The government’s rejection of Everton’s plans to move the club from Goodison Park to a stadium outside Liverpool, in Kirkby, is the best thing that could have happened for Everton FC and its supporters.
Financially speaking, the rejection of the Kirkby plans is a massive blow to Everton. The club has allegedly spent millions to pay consultants to champion the move. And the long-term financial implications are even greater as the club continues to suffer from not having modern matchday facilities to generate massive streams of money from corporations.
The reason why the Kirkby rejection is good news for Everton is because of fate. The blue half of Merseyside has a proud history which has been deeply intertwined with their rivals across the park at Anfield. In fact, Everton’s home used to be Anfield before a dispute forced the club to move down the road. The owner of Anfield then created Liverpool FC.
Even before Everton played at Goodison, Stanley Park was their home. The irony is that where Everton played is now near the site where Liverpool planned to build their new stadium.
The logical choice for both Everton and Liverpool is to build one world-class stadium that all of the people of Merseyside can be proud of. The two clubs aren’t as close as they once were, but it seems like fate that the two clubs should work together and create a legacy that will be remembered in the city for hundreds of years.
With the current economic crisis, it only makes sense from a financial perspective for both clubs to share a ground. In fact, just this morning Everton’s chief executive has said that Everton would consider a ground-sharing agreement with Liverpool. The ball is now in Liverpool’s court to make a wise choice and to realize that by the two clubs working together they’ll both benefit. The time is now. Let’s trust they’ll make the right decision.
Fittingly, Everton plays Liverpool in the Merseyside derby in the early Sunday kickoff at 1:30pm GMT/8:30am ET. The game will be shown on Setanta Sports in the United States.
