Kenwright stands his ground

Bill Kenwright has finally broken his silence on Everton’s future in the face of fellow director Paul Gregg’s criticism of him on the steps of Goodison Park today.

Gregg is battling to gain control of the club – but Kenwright still insists he has not had formal notification of who the Oxford-based millionaire’s backers are.

And the chairman claims the only contact he has had this week with Gregg is through e-mails which have contained “letters of resignation for us to sign”.

Kenwright, speaking also on behalf of fellow director Jon Woods, insisted: “Both myself and Jon feel we have a huge responsibility to Evertonians all over the world.

“If trying to behave and act in a responsible and honourable manner is not part of that responsibility then maybe the simplest solution is for both of us to sign Paul’s resignation letters.

“On a personal note, I am disappointed that a totally fictitious deadline resulted in today’s media event, one which only served to further tarnish the club’s image and damage our preparations for the new season.

“For my part, since Monday’s board meeting I have spent all my time continuing to work closely with the team manager on team-rebuilding, progressing and hopefully concluding the search for a new chief executive and – as was agreed at that meeting – trying to conclude my pursuit of potential investment into the club.

“What is at stake here is the future control of one of the world’s great football clubs, a club which myself and Jon have loved and supported all our lives and a club which took me three years of toil and a further four months of detailed negotiation and scrutiny, to allow myself to get to the same position which Paul wishes to find himself in, inside a week.

“I am prepared to stand down should Paul keep his promise to provide the club with the required evidence of a cash injection which I cannot match.”

It is this thorny issue of “evidence” which now stands between Kenwright and Gregg, who has now announced that the wealthy Lord Grantchester, a former director, is the man behind the £15million of new investment into the club.

Kenwright said: “All we have received since Monday’s board meeting is a faxed, one-page letter from a lawyer something which, self-evidently, does not provide either proof of finance or identity.

“At Monday’s meeting, Paul said he had secured a guaranteed investment of some £15million, a sum which he said would be made available to the club in October.

“Paul told the board he would deliver within 24 hours a formal proposal, one which would provide the necessary evidence of finance.

“Neither myself nor my fellow director, Jon Woods, received any such proposal.

“However, what we did receive, repeatedly, were e-mails from Paul which continued to demand our resignations and which, astonishingly, even contained the required letters for us to sign.

“On Friday at 3.20pm, Jon and I received a fax from a lawyer acting on Paul’s behalf stating he had seen a letter from a third-party who wished to remain anonymous, but who, he claimed, was in principle prepared to support an investment of up to £15million if – and only if – changes were made amongst the club’s board.

“The financial status of this nameless third-party was confirmed not by a bank or by a leading financial institution but by a lawyer.

“On that basis, and seemingly that basis alone, Paul continues to demand that both myself and Jon stand down.

“Despite repeated requests the board are no closer to ascertaining who Paul’s proposed investors are and we still await delivery of the financial guarantees and formal proposals which were promised earlier in the week.”

What is clear from this angry and detailed reaction to Gregg’s claims, is that the two former friends who launched a bid to salvage the club together four years ago, are now so far apart it would be impossible for them to work together again.

Both now must decide on the way forward for a club which is slowly slipping towards a massive financial crisis, and both will clearly spend the weekend reviewing their positions.