Paul Gregg laments failure of 'flagship' Kings Dock stadium

Former Everton director, Paul Gregg, has been giving his side of the story of Everton’s doomed Kings Dock project, 20 years after it collapsed, which left the Club to eventually seek other options to resolve their long-standing stadium issue. 

Peter Johnson had been the first chairman to put together a serious proposal to relocate the Blues from their historic home at Goodison Park but his plan in the late 1990s to build a new purpose-built ground, first in Aintree and then at Cronton Colliery, never got past the conceptual phase.

After ex-Chairman, Bill Kenwright, purchased Johnson’s stake in 1999 with the help of Gregg and his wife Anita, Everton next set their sights on an impressive-looking stadium on the banks of the Mersey at the Kings Dock but the idea foundered on a lack of funding and the site was eventually filled by the Echo Arena.

According to Gregg, the plan ultimately failed because Kenwright was insistent that Everton owned the stadium outright and when the cost of the Club’s share of the project proved prohibitive, the only avenue left was a 125-year lease from Liverpool City Council.  

Speaking on TalkSport with Majestic and Alan Pardew last night to promote his recently-published memoir, Gregg was asked what he remembered most about his time at the Club. 

“I think the thing I regret the most is losing and no Evertonian wants to lose,” he said. “And we lost the stadium. I think the stadium is one thing that could have saved Everton and put them in the right position to compete.

Asked why a project that had the potential to put Everton’s home ground in the heart of the city’s famed waterfront failed, Gregg replied: 

“Because Bill said, ‘no’. And the thing that we had spent 2 ½ years with the Council and the [North West] Development Trust… the Government had put half a billion pounds into Liverpool for redevelopment and we’d persuaded the Council that they should build a multi-purpose stadium that had a roof on it … so we could have [staged] concerts all year round and still played football.

Gregg was then asked what the reasons were behind Kenwright not wanting to proceed with the project.

“He said he wanted to own the [stadium]*,” said the now 82-year-old founder of Apollo Leisure Group. “What happened was, we had a meeting with Bill and his advisor at the time … who said to him he should get on with borrowing another 30 million quid to pay Everton’s share of the stadium.

“On the Tuesday, he said he’d support it and then on the Thursday he told the AGM he wasn’t going to take secondary funding, which was news to me. I wanted to kill him, to be honest.

“The good news was, I rang David Henshaw, who was the chief executive of Liverpool City Council, and I said, ‘David, you’re not going to believe this: he’s turned down the funding. He doesn’t want to do it’.

"And David said, ‘Don’t worry, we desperately need it. We want it for the City and we want to get on with it. We’ll put the money in, you just lease it off us’.

“So, I rang Bill, and I said, ‘Look, the Council are prepared to fund it completely and the deal is 125 years, 10%’. I said, ‘Why don’t you want to take it – it’s right in the middle of Liverpool. Everybody going into the City centre, whether they’re an Evertonian, a Liverpudlian or anybody, is going to see that stadium. It’s going to be a fantastic flagship’.”

The collapse of the Kings Dock despite a more complicated reverse mortgage-style arrangement proposed by Gregg led to him falling out with Kenwright and later selling his shares to Robert Earl. Everton, under the direction of Earl and retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, turned their attentions to Destination Kirkby and plans to build a new stadium in neighbouring Knowsley.

That project was called in by the government and after briefly considering Walton Hall Park, the Club was finally able to purchase land at Bramley-Moore Dock where the 52,000+ Everton Stadium is due for completion late this year.

* Editor's note: During the interview, Mr Gregg says of Mr Kenwright: "He said he wanted to own the club." It is ToffeeWeb's interpretation that he meant to say "the stadium".

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April update

Paul Gregg was interviewed by John Blaine for ToffeeTV where he discusses his time at Everton:

Quotes sourced from TalkSport – The Final Word

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