Sam Allardyce has branded the growing number of foodbanks in Britain a national disgrace after visiting one in his role as Everton manager this week.
Allardyce, together with his assistant Sammy Lee, donated food on behalf of the club to the North Liverpool foodbank on Thursday. Supporters of Everton and Liverpool have held regular collections for the facility, one of 428 operated within the Trussell Trust Network, having set up the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative. Three wards surrounding Goodison Park are among the poorest in Europe, with up to 42% of families living under the Living Wage Foundation’s poverty line.
Allardyce was asked at a press conference to preview Saturday’s Premier League game against Chelsea how well he had settled into the job and the club’s community work. It seemed an innocuous question, aimed at highlighting Everton’s annual Christmas visit to Alder Hey children’s hospital that had taken place before the management team visited the food bank. His reply, however, brimmed with anger at the increasing reliance on food banks in the United Kingdom.
After praising the patients, parents and staff at Alder Hey, he said: “It’s extremely depressing that a country of this magnitude, and where it thinks it lies in itself, can allow so many foodbanks to be operating in this country.
“But for the goodwill of the Liverpool people, and the fans have a big say in the food bank that we went to – to donate food for people less fortunate than ourselves, it is going back to the dark ages to allow that to continue. And it’s not only continuing, it is growing at a rapid pace where people who are in work, not just on benefits, can’t afford to live at a decent level and have to go to foodbanks to feed themselves and their children.
“I think it’s incredibly sad that a country like ours has allowed that to happen and will continue to allow that to happen. I think it’s a disgrace, apart from the people who work in them. They are out of this world, absolutely top-drawer.”
According to The Trussell Trust’s latest statistics, 586,907 three-day emergency food supplies were given out between 1 April and 30 September this year – a rise of 67,565 on the same period last year – with 208,956 going to children. The North Liverpool Foodbank helps more than 250 people each week.
Allardyce has confirmed he has money to spend on a striker in January, with Everton’s latest accounts also revealing a £150m loan from major shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Allardyce has spoken regularly of trimming what he considers a bloated squad but said on Friday that is dictated by the need for players to play rather than to generate funds for signings. He said he would be looking for only two additions: a goalscorer and a full-back.
“I know there is money available to spend on the right player, if they are available,” he said. “I also know the squad is very big. I don’t think a decision can be made on that unless two things happen. One – the player says he wants to leave. Or two – a club comes to us for that player and makes an offer that you can accept.”
Allardyce is interested in Sevilla’s midfielder Steven N’Zonzi, whom he signed for Blackburn Rovers in 2009, but insists Everton’s squad is overloaded with central midfielders. He could be in the market for midfielders if others move on.
He added: “I would be very interested in Steven but if you look at how many midfielders there are at the football club, then it is impossible for me to block that up even more by bringing in someone when we would be better served in other areas, that is another goalscorer and maybe another full-back. After that who knows? I wouldn’t envisage us getting more than two in. I don’t think we need more than two. I don’t even think we could find more than two in January.”
Allardyce spoke before the publication of Everton’s accounts for 2016-17, which revealed a record turnover of £171.3m and a record post-tax profit of £30.6m. The first year of the new broadcasting deal mainly accounted for the improved figures, as well as a seventh-place finish in the Premier League under Ronald Koeman, and includes the signings of Yannick Bolasie, Morgan Schneiderlin, Ashley Williams, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman.
The accounts also reveal that Moshiri loaned £105m to Everton in the financial year, without a fixed repayment date, and that has increased to £150m since the year-end. The loan was used to repay long-term debt and short-term loans, which had cost the club £2.8m per annum in interest and finance charges, invest in the playing squad and make capital improvements to Goodison Park.