Please don't take my Everton away

In August 2007, the Everton board dispatched over 35,000 ballot forms to fans to gauge opinion on whether Everton should relocate away from Goodison Park. The club told anyone that would listen that they were allowing the fans to make the choice and how they were the first club to do so. They failed to mention the inclusion of a glossy brochure highlighting the benefits of relocating to a new stadium and none of the detriments to deter fans from voting no to the proposed move. The ?Keep Everton in the City? (KEIOC ? pronounced ?key-ock?) campaign asked the club to include documentation that would allow fans to make a more informed vote, their request was declined.

David Prentice, the sports editor of the Liverpool Echo declared in vain that it wasn?t a vote, but in fact ?a decree?.

During the voting period, propaganda was released through the local media knocking the tragic tale of Madeline McCann off the front page telling chilling tales of how Goodison Park would fall down and would fail to obtain a safety certificate. Conversely the author of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds and Aston Villa fan Simon Inglis also had an article in the Liverpool Echo published advising Evertonians to demand proof that this was the case. His exact words were ?If I were an Everton fan, before signing up to the Kirkby proposals I would want to see clearly defined evidence that Goodison Park is no longer viable, and that all possible alternative sites within the city have been studied. If such evidence is not made publicly available then no supporter can hope to make a properly informed judgement.?.

Another story that was published in the Daily Post that Grosvenor were going to oppose a scheme that fans were putting together to build a stadium near the city centre with the help of the landowners, a world renown stadium specialist and the city council. The next day they printed a retraction as Liverpool One?s CEO had told them they would only object if it involved retail.

Even the media-friendly Professor Tom Cannon clambered to get in on the scaremongering act, telling us all how Everton could become the new Marine unless we move and how Tesco as a public company could put more money into a stadium development than a private company who own a concrete manufacturer and a bank!

The less said about Dominic King?s in the Liverpool Echo article citing the benefits of moving a stadium like the Ricoh Arena, the better.

The results of the vote were leaked to and announced by Sky Sports the night before they were officially released, which incidentally fell on Goodison Park?s 115th Anniversary. I still can?t decide whether the date was apt or ill-fitting. Some have claimed that this information was leaked to ?soften the blow? of Everton relocating to Knowsley.

I am from another neighbouring borough (Wirral) and have always considered Everton to be a Liverpool team. Those who live in Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley etc. consider Tranmere Rovers to be a Wirral team and those from farther a field consider Tranmere to be Liverpool?s third team largely because they do not where Birkenhead is. The chorus of ?Merseyside, Merseyside? from the 1989 FA Cup Final is more to do with a distaste for chanting for ?Liverpool, Liverpool? than anything else!

There has been a great division in the Evertonian family since the vote was announced, there are those who wish for Everton to stay within the city boundary and those who wish to see the club relocated to a neighbouring borough. All have differing reasons for basing their opinion on.

Those who want to remain in the city of the Liverpool are deemed ?luddites? and ?neanderthals? by those who wish for Everton to build a new stadium in Kirkby as part of the Tesco lead development called ?Destination Kirkby?. Likewise those who believe that relocating to Kirkby have been referred to as ?yes men? and ?sheep?. The relationship between the ?yes voters? and ?no voters? has not been helped by the presence of individuals employed by ?Destination Kirkby? project partners with the sole intention of repeating pro-relocation propaganda to the fans and residents of Kirkby.

As I type this, there are investigations involving a promotional Destination Kirkby ?once in a lifetime opportunity? DVD given to Kirkby residents two days before the local elections. There have been allegations made that the DVD was created to influence votes especially as the twp opposition parties to the current council are opposed to the plans and one of those parties was born out of opposition to the ?Destination Kirkby? plans.

Tesco and their construction partners Barr are now relatively experienced in the field of stadium developments; they have helped provide a stadium for Warrington Wolves, Coventry City and Wigan Athletic. The Everton stadium project is their biggest project to date, a search for the term ?Tesco stadium? on Google would confirm this as all results on the first page relate to the Everton project. I personally hope they have bitten off more than they can chew. At last count there were almost 4,000 objections to the scheme as a whole.

Kirkby is a new town; it is seven miles from Liverpool city centre and four miles as the crow flies from Goodison Park. It was formed under forty years ago as an overspill for residents who moved from their homes around the Scotland Road in the Everton district (near the city centre) through choice or otherwise. There is no question about it, Kirkby is a scouse heartland; the people in Kirkby speak with a stronger scouse accent than most residents within Liverpool?s city boundary. A scouse location does not mean it is a good location. There are other factors.

Providing Everton FC have the funds or at least a method to access the required funds to build a new stadium that the bulk of match going fans can easily and quickly travel to and it won?t endanger the club short or long-term then I have no problem leaving Goodison Park. The reason I started to support Everton in the first place was because Goodison Park was easier to travel to for me than Prenton Park despite being almost twice as far away from my home.

The questions should be along the lines of:

Can Kirkby cope with the demands of a 50,000 capacity stadium (the capacity is 8,000 more than the town?s population)?

Will the benefits of a newly built stadium in Kirkby over Goodison Park be worth the money spent on consultancy fees, construction costs and interest on loans?

According to the KEIOC website, the club?s Chief Executive has identified several problems with Goodison Park as it stands:

• 10% of the Stadium seating has an obstructed view if the goal area;
• Approximately 12,000 of the 40,000 seats (30%) have an obstructed view of the playing area.
• Poor Car Parking facilities within the vicinity of the stadium;
• There is no lateral movement within the stadium;
• Three sides of the stadium are on the public highway which equates to poor access and movement around the stadium;
• Lack of corporate facilities within all stands, and views of designated areas in the Main Stand;
• Lack of Executive Boxes and facilities, each corporate entertainment area is served by separate back of house facilities due to the piecemeal way in which it has been developed, which is inefficient;
• Poor press facilities;
• Poor facilities for team and coaching staff (Dressing rooms, Tunnel, Doping room, Interview areas, Players Lounge);
• Poor facilities for briefing/staff area for match day Stewards;
• No remote ticket collection point, the ticket collection point is too close to the Visiting Supporters collection point, on night matches this requires an added police presence;
• Small Concourse area, poor ground bar areas, poor toilet facilities; · The stadium structure needs constant maintenance, painting and roof repair work required annually;
• Poor facilities for the disabled;
• Poor TV / Press facilities, (Gantry, TV Commentary area, Press box, Sky Box, Interview areas, No Press Mixed Zone Area, Camera Positions);
• Lack of office space for the Administration Staff, staff detached from each other in different areas within the stadium and within the vicinity.
• Dugout area is small, with lack of space surrounding for overflow of staff, medical staff, press and players
• Poor Entertainment facilities

The bulk of the above problems can be fixed with one new stand and bizarrely some will still not be addressed if we do move to Kirkby. I?ve read that the houses and scrap yard behind the Bullens Road stand would cost less than £12million to purchase (providing the landlords wish to sell), why are the club not following this up? If they had followed this up and it wasn?t available they would have told us because it would have been another material consideration for them to put in the planning application.

If that land is acquired there really would be no stopping us at Goodison Park, especially with plans afoot to reopen the Bootle railway line. Goodison Park could have its very own railway station on Walton Lane (possibly in addition to the planned Spellow station).

How will fans get to a new stadium?

Are there good public transport links and easily accessible parking facilities readily available?

When Keith Wyness was at his hometown club Aberdeen, he made a reputation for himself as outspoken and bullish; he chastised the old firm teams. He once told Aberdeen fans that they had to relocate away from Pittodrie for safety reasons and that it would not be possible to host UEFA cup games there. This season Aberdeen hosted UEFA Cup games at Pittodrie against Dnipro, Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Copenhagen and Bayern Munich without incident. I can sense a growing trend.

Here at Everton, he is forging himself a reputation as a hypocritical businessman out of depth and out of sync with many fans.

• Hypocritical because he described the old firm teams as ?two old girls in Sauchiehall Street, raising their skirts to any league that walks past? yet vehemently supported plans to hold a 39th premier league game abroad to increase revenue.
• Out of his depth because he followed David Moyes? example in having an x-year plan for business targets and since September 2004 still has not reached any targets.
• Out of sync with fans because of his intentions to see a 39th premiership game introduced despite the majority not wanting it. The same can be said for the ground move.

The plans for the Kirkby project told of Knowsley Council?s intentions to remarket themselves as the home of Everton FC. This can only have calamitous consequences for the club as Liverpool as a city is a much bigger brand than Knowsley.

We need to seize this opportunity. Apparently, there is a sign at Liverpool Airport that reads ?Welcome to Liverpool ? home of Liverpool and the Beatles?. It would take one phone call from somebody at the club to have it amended if it is true. There needs to be a real presence of Everton FC in Liverpool regardless if we stay or not. We need to because you can be sure that Liverpool will be planning to do exactly the same especially if we move to Kirkby.

In my opinion the club should be doing all they can to really drive home that Everton are part of this city. There needs to be more maps and street signs indicating how to the stadium, how many of you have been at Lime Street station or in the city centre prior to a game to be asked by an away fan how do you get to Goodison Park? They shouldn?t have to ask, it should be obvious.

There should be streets named after former greats, both players and managers. There is already a university named after John Moores, why stop there?

At present Goodison Park and the nearby club shop are the only presence the club has in the city (Prince Ruperts Tower will remain in Everton although this is not managed by the club), the rest have all been relocated to Knowsley. We are slowly becoming a Knowsley club. Before your very eyes, we are becoming a Knowsley club.

The training academy has been moved from Bellefield to Finch Farm along with the academy from Netherton. The Everton in the Community charity are currently searching for suitable premises in Knowsley. The reserves currently play already play outside of the city at the Halton Stadium near Widnes and there are plans in place that would see them play their home games in Kirkby should the groundmove go ahead. There are strong rumours that the club are looking to open a coaching college on the former site of Cronton?s Colliery. Should the Kirkby project become a reality Everton will have no presence in Liverpool. I?ll repeat that, Everton will have no presence in Liverpool.

The ilk of Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers will be most envious of Everton because they are based in a prominent city that is known world wide and alarmingly the current custodians of the club are willing to throw it all away to build an out of town stadium, an idea first floated by Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco to help his company succeed in obtaining planning permission for a supermarket! This is not a reciprocal relationship, Everton are prepared to pay £78million plus interest in a stake for a stadium that is for Tesco?s benefit. It really is no wonder that Tesco can?t rush this through fast enough.

Everton FC should not be forced into a conurbation on the outskirts because the current custodians do not have either the vision or foresight to redevelop Goodison Park or the ability deliver a new stadium on their own that is easily accessible by a minimum 50,000 Evertonians.

As I have stated many times before, Everton is the city?s premier team. Everton are the currently the country?s fourth most successful team and fifth biggest no-matter what a perm-less Kevin Keegan has to say. They were founders of the football league, founders of the world famous Premier League, Everton are pioneers of the modern game, who introduced dugouts, under soil heating, kit numbers and multi-tier stands to the British game? The Black Watch, the School of Science, the Mersey Millionaires, Everton FC - That?s who!

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