Kenwright: It will be absolute nonsense if we finish fourth in the League and Liverpool take our place in Europe
Sir Bobby Robson in conversation with Bill Kenwright
BILL KENWRIGHT: Bobby, remember our last meeting? The Royal Variety show, with Barry Manilow? I'm one of those sad people who sits and listens to Barry whenever my heart is broken.
SIR BOBBY ROBSON: Is that because of love affairs, or football?
KENWRIGHT: There's not a lot of difference! I remember when David Moyes first came to us, we lost to Shrewsbury in the FA Cup. I got in my car at Shrewsbury and ended up in Cambridge. To this day I've no idea how. I had tears in my eyes all the way wondering how I was going to get up in the morning. All I want in life is to hold a bit of silverware. That is my dream
SIR BOBBY: You've got a real big match against Liverpool today — local pride and a Champions League spot at stake. I heard you were unlucky to lose 2-1 to them at Goodison this season.
KENWRIGHT: Just a bit. Poor old Joleon Lescott, who has been our best player this season, was brought down in the last seconds. It should have been a penalty. An awful lot happened that day that we regret as Evertonians. But here we are, seven games to go, two points behind Liverpool. How much did they spend in the summer? We are so close to getting where we want to be, where we need to be.
SIR BOBBY: A lot of credit has to go to David Moyes, of course, and you for appointing him. What made you think he was the right guy to replace Walter Smith.
KENWRIGHT: At our first meeting, David said the word 'win' 17 times in two minutes. I counted them. I thought, 'I like this guy'. He was on a list of five people I intended to see, but I never saw the other four. David looked the business.
SIR BOBBY:You finished just above the relegation zone in 2003-04 but unlike a lot of chairmen you didn't change managers.
KENWRIGHT: There was never ever a question that David might be replaced. It was like saying I was going to support Liverpool — it just wasn't going to happen. If I'm good at anything in life, it's spotting the good in people. That is what I do as a theatre producer. David is a good man. When you are hitched to something that is good and reliable and hard-working, why would you change it? It never entered my head.
SIR BOBBY: Will your partnership with David continue? David has just over a year of his contract left.
KENWRIGHT: There have been times when I've read headlines like 'David Moyes for Newcastle' but I've not given them much respect. I know he is committed to Everton. He is beginning to take us back to where we belong. Do I want us to continue together? Absolutely. Do I think we will? Absolutely.
SIR BOBBY: So you don't think this year left on the contract will be a problem? It's been reported that he is keen to know that he can compete in the transfer market.
KENWRIGHT: The easiest thing would be David and Bill sitting down and sorting out his contract. It is what surrounds that contract that's the difficult thing. If you get into Europe it's different to finishing sixth or seventh, and I'm talking about financially different. There are loads of equations. Look back at the past three or four years: last year we spent well over £20 million. We are not a club with a Champions League-type of income. But we broke our transfer record with Yakubu last summer. That was a risk and look at how well it has worked. The year before, I remember sitting with David and he asked if we could go to X for Andy Johnson because that would have been our transfer record. We not only went to X, we went to X-plus. The January of the season before that we broke our transfer record for James Beattie. We have been willing to back our manager and we will be willing to do that this summer. The chairman-manager relationship is like a marriage. You have to be honest with each other. I have seen over the years the digs that managers can give to chairmen and viceversa. That would never work for me. I have to be able to say the good, the bad and the ugly to David's face, which he has to do with me. We talk before and after every game. We're in it together.
SIR BOBBY: I had that relationship with my chairmen at Ipswich, John and Patrick Cobbold. I was offered bigger clubs — Man United, Everton, Derby, Leeds — but the reason I didn't go was my respect for the chairmen. I stayed 14 years until I became England manager. But back to the derby; like Liverpool, you are looking to build a new stadium.
KENWRIGHT: I've always thought we had to move from Goodison Park. I loved the days when I watched you at inside-forward. I'd stand with 60,000 fans and have a meat pie at half-time, with soggy water coming out of it. But the big thing in football today is money. The manager needs money, the fans want money spent on players. You can only go so far with a ground like Goodison. I would love to stay at my blue and white palace forever but there is not enough capacity, there are too many restrictive seats and even health and safety regulations is an issue.
SIR BOBBY: You only have to look at Arsenal. The fabulous Highbury, now dead and buried. The Emirates is the thing of the future, they have doubled their capacity and their matchday revenue.
KENWRIGHT: We need to sustain Everton's growth as a club without being a Flash Harry. A new stadium is an inevitability rather than a probability.
SIR BOBBY: You got a hard-earned 0-0 draw at Anfield last season and Rafa Benitez referred to Everton as a 'small club'. What did you feel about that?
KENWRIGHT: If Rafa wants to make a fool of himself like that, he can do it as many times as he wants. It's laughable.
SIR BOBBY: UEFA have decided that if you finish fourth and Liverpool win the Champions League, which they could do, they will go into the tournament and you won't. Do you think that is fair?
KENWRIGHT: Of course it's not fair. It is an absolute nonsense. I believe the team who win the Champions League have the right to be in it the year after, and that goes for Liverpool. I don't believe they have the right to take someone else's place. But I'm not going to get stressed about it at the moment. We are so close to being where we want to be. We massacred Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup and went out on penalties. We would have won the UEFA Cup if we'd reached the quarter- finals. We conceded an own goal in the last minute of our Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea. David Moyes plots everything. We drew a graph six years ago of where we wanted to be, and we're at that stage now. I prefer this pressure to nearly getting relegated. I've still got a copy of the Liverpool Echo framed in my office after we beat Wimbledon to stay up. The headline is one word: 'Safe'.
SIR BOBBY: Wayne Rooney gets stick when he comes back to Everton. Can you ever see a time when he is welcomed back as a guest?
KENWRIGHT: David Moyes has always said to me: 'One day Wayne Rooney will come back to Everton.' Why not? Those four or five days when I knew he wanted to go were without doubt the worst few days of my football life.
SIR BOBBY: Do you feel confident about today?
KENWRIGHT: I've supported Everton for 56 years and never gone to a match thinking we won't win. I'm a fan. I can't sleep on Saturday night, I can't eat lunch before the game and I kick every ball in the directors' box. I got an award from the Press boys last year for being the most nervous chairman they'd seen at Anfield. I don't sit still — it means that much.
SIR BOBBY: I wish every chairman was like you. Thanks, Bill, and good luck for the rest of the season.
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We would have won the UEFA cup if wed reached the quarter finals 
)...... Don't give the ref any reason to send them off....
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