An Open Invitation: FAO Ian Ross, Everton FC Director of Communication

Posted by: BU Editor | Posted on: November 17th, 2011 | 14 Comments

Dear Ian,

We of The Blue Union were very pleased to read your comments published on the BBC Sport website earlier today, in response to our press statement announcing Saturday’s second planned peaceful protest march.

Reassured by your statement that the club shares the goals of The Blue Union, and clearly therefore has no wish to ostracise or marginalise the many long-suffering Evertonians who share our common goals, we would like to extend a genuine invite to you, or any other official club representative that you would like to put forward, to come and address our gathering on Saturday afternoon in order to build bridges and help us move forward together as one.

As well as being passionate and committed Evertonians, we are realists – as we are sure that you are too – but it is for that reason that we still seek explanation and/or clarification on certain issues, in order to reassure us of the seriousness and credibility of the directors attempts to sell the club.

Your comments from earlier today that really struck a chord with us were the following excerpts from the piece;

“The irony is that that The Blue Union wants precisely what the club’s board of directors’ wants – sufficient fresh investment to ensure that we can achieve what has always been – and always will be – our number one priority, which is to fully support the manager and his ambitions.”

“As we have repeatedly stated, this football club is available for sale. We have also made it clear we have opened up lines of communication with various interested parties. Talks with these parties are ongoing.

“As anyone inside football will tell you, nothing can be achieved overnight”

Whilst we agree absolutely with those words and their sentiments, as an intelligent man, you must surely accept why, alone, they aren’t enough to quell our fears or restore our confidence in the current custodians of the club.

Evertonians have read comments very, very similar indeed to these from various officers of the club year, on year, on year…for a good number of years, and I am sure that you would fully understand why some Evertonians would now perhaps be at the point of labelling them as mere ‘soundbites’.

Everyone of us actively involved with The Blue Union are avid supporters who live and breathe this football club, so you can be certain that we are well aware of the club’s official stance, and in no doubt that an intention to sell has been well stated on numerous occasions.

Nevertheless, the problem remains that after a period of at least 5 years of Chairman Bill Kenwright insisting that he is searching “24/7″ for an investor or buyer, none have been found. This problem, and the perceived lack of any intervening factor that would seem to improve our chances of success, are the reason why, at this point, we feel that we simply MUST continue with our campaign.

We accept, as you say, that things can’t be “achieved overnight”, but 5 years? 10…15? How long should we wait before concluding that something isn’t quite right?

Clubs up and down the country, bigger and smaller than Everton, with or without new stadiums and great facilities, have been taken over or found substantial new investment, whilst Everton…still the 4th most domestically successful club in English football and with fiercely loyal fan base, remains on the shelf. We can’t explain this situation, seemingly nobody can.

Ian, we ask you honestly and openly, can’t you see why the fans remain unconvinced of the attempts being made to find investment after such a sustained period of failure without justifiable cause?

It is for these reasons that, without something more, we feel these latest comments do little to inspire confidence that a brighter future is on the horizon for our magnificent football club.

We want to believe, we desperately want to believe, but after so many years of empty words and failures, we really need something more than the same empty promises before we feel comfortable placing our trust back in this board. As Bill has said himself on several occasions, we firmly agree that the essence of Everton Football Club is the fans, and that irrelevant of the custodian at any given time, the club will always belong to the fans, for without us there is nothing.

We would be truly grateful if one of those individuals privileged enough to serve OUR club would be willing to accept this offer to come and speak with us, the fans, eye to eye on Saturday and perhaps explain to us just why we should have faith that things are going to be different this time around.

Yours Sincerely,

The Blue Union