Bill Kenwright OBE is a famous and successful theatrical impersario, his production company Bill Kenwright Ltd boasts being the largest independent theatre and film production company in the UK, so why doesn’t Kenwright apply the same rules that has helped him create this hugely successful business empire to Everton Football Club?

I say this because of a quote by Kenwright which followed the release of financial figures for 2008/2009.
“As has always been the case, David was fully supported by myself and by my fellow Board members. He remains the single, most important figure at the Club and we all strive – on a daily basis – to provide him with the tools he believes are necessary if we are to continue to evolve and develop into a genuine, meaningful force within both English and European football.”

The part that strikes me most is his comments on giving Moyes every resource the club can afford, and with our £6.7million loss also resources we don’t have. With wages and transfer fees Everton give Moyes in the region of 75% of our revenue. But does that make any sense, what other business would arrange themselves to be all about putting every penny into one part of the business?

Would Kenwright really give a director every penny he can give him to put together a show as expensive and dramatic as possible? Of course not, if anything Bill Kenwright Ltd has gained a reputation as a budget conscious company. Kenwright, I’d imagine, would give his director a budget to put on the most profitable play, he’d invest in marketing, finding the right theatre and use any left over money to invest in the business in general so it could grow and afford to do more plays in the future. Why is it any different at Everton?

Surely each season Kenwright should sit Elstone and Moyes down and go through the club’s budget and the plans from his CEO and manager. Surely he should weigh up whether he should plough resources into the team for short to medium term advantage or whether he should give the money to Elstone for medium to long term growth of the business. Instead this quote and quotes he’s said in the past makes me think that every spare penny is already destined to Moyes and the business side is merely an after thought. Of course our budget is limited and Moyes needs more money, but there will never be any more money unless the business side is given a fair chance to get its fair share of the resources.

I find it very worrying that the club views Moyes as the most important person at the club, especially as you’ll find that most clubs view the CEO as more important, with the CEO usually key in the hiring and firing of the manager with the manager typically subordinate to the manager, whilst at Everton it appears Elstone is a subordinate to Moyes. The estimated wages of the two tells it best, Moyes is estimated to be on £3million/year whilst Elstone is on closer to 150k/year, one of the very few CEOs in the top flight on less than £1million.

It may not be ideal, it may see huge backlash from Moyes and the fans, but right now, if Everton are ever going to grow as a club, Kenwright should look at his own CV and see where his successes have come from and allocate resources in the future not merely for the good of the team, but the good of the club.

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