Bill Kenwright dies as tributes pour in for Everton chairman and theatre legend

Everton chairman Bill Kenwright has died at the age of 78, the club have confirmed. The long-serving chief of the Toffees and legendary theatre producer had been released from hospital earlier this month to recover from a prolonged stay in intensive care, having had a cancerous liver tumour removed in August.

The surgery was described by Everton at the time as ‘completely successful’, but complications kept Kenwright under observation for a number of weeks before he was allowed to continue the recovery process at home.

Kenwright revealed in 2015 that he had been diagnosed with a ‘chronic illness’ that would likely get worse over time. Born and brought up in Liverpool, he first became an Everton board member in the late 1980s. He was the club’s largest shareholder by 2004 and remained in his post as chairman for the next 19 years.

Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri agreed to sell his 94 per cent stake to American investment fund 777 Partners in September this year, and the club stated that Kenwright had been ‘working hard’ to facilitate the takeover.

Everton fans have held frequent protests in recent seasons due to poor performances on the pitch. Board members Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Grant Ingles and Graeme Sharp have all left the club since fans voiced their anger, but it was confirmed in June that Kenwright would continue as chairman.

The Merseyside club have released a heartfelt statement to mark his passing. Everton said: “Everton Football Club is in mourning following the death of Chairman Bill Kenwright CBE, who passed away peacefully last night aged 78, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

“Everton’s longest-serving chairman for more than a century, Bill Kenwright led the club through a period of unprecedented change in English football.

“A lifelong Evertonian, he became a board member on October 23, 1989, and then on Boxing Day 1999 his True Blue Holdings consortium acquired the club. Initially vice-chairman, he succeeded his close friend Sir Philip Carter as Chair in 2004.

“In his 19 seasons as Chairman, the Club secured 12 top-eight finishes, including a top-four finish in 2005, a run to the 2009 FA Cup final and European qualification on 6 separate occasions.

The club has lost a chairman, a leader, a friend, and an inspiration. The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Everton are with his partner Jenny Seagrove, his daughter Lucy Kenwright, grandchildren and everybody who knew and loved him.”

Kenwright made his name as an actor and one of the UK’s most revered theatre producers.

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Getting his big break as Gordon Clegg on Coronation Street in 1968, Kenwright left the show a year later to put his full focus into producing. He did, however, appear sporadically on the iconic soap until 2012.

Best known among theatre fans for productions such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kenwright also oversaw long-running West End production Blood Brothers, crediting the show’s success to composer William Russell.

“People ask me why Blood Brothers is the phenomenon that it is,” he said. “What is it about a musical that can play 23 years in the West End and at the same time week in, week out, bring audiences to their feet in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin?

“Lots of producers will tell you that about their shows, but with Blood Brothers it’s true, it’s absolutely true. It doesn’t have crashing chandeliers, it doesn’t have a helicopter, it doesn’t have a chorus line, and the only answer I can ever give to the question of why it is such a phenomenal success is – Willy Russell.”

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