Derek Hatton: EFC 'wrong' to ballot on move to Kirkby

Aug 15 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON’S board was wrong to allow a ballot among fans to decide on a move to Kirkby, former council politician Derek Hatton said last night.

The one-time deputy leader of Liverpool City Council during the controversial Militant era revealed he had voted in favour of the move.

Mr Hatton, a lifelong Evertonian, told the Daily Post: “I voted yes because I believe Everton urgently needs a new stadium, and the one proposed happens to be in Kirkby. If we do not vote to move, we will be stuck at Goodison Park at a time when Liverpool is moving to a brand new stadium.

“We just have to move forward, or face being left behind. We would be like a Vauxhall Conference club compared to the big teams in the Premiership.

“I do not think the board should have agreed to a ballot among fans because it has caused so much friction.

“People are passionate about the club and that is rightly so, but I was upset on Saturday when I saw fans fighting each other in heated arguments over the future of the club.

“The board should have had the courage to make the decision and then stand by it.”

Mr Hatton was at one time a community liaison officer for Knowsley council in Kirby.

“I do not have a problem with moving because the border is an imaginary line on a map.

“In 1972, a couple of men in pinstripe suits came to Liverpool from London and drew some lines on a map.

“We wanted Kirkby and Huyton to become part of Liverpool because the vast majority of people there were Scousers.

“Drawing the line that created Knowsley did not make them any less Liverpudlian.”

Fans are currently involved in a ballot process over the hugely controversial move to a 50,000-55,000 stadium in Kirkby.

The club has agreed to call off negotiations over the move if more than 50% of fans vote against the idea.