Bill Kenwright: From theatre producer to Everton chairman

The chairman of Everton Football Club, who died at age 78, will be missed by his boyhood club.

Bill Kenwright had been chairman of the club since 2004, and remained a fan at heart.

His death after suffering from cancer will be felt keenly by all associated with Everton.

Born on September 4, 1945 in Liverpool, he was the son of a bricklayer-turned-builder.

He took his inspiration from boyhood hero Hickson, saying: “I found a sort of guide – he taught me how to dare.

“From my family, I had real protection and comfort and, in mum, a spirit that said I could do anything I wanted to.”

His mother, Hope, who died in 2012 aged 93, remained a huge influence on his life and was famously dragged into Manchester United’s negotiations to sign young academy protege Wayne Rooney.

United’s then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson, recalling the talks in his autobiography, wrote: “Bill Kenwright gets on his phone and he hands it to me and says, ‘It’s my mother, she wants to talk to you’. She said: ‘Don’t you dare steal my boy!’.”

Kenwright was also successful in the theatre and acting world, and was on stage at the Liverpool Playhouse by the age of 12.

He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys at the same time as Paul McCartney and George Harrison and touring local pubs and clubs with his RnB band, The Chevrolets.

He went on to become a professional actor after arriving in Manchester, where a successful walk-in audition at Granada Studios set him on the path to becoming a theatre impresario and film producer through a role in Coronation Street as Gordon Clegg.

He went on to work with Tim Rice and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita and produced the hit West End show Blood Brothers.

But he still went on to be involved with his boyhood club. After joining the board in 1989, he rose to deputy chairman when he launched a successful takeover with a £20m bid to buy a 68% majority share of the club from Peter Johnson in 1999.

Sir Philip Carter (right), who has taken over as the new Everton FC chairman, welcomes Bill Kenwright , as his new deputy, at the club Credit: PA

“I couldn’t think of anyone else who should be taking over the club apart from me,” Kenwright, who became chairman in 2004, said at the time of the takeover.

“More than anything else I’m a fan. I know more than most people what the guy on the terraces and in the directors’ box would want to see.”

With David Moyes as manager for 11 years, Kenwright oversaw something of a resurgence, but the arrival of billionaire owners changed the face of football and he realised he could not compete as the criticism of his reign began to grow.

Bill Kenwright was chairman of the club for 19 years. Credit: PA

“A football club is a trophy asset and you buy a football club not to make money, believe me, I am living proof of that. There’s not huge money in the world,” he explained.

He eventually secured billionaire businessman Farhad Moshiri as a major shareholder.

Persuading Moshiri to install Sam Allardyce as manager after sacking Ronald Koeman was Kenwright’s final major, albeit an unpopular decision, but his role as chairman meant he continued to be a regular in the directors’ box at Goodison.

As the club’s fortunes failed to align with their new-found finances, supporter protests started to increase, with Kenwright facing accusations of overseeing two decades of underachievement and decay.

Despite his attempts to engage with fans, the relationship was never the same and in January he was, along with three directors, prevented from attending matches at Goodison because of fan opposition that entailed “threats to safety and security”.


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