Everton ‘must move to Kirkby’

Jul 17 2007 by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

See Jessica Shaughnessy's exclusive video interview to Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, here.

EVERTON FC chief executive Keith Wyness last night described the offer on the table for the club to move to Kirkby as the “deal of the century”.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Post, Mr Wyness urged supporters to back the contro-versial move to Knowsley as the club confirmed details of a ballot of more than 33,000 supporters to canvass opinion.

Mr Wyness revealed:

• Tesco will contribute £50m to the new stadium on land contributed by Knowsley Council in a deal which will leave it with minimal debts.

• Increased revenue from the new stadium will mean manager David Moyes will have up to £10m a year extra to spend on players.

• The new stadium could be up and running as early as 2010.

• If the move does not go ahead, there is no Plan B and there are fears Goodison Park will not be fit for purpose in 10 years.

Mr Wyness spoke about the impact of the plans after it was confirmed that around 33,000 current and recent season ticket holders, shareholders and members of the club’s official fan club, Evertonia, can vote in the ballot, which will be run with the help of the Electoral Reform Society.

Mr Wyness said: “Emotions will be running very high on this issue and I understand that.

“As much as it would pain them to do it, fans will realise it is the only way forward to the future. The Evertonians are very reasonable. It is an amazing deal, the deal of the century. If the heart rules the head, we will never get an opportunity like this again.”

The new stadium will be traditional in style, eschewing the modern bowl-style arenas to deliver instead a distinct four-sided ground.

Architects are believed to have loosely based their designs on Cologne’s World Cup stadium, with Mr Wyness saying the club is keen “for people to have the identity of saying what end of the ground they sit in”.

The land in Kirkby is currently regarded as worthless, but with planning permission for a Tesco store and shopping complex, which will be half the size of the Trafford Centre, the value will rocket to £50m.

The supermarket giant will pay that price to Knowsley Council and the money will be made as a contribution towards the cost of the stadium.

Tesco’s contractor, a firm which builds all of its stores and has also worked on a number of British football stadiums, will then be called in.

It is hoped Tesco will then be able to cash in its loyalty points and a new stadium, worth up to £75m, will be built for the bargain price of £50m.

This means the club will be left with probably only the costs of the internal stadium fit-out, which could be as low as £10m.

Mr Wyness said he could not put an accurate figure on the overall costs of the project.

But the financial burden on the club will be further reduced by selling the naming rights to the stadium and the sale of Goodison Park, which is worth about £15m.

Mr Wyness added: “There is no other site that we have found that will involve the same level of contribution.

“We will be left with very little debt at the end of it. The deal compares very favourably with other clubs building new stadiums. We will be getting a very nice stadium for a small amount of money.”

IMAGES of the new design will be released later this week, and fans can expect a traditional looking stadium with four stands.

Mr Wyness insisted that the cost of the stadium, which will have a capacity of between 50,000 and 55,000, will have no impact on the team. He said: “The money to build the stadium is completely different to the money that goes on the team. This is bricks and mortar.

“But the extra revenue brought in from the new stadium will enable us to better compete on the pitch. It means that there will be more money flowing back to the manager, something in the region of £10m a year.”

The result of the ballot will not be totally binding on the club, as the board will have the final say, though Mr Wyness admitted it would be difficult to go against an overwhelming majority.

But the future looks bleak if for any reason it is forced to remain at Goodison, which has been its home since 1892, with it understood the club may not be able to secure safety certificates for parts of the ground in 10 years’ time.

Mr Wyness said: “There is a long way to go. If the fans vote in favour, which I am confident they will, we still have to go through the planning stages.

“There are potential for delays, but if everything goes smoothly, we could be ready by 2010.

“If we have to carry on at Goodison, there will be serious issues.

“Attendance numbers will go down and then revenue will go down and when that happens, you can’t compete. There is no Plan B. There is no other option.”

Fans will be asked to review the plans in detail before they vote in the ballot in the first week of August with the results due later that month.

THEY will be shown transportation plans, to reassure them that Kirkby is the right location.

Mr Wyness added: “We are trying to be as inclusive and open as possible. The fans are a very important part of the process.”

The board will choose the question the fans will vote on, with the help of the Electoral Reform Society. But last night, Dave Kelly, spokesman for Keep Everton In Our City, said the campaign group was becoming “increasingly concerned” with the club’s ballot plans and was appealing for every match-going supporter to be able to vote.

He said: “We believe that anybody who is a match-going Everton supporter should be able to take part in the ballot, simple as that.

“Supporters of the so-called People’s Club should not be disenfranchised.”

KEIOC say they are scheduled to meet with Everton chairman Bill Kenwright in London on Thursday for an agenda they expected to include the ballot.

Mr Kelly added: “He said he will put six or seven hours aside to discuss the ground move and the ballot, so I am shocked at their announcement.

“We had assurances it would be the first of a series of meetings to discuss any fears and seek our input.

“Now they are saying they will enter into no further negotiations now they are in the ballot process.

“They gave us assurance there would be a consultation on this.

“Now the people of Kirkby are going to have a consultation but no ballot, and Everton supporters are going to have a ballot but no consultation.”

A SPOKESPERSON for Knowsley Council said: “Everton’s move to ballot their fans marks a further phase in the consultation on the possibility of Kirkby becoming the new location for the football club. It is critical that the opinions of Everton fans are known alongside the views of our own community.

“Thousands of Kirkby residents and businesses have already had their say on how they want to see their town centre developed through a series of consultation events including a two-day community consultation drop in, which was followed up with a postal questionnaire to every household in Kirkby, neighbourhood meetings, meetings with businesses and a road show.

“We asked anyone with an interest in Kirkby to tell us what improvements they want to see made to their town centre.

“The results are being independently analysed and will be published in August.”

Stay here, urges true-Blue council chief

EVERTON can be sure of at least one season ticket holder voting against the proposed move away from Goodison – Liverpool council leader Warren Bradley, right.

The committed Evertonian is determined he will not be the man in charge of Liverpool town hall as Everton disappear down the road to Knowsley.

Last night, he told the Daily Post he was determined to provide a viable alternative to keep the club within Liverpool’s city boundaries.

Cllr Bradley said: “The difficult thing for us has been the exclusivity period between Everton, Knowsley and Tesco which means we have not been able to have formal talks with them.

“I have spoken to Terry Leahy (Tesco chief executive) about the sites we have identified as possible new homes for Everton and the fact that there is no reason Tesco could not build their store there either.

“We have done more work on the sites and there are now more than two we have identified.”

Cllr Bradley believes the exact nature of the question asked of Everton fans will be crucial.

“If they ask ‘would you like a brand-new stadium with all the bells and whistles on’ then people will vote yes. But if it’s a fair question about whether fans want to leave Liverpool to go to Knowsley then I think the vast majority will answer no.

“I don’t see why Everton and Liverpool City Council cannot come forward with a stadium in this city. I wish we could get round the table and talk about it. What I’m not prepared to do is put a huge piece of land up and cost Liverpool council taxpayers £50m. That’s not the way forward.

“As an Evertonian, and leader of the council, I don’t want to see one of the city’s oldest businesses leaving.”

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See Jessica Shaughnessy's exclusive video interview to Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, here.

jessicashaughnessy@dailypost.co.uk