SIR TERRY LEAHY - OPEN LETTER

Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy has written an open letter to Evertonians.

Sir Terry Leahy's letter to Evertonians:

I have been an Everton fan all my life. The first game I saw was against Leyton Orient in December 1962 – I think we won 3–0. As a businessman my head rules, as a football fan it’s more complex – it’s about heart as well as head. Every Everton fan can make a rational assessment of where the club will end up at the start of every campaign, but in your heart you hope for a bit more. It’s what generates the excitement, the anticipation. Twenty teams enter a competition that only one can win, being a football fan essentially is not about being rational, more often than not the heart rules the head.

I want to argue in this article that when it comes to the vote on Kirkby, it must be the other way round and in the best interests of the club we love, our heads must guide our hearts in making this decision.

Now let me declare an interest right up front. Tesco will benefit if the £400 million redevelopment of Kirkby takes place. But that does not mean Everton will lose out. Everton will win too. The success of Tesco has been based on creating maximum benefit, and then sharing it between communities, customers, staff, shareholders and other stakeholders. It’s win win, not win lose. And at Kirkby the town wins, Tesco wins and Everton wins. How does it work? Well it’s an 80 acre site (Goodison is 7 acres) next to Kirkby town centre which Knowsley Council want to transform in a bold and ambitious way. That transformation brought about by the combination of Knowsley Council, Tesco and Everton will generate thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of leisure and shopping visits which will raise property values. It’s that increase in property values which allows all three partners to benefit from the scheme.

Page 1 of 3
• 1
• 2
• 3
 View the full article