Editing Bill Kenwright (section)

===1994 buyout proposal===
Kenwright became involved in a consortium to buy Everton in 1994, as his consortium rivalled [[Birkenhead]]-based Peter Johnson. Kenwright's consortium had assurances from the Everton owner's family head [[Lady Grantchester]] that the Moores family would sell their stake in the club. Kenwright's proposal was dismissed as the "Manchester Consortium" in the ''[[Liverpool Echo]]'',<ref name="tfb" /> as the rivalry between [[Liverpool]] and [[Manchester]] was enough to deter supporters' support. Kenwright's consortium included Manchester-based Tom Cannon, Tony Tighe (who later went on to create the [[David France Collection|Everton Collection]]) and Mike Dyble, whilst building magnate Arthur Abercromby was Cheshire-based.<ref name="tfb" /> Abercromby offered a £2&nbsp;million interest-free loan to the club for the purchase of players.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-van-basten-out-of-world-cup-untimely-diagnosis-for-dutch-international-striker-1426969.html|title=Van basten out of World Cup|last=Shaw|first=Phil|date=4 March 1994|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=17 January 2010 | location=London}}</ref>

Kenwright, who had been a director at Everton for ten years, had an opportunity to sway the board members to accept his bid but chose not to because he did not want a public relations battle with the more affluent Johnson. Tighe, in an interview with a journalist [[David Conn]], said: "Bill didn't want a public row, that's why he didn't go to press much. He wanted the board to be unanimous. As he saw it, he didn't want Everton's name to be dragged through controversy."<ref name="tfb" /> Peter Johnson's bid was accepted by the Everton board. Johnson installed Kenwright (the half Belgian half English theatre impresario) as vice-chairman and Sir Philip Carter was re-instated as chairman.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}