Everton fan pranks GB News with ‘Bill Kenwright’ message amid ownership protests

An Everton fan has pranked GB News following more protests against The Toffees’ ownership at the weekend. The TV channel has a news section called ‘Unfiltered Dilemmas’ and allows people to write in to get advice - though they clearly weren’t expecting to be on the end of a football-related joke.

GB News presenter, Andrew Doyle, hosted the show and read out a message from ‘Bill’ in Liverpool that said: “I’ve been in charge of my company for almost 30 years. Almost everyone wants me to leave, but I’ve told them they’ve had good times with me and I should stay in the job. What should I do?”

While Doyle and his fellow hosts go onto try and advise the struggling ‘Bill’, football fans took to social media to laugh at the suspected prank this morning. Having become the largest stakeholder at Everton in 2004, it was assumed that the prankster was pretending to be the Toffees owner addressing the current drama around the club’s poor ownership.

The GB News broadcast followed on from Everton’s 2-1 defeat to Southampton at Goodison Park, where protests were held against Bill Kenwright and the Everton board inside and outside the stadium. Thousands of supporters remained in the ground after full-time in a peaceful demonstration with banners that displayed messages such as ‘Kenwright & Co, it’s time to go’ and ‘back the team, sack the regime’. Meanwhile, other fans spilled out onto the streets around Goodison Park to protest, with some spotted speaking with centre-back Yerry Mina and also approaching Ellis Simms’ car as he tried to leave the stadium’s car park.

The protests were met by lines of police officers and came as no surprise to Everton’s board, who were already told not to attend the match over ‘real and credible threat to their safety’. A statement made by the football club read: “Chairman Bill Kenwright, CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief finance and strategy officer Grant Ingles and non-executive director Graeme Sharp have reluctantly accepted the outcome of the safety assessment carried out by security advisors. The board members received the instruction following malicious and unacceptably threatening correspondence received by the club and increasing incidents of anti-social behaviour - including targeted physical aggression - at recent home matches.”

The directors’ decision to stay away from Goodison Park for Sunday’s match came after Barrett-Baxendale was reportedly ‘put in a headlock’ as she left the ground last week, while Kenwright is said to have received death threats.

Everton currently sit 19th in the Premier League table after failing to win a match since their 3-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace in October. Frank Lampard’s side will take on West Ham at the weekend, which could see them move out of the relegation zone.