EVERTON’S NEW HOME IS 20-20 VISION ...NOW THEY NEED SAME IN THE BOARDROOM
THE last time I was on the banks of the River Mersey, it was to scatter my father’s ashes onto its murky waters.
Dad was a staunch Red, from the Billy Liddell days to the Mohamed Salah era.
He was also a docker for the entirety of his working life until Margaret Thatcher took an axe to the National Dock Labour Scheme and the decline of Liverpool’s port was accelerated.
Parts of the Dock Road – once the working-class soul of the city – became desolate, for decades.
Red or not, Dad would have been happy to see a stunning development that will help regenerate an area carrying so much historical significance.
I was back on the banks of the River Mersey – a stretch that will be the royal blue Mersey – to be given a tour of Everton Football Club’s new stadium.
Quite simply, Bramley Moore Dock’s £550million, 53,000-seater arena is one of the most significant architectural developments in Liverpool’s history.
Completed around this time next year, there will be test events and then all systems go for the start of the 2025-26 season.
Considering the draconian penalty dished out by an independent commission, there is no cast-iron guarantee of that being a Premier League season.
Not only is there the 10-point deduction, but Farhad Moshiri wants to sell.
And the only declared interest has come from US investment firm 777, who have interests in several clubs, one of which, Girona, is said to be in severe financial difficulty.
One thing is for sure, the mismanagement and shocking recruitment over the past few years cannot go on.
There has to be the same clear-sighted vision on football matters as there obviously has been on the stadium project.
Whoever owns the club will be getting a home with huge commercial potential.
Seventy-five percent of the hospitality packages have already been reserved – and hotels and restaurants are already planning their developments in the vicinity.
Naming rights for the stadium is a sore point, but there should be little trouble in securing them when completion is close.
Unsurprisingly, the architecture is impressive, the steepest legally-permitted stands achieving the combination enjoyed by those who go to, for example, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – vastness and intimacy.
You will be right on top of the action, wherever you are. Trust me. There will be a tunnel club, Etihad Stadium-style, a fan park in front of the entrance that will be able to host events in its own right and there is a huge panoramic bar area in the Southern Stand concourse, with stunning views that follow the Mersey back to the Liver Building.
And that is surely the special selling point of this stadium… its location.
On the river, a 20-minute walk from town, a city’s second great stadium.
An ex-docker – even a Red ex-docker – would approve.