Anfield, of all places, was not only the setting for the final Everton game of Bill Kenwright’s time on earth but where he represented the values of his beloved club and city magnificently 10 years earlier. A divisive figure as Everton chairman, no doubt, but what Kenwright epitomised on that clear April day has been lost to the Premier League, Everton included, and both are poorer for it.
Kenwright, who has died after a long illness aged 78, was addressing the Kop at the 24th Hillsborough Memorial Service on 15 April 2013. That an Everton chairman had been invited to give the keynote speech showed the esteem in which Kenwright was held by the bereaved families of those who died at Hillsborough. He enjoyed a lasting friendship with Margaret Aspinall, the tireless campaigner who lost her son James in the 1989 disaster and who would become a regular guest of Kenwright’s at Goodison Park.
