An external image of what Everton's new stadium could look like
A GROUP of renegade Everton FC shareholders want to call a vote of no confidence in the club’s board of directors at a second Extraordinary General Meeting.
The shareholders have already managed to force an EGM tomorrow night to discuss the proposed move to Kirkby.
But shareholder and quantity surveyor Mark Grayson feels more than 300 disgruntled shareholders will be ignored by the club’s bigger hitters tomorrow.
Now he is threatening to keep calling EGMs until his point is made, a move the club last night condemned as “expensive and ineffective”.
Mr Grayson said: “We had a meeting with the acting chief executive, Robert Elstone, on August 14 to discuss the protocol to be observed on the night of the EGM. We were concerned by the club’s reluctance to offer shareholders a show of hands vote to formally approve or reject the Kirkby proposals now that facts relating to the ground move are known.
“The club has made it clear there will not be a formal show of hands, but a poll vote meaning the major shareholders will be able to override the wishes of the 1,500 or so minor shareholders should they disagree on the merits of the Kirkby scheme.”
Mr Elstone also ruled out any discussion of items not on the proposed agenda, meaning disgruntled shareholders believe their concerns will not get a full airing.
Mr Grayson said: “What we want is to have a fresh vote for the fans as we had last December, but that has been dismissed out of hand.
“Mr Elstone has said that questions from the floor in relation to other related issues such as investment, transfers and the like will be out of bounds on the night.”
As a result, he has put in a second requisition for a follow-on EGM to propose a vote of no confidence and indicated that more meetings could be called.
He added: “We are going to keep going through the motions and will keep at it until the views of the majority of the shareholders are listened to.”
However, Everton’s spokesman Ian Ross, said the EGMs were expensive and ineffective.
He said: “It’s highly expensive and uses a lot of man hours to hold these meetings.
“It easily runs into several thousand pounds.
“As for the prospect of ongoing EGMs, as has been suggested, I think it’s a little premature to discuss a second EGM before the first has even taken place.”
Should further EGMs be called, Everton could adopt a tactic employed by other Premier League clubs which have named the time and place of successive EGMs by calling them at inconvenient places at anti-social hours.
Everton and Tesco’s £400m plans to build a superstore and stadium in Kirkby will go to public inquiry to be held in the town on November 18.
A final decision from Whitehall may not be reached until as late as July next year.
