Tense, Nervous Headache..?

Andy McNabb 05/08/2007 8comments  |  Jump to last
I can?t remember which painkiller was being advertised a few years ago with this statement but it certainly sums up my current mental state. The season is just around the corner, Cahill and Vaughan are crocked for the foreseeable future and I?m experiencing an uncomfortable bout of deja vous, with Newcastle appearing to hijack most of our proposed signings, as they did two years ago. As far as transfers go, it really has been a ?Winter of discontent...? (well, it is Winter here in Australia) but it?s the ground move which is really doing my head in.

More has been written about the proposed move than anything else I can remember and to be honest I am sick to death of reading about it... However, as one of the estimated 800,000 Evertonians around the world, I have a host of suspicions, questions and general observations which are causing me considerable angst.

I am not an expert in any of the necessary areas. I am not an architect or an accountant, a surveyor or an engineer. My job is to teach children to read and I do that on the other side of the world. I am not qualified to pontificate on the ground move but something about Kirkby and the whole idea of moving just doesn?t sit right.

Much of my disquiet is based on my experience of sport here in Australia. AFL or Aussie Rules is, in my opinion, a stupid game. It is basically WWF with a ball thrown in the middle. However, one thing they have worked out is how to make the competition fairer and more competitive. There are always going to be bigger and richer clubs but here they allocate the best new players on the basis of how weak you were the previous season! Now that?s a novelty! They also have salary caps and squad restrictions which are enforced. No, it isn?t perfect and at the end of the day, it is still Aussie Rules but it means that every team stands a chance at the start of the season and believe it or not, different teams win the Premiership!!!! It is not the same old boring procession of the top 4, year in, year out.

Surely it is not rocket science to admit that this sort of system is the only way in which we will regularly compete with Man Utd etc. Not possible to achieve? Well then, I can?t see any point in spending money on moving to Kirkby or the Loop simply for the sake of it because neither move will ever generate enough income to bring us into line with those clubs we aspire to beat. Wouldn?t it be better spent on improving the squad?

This business of ?He says, she says...? with just about the world and his wife seeming to disagree, has confused and perplexed me beyond belief and I really can?t see any ?Light at the end of the Tunnel? as one article recently advised. I wasn?t going to write anything but then I was reminded of ?A Man for all Seasons? where Robert Bolt tells us that silence means assent. I have to say again, that I am no expert but I would be interested to know how many of my misgivings were shared by other supporters:

  • I desperately want to trust Bill etc but those of us who are experienced enough have learnt to our cost that the ?high ups? can rarely be trusted. Sadly, becoming a ?high up? very often coincides with a trip to the hospital where they remove the parts of your brain which deal with integrity and morality.
  • The most used word in advertising is ?new?. I fear that this is the driving force behind a ground move. We have to do it simply because other clubs are doing it, rather than asking if it is a wise and profitable move for Everton
  • Don?t tell me Goodison cannot be redeveloped. Surely we can fit new toilets, improve the catering, remove all obstructed views and modernise for a fraction of the cost which a new ground move would involve.
  • Where will the extra supporters come from to ensure our team does not end up playing in front of a Blackburn or Wigan type atmosphere? Have these 14,000 people been written to and told that their attendance is vital to fill our 50,000-seater stadium?
  • Why were the artist?s impressions of Kirby all shown with the lights on? As a complete amateur when it comes to judging stadiums, I still felt I was being treated like a child on Christmas morning who has been given a cheap gift which doesn?t look anything like as good as the picture on the box.
  • Warren Bradley? He may as well be Warren Beattie for all the good it will do. It is too little, too late and even though he?s a Blue, he?s also a politician. They are genetically selected because in their case, the ?high ups? medical procedure is not even necessary.
  • Even those who feel that staying will mean stagnation. Can I ask you, if selling your soul to Tesco, or a Thai Prime Minister (oops, that can?t be good), sports club collectors from the States, or Icelandic biscuit manufacturers, is really progress?
  • Architecture is all about fashion. At the moment, a new stadium is the latest ?must have? accessory. Do you remember the 60s and 70s when all those awful old fireplaces etc were thrown in the nearest skip? Well blow me down if period features aren?t what sell houses these days!
  • I read this week that Goodison has one of the fastest dispersal rates of any ground in the Premiership. Is that not a good thing? We always parked as near to Walton Leisure Centre as possible. Whether thinking environmentally, or just enjoying the 20 minute walk amongst fellow Evertonians to the ground, it was all part of the matchday experience.
  • They say you don?t appreciate what you have until you lose it... Am I alone in thinking that the pictures of Liverpool?s new stadium simply look like a huge triumph for Bacofoil? I certainly know of Liverpool supporters who are appalled at what has happened morally, in the case of Stanley Park and who are also worried at the thought of moving into the giant oven, as shown on the new plans.
Do we really want to do that? I don?t have all the answers by any means but I honestly don?t feel I have been given practical, real-life, believable reasons for a change of this magnitude. When I look for guidance to the very Club I support, I am told that ?...there is no Plan B.? Thanks, Mr Wyness.

Tense, nervous headache? Does anyone have an asprin?

Reader Comments

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Anna Spencer
1   Posted 06/08/2007 at 13:17:58

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Andy, i share your worries! what the loop idea and re-development idea has done for me, is its shown me that every avenue has not been explored! they said Kirkby or nothing, yet there have been shown to be alternatives!

So this says to me that this ground issue is far from over, far from conclusive and far from being 100% looked into! and this tells me that Kirkby is what BK and KW want, not the average fan!

By the way, i was part of the Pro-kirkby move until last week, when my eyes where opened further! When i realised Kirkby isnt the only option we have if we are to move!

I do believe a move is needed within the next 5 or so years, when hopefully we will be a top 6 finisher year after year and so acquire more young new fans who will take that capacity up to 45-50 thousand!

I Hope No is the answer, then maybe this will force bills hand into looking at alternatives like re-developing goodison as you say, though im still unsure of this one. however in their defence what people say about how naf the plans are is unfair, they are just normal diehard evertonians who want the best for everton and who have bothered to "investigate" throw about ideas that EFC board havent, with limited money, resources etc, they cant produce fancy coloured, in the evening with lights on stadium pictures that EFC can, but in 2 weeks they have come up with 2 fairly viable options to our only choice "Kirkby"!
Ste Boileau
2   Posted 06/08/2007 at 14:44:10

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Its the costings of Kirkby that worry me, 35m has become 50m ish in 2 weeks. Stadiums are never built to budget so that could rise to 75-100m, what then? Lets sell more family silver to fund the move nobody really wanted?

The Goodison redevelopment looks viable, and im sick of people laughing at the images, just because they’re not coloured in or have spotlights on them. These are not artists impressions, they are CAD drawings and show more of the stadium then the sketch pad attempts. The analysis and the thinking behing the plans are a lot more in depth than anything we’ve seen from Everton. Its ok though, Tesco will probably take care of all that for us.

If there was absolutely no land in Liverpool and Goodison was falling down day by day then we could consider it, BUT we have other options available, I just dont understand why people still want to move.
Andy if you get any of them asprin, toss some of them over here mate.
steve c
3   Posted 06/08/2007 at 16:55:16

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It was Anadin - they should sell this instead of Everton Mints - I am sure at Goodison it would be a best seller.
mark-chester
4   Posted 06/08/2007 at 17:07:15

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I know this is not really the right thread but cannot find any other to post this, but apparantly Baines has a hamstring injury!

If we do get him, he will not bew available - source, quote in the sunday mirror.

That will suck!!!
mark-chester
5   Posted 06/08/2007 at 17:09:29

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Fact! - Chrius Hutchings has just said Baines is injured and he will bhe suprised if he plays for us against Wigan!!!

Fucking great news eh!
Ste Boileau
6   Posted 06/08/2007 at 17:26:37

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Sounds like another ’Gentlemans Agreement’ to me.
robert carney
7   Posted 06/08/2007 at 23:02:42

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Ann,glad you are aboard:
like many other people once the facts are out you have the nous to make your own mind about the proposals.
I know no-one from KEIOC or the independant lot but they have done a great job in such a short time in bringing many points to this debate.

Wyness I can understand in thinking we would buy this nonsense but Kenwright no.
Obviously he has buried his own thoughts in the advisors he has brought on board. Get back to thinking first as a sceptual scouser then as a true blue Bill before you lose all credibiltiy
Neil Pearse
8   Posted 07/08/2007 at 01:20:13

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Ste, I wouldn’t worry so much mate, really.

Think about it: one of the world’s premier retailing businesses, Tesco, are at the centre of a major redevelopment, which they have been studying for months, with the direct personal involvement of their Chief Executive.

Now, all major constructions projects can go wrong and can overrun on costs. But really, this is about as good as it gets.

Your point about the viability of the Goodison redevelopment is completely baffling to me. Just two questions: WHERE IS THE FUNDING COMING FROM? HOW WILL WE MAINTAIN REVENUES AS WE REBUILD?

Terry Leahy certainly wouldn’t put his company’s name to such a madcap scheme.


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