The floral tributes for Bill Kenwright began to appear at Goodison Park within minutes of the confirmation of his death. Though complicated by his association with outgoing owner Farhad Moshiri and the turmoil that consumed the club towards the end of his reign, Kenwright’s legacy as a chairman who was never less than a loyal Evertonian is assured.
Kenwright’s gift was not for leading a football club but in the realm of imagined reality as an actor and theatre producer. Perhaps that is where he went wrong in the tumultuous final period, failing to separate football leadership from the fantasy world inhabited by football supporters. It is maybe too much to ask some fans to be reasonable in the treatment of a chairman who had lost his way. But to conflate Kenwright the chairman in the late Moshiri era with Kenwright the man does him a disservice.
Ten years ago Kenwright stood before the Kop to deliver an address on behalf of his club at the 24th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Drawing upon his Liverpool upbringing in a family of cross-club support, Kenwright spoke with aching sincerity about a tragedy that touched all in the city. He wasn’t claiming part-ownership of a shared grief as some might in a mawkish, self-serving way but expressing genuine sadness and despair for the victims and their families.
He was in that moment the best statesman Everton ever had, a decent man whose heartfelt sentiments elevated him into the same territory as Sir Bobby Charlton, not only a man of his club, but of every club.
It was the same impulse that led Kenwright to reach out to a former Everton supernova fallen on hard times. Jose Baxter was in a chip shop in Liverpool when his phone rang. After becoming Everton’s youngest debutant in 2007 aged 16, Baxter fell foul of the myriad temptations that come a young footballer’s way.
Four years and just 14 appearances later, Baxter left for Oldham on a free. A year on, as a Sheffield United player, he was banned for recreational drug use and finally released in 2016. He was working his way back to fitness without a club when the call came out of the blue, as it were. He didn’t recognise the number but answered it anyway. It was Kenwright offering a helping hand.
Baxter would spend a year back at Goodison Park rebuilding his career before securing a second move to Oldham. “He saved my life in a way, in terms of getting back into football and making me love it again. I can’t thank him enough,” Baxter said.
Kenwright’s crime was to adore Everton as much as those who came to assail him. Perhaps more so. Fool that he was, he accepted a position on the board at the height of his West End success 34 years ago. He should have stuck with a season ticket and booed along with the Gwladys Street.
But how could he resist? He loved the game, grew up an Evertonian. Tell me how many with a few quid in their pockets would choose wisdom over passion and turn down the opportunity to indulge their dreams?
Fans in distress need a target. That was Kenwright and monied collaborator Moshiri. Together they tried to keep pace with the insane rate of change in the Premier League years. It proved too much, ultimately consigning the club to an uncertain future under new owners, who will inherit a financial mess and a £760m stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock that is running behind schedule.
Kenwright tried his best. Were he still with us he would probably agree that his mistake was not staying at Everton too long, but to engage in the first place.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/rzP1kvi
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