EFC Stadium design, Kirkby 12 _200
He revealed the full size of the financial pressures on the club. Net deb had risen from £19.5m three seasons ago to £36.7m.
He pointed out that the club’s directors had also tried to claw back money by making the most of the club’s former Bellefield training ground. But Patrick Clarkson, Everton and Tesco’s barrister, reminded the hearing that even this plan was subject to the planning appeal which concluded last week in Liverpool, with the result not yet known.
Mr Elstone’s assessment of Everton’s plight was compounded by the growth and success of its rivals, he said.
While Everton’s Premier League rivals had added 130,000 seats to their stadia and the average attendance had risen by 23%, Everton’s attendance figures had gone up by about 500.
Changing rooms, corporate hospitality – which Mr Clarkson termed “a tent in the car park”– disabled facilities, toilets and concourses were all massively sub-standard at Goodison Park. The proposed stadium would tackle all these issues and allow the club to attract a potentially lucrative naming deal for the ground, drawing in vital cash.
But it was not just the club that Mr Elstone said stood to benefit from the club’s move to Kirkby.
He said: “Premier League clubs can deliver additional place marketing and civic pride to their towns or cities. All aspects of the town have the potential to benefit from this exposure.”
But it was the impact of Everton in the Community on Kirkby that Mr Elstone spent longest on.
He underlined the importance to Kirkby of the club’s disability programme, study centre, Kickz initiative involving 8,500 youngsters, race and diversity strategy, schools programmes, soccer camps and women’s football work.
Today, these claims will be cross-examined by the raft of opponents to the club’s plans.
