Source: Team_Talk
Toffees came close to Sheikh up
ill Kenwright claims the Abu Dhabi group who purchased Manchester City previously expressed a serious interest in buying Everton.[LNB] Everton chairman Bill Kenwright claims the club could have been taken over by the Abu Dhabi group who purchased Manchester City if plans for a new Toffees stadium had been in place.[LNB]City have developed into Barclays Premier League title contenders, won the FA Cup and made their Champions League debut since being backed by the wealth of Sheikh Mansour.[LNB]He became City's owner in 2008 and remains top of FourFourTwo's Football Rich List for the 2011-12 season.[LNB]Over the last few years a string of expensive signings have arrived to play at City's recently-renamed Etihad Stadium, their home since 2003.[LNB]Everton, meanwhile, have operated on a limited budget and the prospect of them either moving to a new ground or redeveloping Goodison Park does not appear to be any closer.[LNB]Their home game against Aston Villa last month was preceded by a peaceful protest involving several hundred Toffees supporters frustrated at the lack of progress in finding a buyer for the Merseyside outfit.[LNB]Kenwright has often stated his desire to bring in new investors, and in a BBC interview with former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow - who was with the Reds during their takeover by Fenway Sports Group last term - the 66-year-old has suggested Mansour's money may have headed Everton's way if they had had an approved stadium project.[LNB]"I know for a fact that you met a lot of individuals who said they had the money to buy Liverpool Football Club, and I think I have met 10 times as many people as you met," Kenwright told Purslow.[LNB]"I have to say, some of them were good and I thought we had a big chance.[LNB]"The main thing that has happened in the last three years is the recession, and football is a trophy asset more than anything.[LNB]"You do not buy a football club to make money, believe me - I'm living proof of that.[LNB]"All I can tell you is that there are various scenarios. It is a two-football-club city, it is not the capital and there is not huge, huge money in the world.[LNB]"Of course, you can throw Manchester City at me. But Manchester City had the stadium situation and there was a lot of what I believe was lucky manoeuvring going on there - not underhand at all, but lucky manoeuvring."[LNB]Asked if he thought the Abu Dhabi group might have bought Everton rather than City if the Toffees had had a new stadium or plan for one, Kenwright said: "And if I had been in the right place at the right time - which was very, very important to that deal, because I know about that deal - then yes."[LNB]Kenwright insists the majority of Everton fans have been understanding about the club's predicament.[LNB]"If you walked over to my desk right now and I showed you some of the mail I get, it's humbling," he said.[LNB]"In the main, there is a lot of logic and understanding there, and pride - Evertonians have a lot of pride in the way their club is run, but there is always a discordant note in every symphony.[LNB]"There shouldn't be, but there is in football."[LNB]Kenwright also stressed it was not strong enough to say he would "like" to sell the club to someone with greater funds, offering "need" and "love" as more appropriate terms.
