Bill Kenwright was last local lad to own a grand old football club – I’ll never forget first time I met Everton legend

BILL KENWRIGHT was the last local lad to own a grand old football club.

His devotion to Everton was total, from childhood at Booker Avenue Primary School to the end.

ReutersKarren Brady, who was managing director of Birmingham at the time, gives Bill Kenwright a hug before a Premier League match in 2008[/caption]

Bill Kenwright, seen here with Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, will be sorely missed by all who knew him in the PremGetty Images – Getty

His family will be proud of his immense achievements in showbiz, theatre and football biz — and I dare say his final thoughts were with them and a wish for an end to Everton’s significant problems.

Bill was an actor to his bootstraps. While his success as a theatre impresario and film  producer made him a very rich man, he wasn’t rich enough to buy the club wholesale.

That, I believe, was the major cause of his rift with many Everton supporters.

He couldn’t wave a wand to fulfil his dreams and so he had to depend on people with cash to burn.

Because he was approachable to supporters, a true Liverpudlian and a responsible man, he took heavy flak.

I first met him in 1993 when I was 23, all big hair and shoulder pads, specifically as managing director of Birmingham City.

He welcomed me with open arms, called me “Beauty” and, immediately, we were friends.

At the time he explained that a football club chairman and his inner circle must always have the best interests of supporters at the heart and they would not go wrong.

GettyEverton skipper Seamus Coleman and manager Sean Dyche lay wreaths in memory of long-serving chairman Bill Kenwright[/caption]

GettyGoodison Park has paid tribute to Bill Kenwright, who died this week[/caption]

Last season, when we at West Ham won our first European  trophy for decades, his message read: “I can’t believe how great that performance was!!! Incredible from the first moment.

“A magnificent night for you. I’m so glad you’ve got David Moyes (they had a close relationship) . . . and him you.”

We messaged ‘good luck’ before games unless we were playing each other when the stress could be almost unbearable.

I have known Bill to leave a match and sit in his car, overwhelmed by the pressure of it all.

He must have been heartbroken that Everton fans, people he loved, turned against him in his final seasons.

Last May, he asked if he could come and watch West Ham play Leeds in the hope that we would win and help Everton stay up.

Supporter unrest made his attendance at Goodison allegedly unsafe. That is a terrible commentary on crowd mentality.

Eventually, he cried off, calling himself “a wimp”. He told me the last seven months had been the worst of his life after the worst seven years possible, adding: “My time is limited . . . I just don’t want us to go down in what I think will be my final season.”

He joked he would watch it from behind the sofa. The good news was that we beat Leeds 3-1 and, better, Everton stayed up.

I wrote to him then to say: “My legacy is that I stayed the course . . . from the beginning to the end, because I believed in something” —  words from the late, great Tina Turner and apt for you, too!

“Congratulations (they had not been relegated). Whatever happens, remember the remarkable things you have done for Everton over 34 years as chairman. The last glass you ever raise to the club will be on your terms.”

Bill made a huge contribution to the Premier League over those three decades of involvement with Everton.

He was the voice of reason and fairness. He will be remembered for his passion and total dedication to the club, his huge personality and natural warmth, as well as his great sense of humour.

He will miss the opening of his club’s  new stadium next year.
In the name of loyalty and love he more than warrants recognition in it.

For true Evertonians, a star has fallen from the sky.