EGM

To that effect, below is an open letter from Mark Greyson and Tony Bennett, two shareholders, who are trying to engineer an EGM on Kirkby before summer ends.
You might not agree with them, and admittedly parts are ultra pessimistic, but they raise some salient points and deserve your attention;

‘AS lifelong Evertonians we feel that it is necessary to request an Extraordinary General Meeting of Everton Football Club to discuss the wisdom of relocating the club to Kirkby.
‘We believe that these proposals are not beneficial to the long term welfare of Everton Football Club and that the main beneficiaries of this proposed relocation will be the board of directors, namely Bill Kenwright, Jon Woods and Robert Earl, whose personal shareholding will benefit from the enabling finance offered by Tesco and Knowsley Council to subsidise the stadium construction costs.
‘This subsidy will add up to £52m onto the value of the club of which the above three directors own approximately 70%. We are concerned that the directors of Everton Football Club are pursuing their own short term financial gain rather than the long term welfare of the club.
We estimate that the value their combined 70% shareholding will be enhanced by a minimum of £37m should they relocate Everton FC to Kirkby with the value of Bill Kenwrights own shareholding being enhanced by approximately £13.5m. This situation raises questions concerning a potential conflict of interest and the impartiality of the board to determine how best the long term welfare of the club is served.
'It is our view that the long term welfare of Everton Football Club is under serious threat as the proposed move to Kirkby does not offer a sound basis for a future business plan.  
'There are many issues that indicate that this move will be detrimental to the long term welfare of the club, none more so than the out of town location and the inadequate transport infrastructure that supports the site.
'The current transport proposals do not reflect what Evertonians were promised by the club prior to the ground move ballot in August 2007.
'We believe that problems with access to and from the stadium and the inconvenience to be endured by the majority of supporters some of whom will be expected to walk for up to 90 minutes just to get to and from their cars will have a detrimental effect on the ability of the club to attract supporters to the ground in the future.
'How will younger fans, the future of the club be attracted to the ground if they will be expected to walk such great distances?
'If the club fails to attract capacity gates exceeding our current average gate of 36,500 by more than 10,000 this will undermine the claim that the stadium move will generate increased and sustainable revenue not only to service the debt that will be placed upon the club to finance Everton’s £78m contribution to construction costs but also to provide the manager with funds to replenish the team.
'No doubt the new ground may initially attract increased attendances upon completion but we are concerned these crowds will diminish once the anticipated ‘New Stadium Effect’ subsides and supporters become disillusioned with inadequate transport services and extended journey times.
'The new stadium will not possess the heritage, history and special atmosphere generated by Goodison Park and those Evertonians who are left behind in the new stadium will be left with a subdued match day experience and atmosphere as the new ground is gradually vacated by those Evertonians who are deterred by the inconvenience placed before them.
'It is our view that Everton FC must not inconvenience their supporters by moving to this location, we would suggest that any business plan would be better served by utilising the existing site at Goodison Park or perhaps another site close to Liverpool City Centre.
‘The board of Directors must acknowledge the great risk in moving Everton FC away from its spiritual heartland in the vibrant and rejuvenated City of Liverpool.
'The future of Everton FC is reliant on attracting supporters to the ground and in an age where Live TV is becoming more and more prevalent we believe that many will be deterred from attending the ground.
'Indeed, future innovations such as we are witnessing with the advent of live internet football may result with Everton FC struggling to compete for the revenue generated by match going supporters who may be more inclined to follow the club from the convenience of their TV monitors.
'This will ultimately lead to the erosion of the clubs fanbase and future prosperity.
'How will a laboured transport system and a subdued atmosphere inspire future football fans to follow Everton Football Club?
'As the club intends to move away from its traditional and spiritual heartland future generations of supporters may be more inclined to support a local, more convenient and accessible alternative in Liverpool Football Club.
'The board of Everton Football Club promised an iconic and world class stadium for very little debt. The reality is that Evertonians are being given a ‘mid range quality stadium’ for a cost of £78m.
'10,000 Evertonians have already registered their rejection of the Kirkby scheme when it was portrayed as being world class and debt free, how many more would reject the proposals if they knew then what we know now?
'Despite these legitimate concerns the board of Everton Football Club have continued to pursue these proposals.
'Evertonians are concerned about foreign ownership and the potential for outsiders to asset strip and place tremendous debt onto the club.
'These are legitimate concerns but many Evertonians would be astonished to realise that Bill Kenwright and the board had done exactly that over the past 8 years.
'This must not be allowed to happen to one of English Footballs oldest and finest institutions.

Kind Regards
 
Mark Grayson and Tony Bennett