Sharing Liverpool's New Stadium

Follow the development of Everton's latest  and most controversial initiative to upgrade their facilities

STORY SO FAR...

• A high-level Meeting with Dick Caborn? — December 2004
• Snippets from the ToffeeWeb Diary — Sept 03 to Jul 04
• Lyndon Lloyd reviews the options — September 2003
• A First Response from Lyndon Lloyd  — April 2001
• Early thoughts from Professor Harding  — April 2001

HIGH-LEVEL MEETING

To demonstrate how low we may be forced to go, thanks to 10 years of incompetence and ineptitude by the board, here's the latest on the gradual demise of our club as an equal on Merseyside. Bullshit and Buster are due to have a meeting at the House of Commons on Wednesday the 1st December along with Rick Parry (don't know if Freddy Boswell is due to attend, although I doubt it as unlike Buster, Parry has the full confidence of his chairman, who is not a control freak). The meeting is to be chaired by the Minister for Sport Dick Caborn and also in attendance will be Bryan Gray, the Chair of the North West Regional Development Agency.  The subject on the table will be a joint stadium for both clubs, the site is Liverpool's Stanley Park project and the meeting is an attempt by all the other parties into browbeating Rick Parry into conceding thzat it should be a joint stadium for both EFC and LFC. Bryan Gray and Dick Caborn are both in favour of a joint stadium project and are 4 square behind the sharing option. Bullshit and Buster have already privately conceded that this is the only option for EFC even though it will mean an 80/20 ownership split and that the major obstacle is Rick Parry and LFC.

Unsurprisingly Parry is opposed in principle to EFC sharing LFC's own project which they have nurtured alone but is also concerned that EFC will not be able to deliver on their financial commitments (£25 mill?) if the project goes ahead. I wonder why he thinks that?

So, boys and girls you might have to get ready to walk down Bill Shankley Way, to the Bob Paisly Stand, to have a BSE burger at the Emlyn Hughes Burger Bar whilst taking a piss in the Tommy Smith disabled toilet before watching our team in what will clearly be 'their' stadium.

ps:  The meeting was actually scheduled for yesterday, 18 November 2004 but had to be cancelled.  Guess who couldn't get their act together to attend yesterday?

pps:  After repeated posting on The People's Forum, this finally found the mainstream media at The Guardian on 26 November 2004, only for a denial to be issued by Liverpool via the BBC. 

LIVERPOOL SAY NO

Council Leader wants sharing
16 Jul 2004 - Mike Storey, leader of Liverpool City Council, made it very clear where he stands with regard to the need for Everton and Liverpool to build a shared stadium. But Liverpool FC moved quickly to make it very clear they have no interest in sharing with Everton and want to press ahead with their current plans for the new Anfield.

Ground share a last resort
3 Jun 2004 - The national media has run away with the idea that Trevor Birch's comments regarding Everton's need for a new stadium are confirmation that he is in favour of ground sharing with Liverpool. In fact, the new CEO said that such a move would be a "last resort," but don't let that get in the way of a good story, eh.

Economist says we should share
2 Jun 2004 - With new Everton CEO Trevor Birch making early noises about ground sharing, Liverpool University Economist Peter Stoney has prepared a report detailing the economic benefits of a central docklands stadium for Liverpool FC that would be an even better proposition (financially) if shared with Everton.

Hidden Agenda?
26 Nov 2003 - One Everton fan who is also a journalist has been concerned about a piece he read recently in the latest issue of The Evertonian.  It seemed innocuous enough: Michael Dunford confirming that talks had taken place on the touchy subject of a sharing a ground with Liverpool FC.  We reported last week that Everton had probably missed the boat and LFC weren't interested.  But Martin Fricker is not so sure: he sees reasons to suspect a different ending to this particular saga...

New Anfield not for sharing
8 Oct 2003 - Plans submitted for the Reds' new Anfield stadium would appear to shut the door on any further nonsense about stadium sharing .

Money is the lever
23 Sep 2003 - Liverpool City Council are using a £30M carrot to persuade both city football clubs to consider sharing Liverpool's planned new stadium.

Liverpool will rebuff groundsharing
19 Sep 2003 - With Liverpool's plans for a new stadium in an advanced stage, it is claimed that they will be saying no to any consideration of groundsharing with Everton.

Groundshare push from on high
18 Sep 2003 - Liverpool City Council are now wading in to the groundsharing issue, urging both Everton and Liverpool to attend preliminary talks to discuss the issue.  And the carrot offered by the Council is the liklihood of substantial public funds (ring-fenced, no doubt) being available for such a development. Meanwhile, ToffeeWeb takes a look at the pros and cons of this emotive issue. Could the two clubs ever enter such a project as equal partners, either financially or politically?
Could you stomach ground-sharing with the dark side?

Groundshare?
6 Sep 2003 - The previously untenable idea of Everton and Liverpool sharing a ground has been highlighted by accountants PKF and the NWDA.