Everton: Sky Sports pundit defends Graeme Sharp amid ‘revulsion’ as board exits now expected with MSP Sports Capital arrival
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Kevin Campbell has stuck up for Graeme Sharp amid protests against the Everton board, while predicted other members to leave the club this summer.
Fans have been furious with the running of the club for months, and especially since the hierarchy stopped coming to games at Goodison Park amid claims that supporters could pose a risk to their safety, with regular protests continuing through the season calling for them to step down.
Now that the campaign is over Campbell believes the time for turnover has come, with the likes of Bill Kenwright and Denise Barrett-Baxendale particular targets of the supporters’ ire, but has defended the position of former Toffees striker Sharp around whom criticism has reportedly caused “revulsion” at the club [Daily Mail, 19 May].
On whether he expects the board make up to be altered this summer the Sky Sports pundit exclusively told Goodison News: “I would think so. I would think there would be a reshuffle, a change.
“I think some of the board members may be getting a tough time, ie Graeme Sharp, because he’s been a player, he’s been on that pitch.
“The fact is that he gets to represent a lot of the fans really, ex-players and fans, on the board. There’s only so much he can do.
“I don’t know what people expect him to do, but there’s other people there, you know the names, who have come under severe scrutiny.
“I don’t think the fans are going to stop until they’re gone.
“Big decisions have to made at Everton, and if the investment is coming in the people investing are going to say, ‘If I’m going to invest the money I want to get off on the right foot, not the wrong foot’.
“So there’s decisions that have to be made at Everton, that’s for sure.
The arrival of MSP Sports Capital looks likely to be the catalyst for change in the boardroom that has been demanded for a long time by supporters.
Perhaps Sharp has been made guilty by association to those making the decisions that have led Everton down the wrong path in recent seasons, and maybe the tide of public opinion towards him can turn should Kenwright and company go.
He has currency with the fanbase from his exploits on the pitch that none of the other figures have, and was only appointed a year-and-a-half ago.
But of any 18-month period to be associated with Everton in recent memory the most recent is arguably the worst, so whether he can come out of the other side of an overhaul with his reputation in tact remains to be seen.