier League was and it decided we were worth a lot. I have to say in Sky’s defence they have treated football very well in terms of production values. I think the average fan would say Sky have done a good job in presenting football and the money we got from them has been the rocket fuel that enabled the Premier League to become the most famous league in the world. The new TV deal enables us to put clear blue water between us and Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga and has made us by far the biggest game in town.

MBE: What is the new deal?

KW: So far, for the equivalent rights already sold, in the last deal we got 1.3 billion over three years. This time we’ve already achieved over 2 billion for the same rights package. Overall, we’re looking for a fifty to fifty five percent increase on the deal. The challenge has to be that it doesn’t all flood out to the agents and their clients, that we make sure facilities are improved for the fans, that youth facilities are improved and that we strike a balance in the use of the money.

MBE: How have your own meetings with the fans gone? Have you met any new groups?

KW: There was a fans forum on Monday. Catering and the JJB agreement were raised again. In fact everywhere I go I get stopped. It’s great, it really is. Being the size I am I’m not easy to miss and I really love it when they want to know the latest situation. The fans forums will carry on and we’ll get back into regular meetings once the season starts. There is still an open invitation to any fans group to get in touch to meet up and talk about things that concern us all.

MBE: I expect they get a bit raw and mischievous at times do they?

KW: No, nothing that the truth can’t explain. Generally the fans are what you would expect, intense and querulous, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It shows they care. This season there’s a distinct feeling of anticipation that I haven’t felt before.

MBE: Yes, it’s amazing. I have to say I think it’s a bit inflated. We’ll know in short order how realistic it all is.

KW: Everybody is certainly up for the season. Better that than being down.

MBE: When I was at the World Cup it was a wonderful occasion. I didn’t see one breath or iota of trouble. So when I saw the BBC TV Panorama programme on organised hooliganism amongst English fans I was reminded we still have a problem. This applies to us at Everton as much as any other club, no more no less. Racism and hooliganism are things that still dog us.

What measures do we have in place, firstly to ensure we don’t develop institutional racism within the club – British society is institutionally racist as events sadly keep proving, and our club is no more immune to this evil than any other – and secondly what other steps do we have in place to limit racist incidents during matches?

KW: Alan Johnson is our full time officer who deals with all ethnic related matters. He is doing great work in the schools and with the fans groups in all the major problem areas. We are also of course part of the “Let’s Kick Out Racism” campaign and all the other major initiatives. We do a lot behind the scenes. We don’t seek publicity on it.

MBE: But don’t you think there’s room for wider publicity? Not in the sense of self-praise, but purely with the intention of bringing it into the light to make it more difficult for racists to hide in a crowd like the cowards they are.

KW: The media don’t always see it as a newsworthy story. For our part, I have appointed a new safety officer who has vast experience of this area. We will also make a renewed effort with stewards training this year. A lot will depend on the fans and how well they report incidents to us. We will take the strongest action we can against anybody who infringes the law.

MBE: So if a fan witnesses something…………………..

KW: ……………………go find a steward and provide as much information as you can give us. With the smart card system it becomes easier to track people. We do NOT want racists or hooligans at Everton. We will be rid of them as soon as they are identified.

MBE: What about away games? That is where you can get groups of kids who mistake a day out for a stupid opportunity to show how phoney “street-smart” they are. They aren’t necessarilly racist but many of them just follow a nominal racist clown instead of being themselves and telling him to go jump in a lake. Some of them are so naïve or immature they would follow a mangey dog if it wagged its tail at them.

KW: Yes, the psychology of it can be hard to understand. But this season we’ll have more spotters. Again, though, it’s going to rely on the fans. It’s well worth noting that anything substantial achieved with this problem has been through “self-policing.” For instance the Scots “Tartan Army” did it that way. It’s up to the fans to point out things to us for us to act on. We can’t act on something we don’t know about.

MBE: Well, Keith, thanks again for another interview. Good luck to all of us for the coming season, especially in view of the money you have spent!

KW: Yes, well, it’s a required investment. I think we’re all going to be a bit nervous at three o’clock on the opening day. I can’t wait to see if it’s going to pan out as we all hope it will do. I have a good feeling myself. I have seen all the hard work behind the scenes, the training and a stable pre-season. It’s what you hope for before a season starts. There’s a lot happening at the club and we are moving forward in many ways. We have a lot of hope and expectation these days.

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