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To those who do not know Everton chairman Bill Kenwright and Keith Wyness is currently intending to move Everton - Liverpool's first football club and Founding Members of the football League out of their home city. Did you know that Everton was the first club to have the famous Liver bird on it's crest?
The basic works of the deal is as follows. Supermarket Tesco would like to have a new store in Kirkby but are not allowed it because they would like to build on greenbelt land. The nearest supermarket is aprox 4 miles away so if they had a store there it would be very popular. They are only allowed to build on that land if they can regenerate the area. They see Everton and a regular 40-50,000 fans as a way of bringing in lots of money to the area and regenerating the area. Tesco have paid for feasibility studies and Knowsley Council (the council who own the greenbelt land) have said Everton can have the land for free as they will bring in much needed money to their constituency (the 4th poorest in the country). Everton are currently in 70 million worth of debt and the current board beleive that this is a good option for the club much to the dismay of many fans. Everton may need to plunge a further 80million into debt to move into a new stadium which is, essentially a larger version of Millwall's stadium on an out of town retail park like Bolton, Coventry and Reading's stadium.
On Wednesday, at the club's Annual General Meeting it was the first time that the fans (well shareholders) have had the chance to voice their disaproval of the scheme since it was announced last year.
Today, I have seen that Kenwright has spoke to a few newspapers about the events of the AGM and I feel I have to voice my concerns with the move.
This seems to have been overlooked by many newspapers. The problem is not SOLELY the location of the stadium in Kirkby that Evertonians are unhappy about! It is the manner in which it has been presented to the fans.
THE LOCAL PRESS SHUTOUT
We were given a ballot with the question "Should Everton Football Club relocate to Kirkby?". There was a complete shut out in the local press (a Trinity Mirror owned company) regarding alternative sites and plans (possibly(this word has been included for legal reasons!) because the Liverpool Echo also publish lucrative official Everton magazines). The Everton board told us that they will sponsor more trains, apply for a grant to develop the local train station so that it can take on a larger capcity and that they will have 5,000 car park places at the new stadium. None of this is true. See below for further details.
* The council leader was not able to have his comments on Everton leaving the city published. He had to resort to attending a seminar for a fan-made alternative stadium.
* Quotes were taken out of context from former players so that it read like they were in favour of the ground move.
* The Liverpool Echo published night renderings of the stadium when the ballot was produced with the staduim in full view when in reality you will never be able to see the stadium from that position as there is a retail store blocking the view.
The Liverpool Echo published this piece http://icliverpool.icnetwork.c....._page.html entitled 'Being sent to Coventry is a perfect experience". Everton currently have the highest dispersal rate of fans in the country with many fans walking to the home games as they live near by (aproximately 12% of season ticket holders live within walking distance from the stadium). In Kirkby only 3% of season tickets will be able to walk to the game (that's aproximately 750 people) so there is no need to move to a place where there is a motorway.
PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE PRESS
These are the original pictures that accompanied the ballot papers:
Three months later the 'real' renderings were released which included how the stadium will appear in reality - on a retail park in the outskirts of a town with a population 40,000 people - when it is a big game, Everton attendances are greater than that.
These are the new pictures that have recently been published:
Again, had the latter picture been used with the ballot papers, the outcome would have been different.
TRAFFIC PROBLEMS
* The MSCP (an existing town centre car park) has a capacity for 1000 cars, it has already been allocated to players, corporate, the board and match day employees.
* The Everton board want to have a park and ride scheme at Aintree Racecourse where people can park their cars and get on a mini bus to be taken to the stadium, the cost of this 'service' will be subsidised in the cost of ticket price - which inevitable will rise due to costs of new stadium.
* The nearby 3500 capcity retail car park will be just for retail only and football supporters will be fined at 'least £100' to deter supporters from parking there.
* There will be no improvement to the rail line at Kirkby. Cost for the improvement needed will be approx £25million, the NWDA (the corporation who were responsible for grant) cannot be justify spending that much for 19 occasions per annum. The most the station as it currently stands can cope with in one hour is 4000 spectators.
* The entire road system in Kirkby will be covered by a residents parking permit scheme to stop illegal parking.
* All cars (apart from shoppers, those using the MSCP and those with the residents permits) will not be allowed into Kirkby. The closest they will get are the industrial estates around the town. Spectators will then be bussed into the ground.
* The problem with attending football matches at the stadium is NOT before the match but AFTER the match. A recent survey concluded that everyone has to get to their cars within one hour, if its any longer and will not be enticed back as it is too much time wasting.
Now translating all the above and into how many busses will be needed to take everyone who has gone by car back to their cars is this.
Assuming 50000 capacity reached in any one game and includes 5000 away supporters (10% of capacity).
50000 capacity
minus 5000 away supporters (all arriving by coach)
minus 3500 corporate
sub total 41500 home supporters
minus 1245 local walk ups (3% projection local to Kirkby)
minus 4000 for the train
total 36255
Two journeys made by one bus in the hour after the final whistle:
36255/2 bus journeys/80 seater bus=227 bus journeys will be needed for each home game!
PRICING
The price of the proposed stadium has risen from "effectively free" to £80million in a matter of months. He once said it was the "deal of the century" and he changed that to "deal for the century" once the needed finances were made publically known.
Bill Kenwright has said that Plan B is the redevelopment Goodison Park. Had the ballot been "Should Everton Football Club relocate to Kirkby or redevelop Goodison Park?" There would have been a very different outcome.
If Everton move out of their home city, the fanbase will decrease - it stands to reason as it will not be synonymous with the city anymore. Unlike Coventry, Reading and Bolton (with whom our stadium has been compared) they have no city-rivals.
A supporters group has spoken to HOK the stadium designers who have worked on the like of Allianz Arena and Wembley and they are interested in building a new stadium for Everton, in Everton (a district of Liverpool near the city centre) but the the CEO is not prepared to listen to what's on the table.
Our CEO, Keith Wyness - the man who's idea this ground move is, has stated that he expects to lose 10,000 Evertonians if this move goes ahead but beleives that we will attract a greater number of fans who are existing Blackburn and Wigan fans because we will be closer to them.
Keith Wyness has also stated that Everton should move to Kirkby because it is the home of Z-Cars (the themesong which Everton run out to), should Watford also move to Kirkby as they also use the Z-Cars theme? It's a ridiculous state of affairs.
(Also I'd be very interested to hear Aberdeen fan's opinions of Wyness and their proposed ground move a few years ago)
The Everton Ground Move Thread 
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