Everton's new home? Move from Goodison to £350m stadium on banks of Mersey edges closer after 125 years at Goodison Park
- Everton hope to build new £350m stadium on Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool
- The Toffees are now being backed by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri
- Mayor Joe Anderson is confident Everton can secure the move to the Docks
- US architect Dan Meis has been commissioned to design the new ground
- Everton have played at the current home Goodison Park since 1892
In its heyday, the Bramley Moore pub opposite the dock that shares its name used to be swamped by dozens of thirsty workers. If Everton’s dream of a £350million new stadium at the same site is realised, those boom times could return.
Decades of decline have hit the area and those halcyon days are a distant memory, with the famously long bar cut in half to allow space for a kitchen.
‘We might have to bring the long bar back,’ the landlady’s daughter says as she serves the one fluorescent-jacketed lunchtime punter in the place.
+9
Everton are hopeful of securing a move to Bramley Moore Docks on the city's waterfront
+9
The Toffees are planning to build a brand new £350million stadium at the site in Liverpool
+9
Locals could soon be welcoming thousands of Everton supporters to 'The Bramley Moore'
‘It’s all anyone is talking about and it would be good for business!’
While the club, who have been at historic Goodison Park since 1892, are reluctant to comment given previous botched attempts to move, in January it emerged that this site, just north of the city on the banks of the River Mersey, was their preferred option.
The wheels are in motion. US architect Dan Meis, whose new Colosseum-inspired Stadio della Roma on the banks of the Tiber is set to open in 2019, has been commissioned. A capacity of 52,000 has been mentioned.
One year after the arrival of Farhad Moshiri and his billions, the positive noises are being made about the money being there to make the dream a reality.
+9
Blues fans are hopeful they will secure a move to the city - to the ency of Liverpool supporters
+9
The move is growing nearer thanks to backing from majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri
+9
Earlier this week, chief executive Robert Elstone said he was confident funding would not be an issue to complement Moshiri’s investment. This is a sliding doors moment in Everton’s distinguished and proud history. Everything is in place. Should Barcelona keep their hands off him, the club have a forward thinking, bright manager in Ronald Koeman.
Slowly, they are strengthening their squad, with recent interest in Wayne Rooney a statement of intent. At Finch Farm, the club’s newly-sponsored training ground, substantial building work is taking place. There are rumours of a stadium announcement later this month.
For one remaining docker, an Evertonian enjoying a crafty pint who (for obvious reasons) did not wish to be named, it is simple.
‘This is our city,’ he tells me. ‘What better way to show that than by moving here, on the banks of the Mersey – closer to the city than that other lot?’
+9
Everton have played at Goodison Park since 1892 but are now looking to move grounds
+9
One Everton fan told Sportsmail: ‘This is our city. What better way to show that than by moving here (to Bramley Moore Dock)'
Over at the town hall Mayor Joe Anderson OBE, who once delivered lemonade to the childhood home of a certain Joe Royle, shares the optimism.
The lifelong Evertonian agrees that a new stadium is key to the club gatecrashing English football’s elite. ‘Everton are going through a revolution off and on the pitch,’ he explains. ‘Their ambition is to break into that top six group of clubs and compete with the best - again. A new stadium is a key part of realising that ambition.’
Evertonians are wary of talks of new homes by the waterfront following the 2003 collapse of the King’s Dock project when Everton failed to raise their £30m share of the cost. Further letdowns in Kirkby and at Walton Hall Park followed. A backup for Bramley Moore is at Stonebridge Cross in Croxteth.
But 59-year-old Mayor Anderson, who has already said he thinks Everton will have a new stadium within three years, believes supporters have every right to be optimistic this time.
+9
Mayor Joe Anderson (centre) is optimistic the blue half of Merseyside will secure the switch
‘The club have never been in as a good a position since the Premier League was formed as they are in today,’ he says. ‘Mr Moshiri is transforming how Everton operates as a club and as a business. The fans have every right to be excited.
‘We know how such a development can act as a catalyst for regeneration. We will provide as much support as we can, as we did with Liverpool when they looked to rebuild their main stand.
‘The new Anfield gave us a platform to look at the wider regeneration of the community and that is exactly what we have done, with new homes, a new high street and very soon a new hotel. Everton’s new stadium has arguably greater potential in its impact to regenerate what is a key part of North Liverpool.’
Back in the pub, the docker is finishing up. ‘All my life we have been in the shadow of Liverpool,’ he says. ‘They’d be gutted if we came here. It’s time for them to be envious of us.’
RELATED ARTICLES
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-350m-stadium-edges-closer.html#ixzz4aD9NK8Aa
Follow us:
@MailOnline on Twitter |
DailyMail on Facebook
