October 23
What price Liverpool United?

Despite their difficulties in moving away from their grounds at Goodison Park and Anfield, Everton and Liverpool refuse to consider a ground-sharing arrangement. Why? 

By David Charters/Liverpool Daily Post & Echo 

Nothing divides old-style Liverpool and Everton supporters faster than the suggestion that one day they may have to consider building a new stadium together.

The very word chills the blood of these stalwarts for whom separate development is treated as a commandment from above.

But does this make sense in an age when co-operation in other areas of life has often opened the way forward? 

Progressive fans, wanting the best for their teams in these money-led days, wonder why the two clubs can't share one ground.

After all, management and trade unions have entered pacts which have brought greater prosperity to many companies, huge regeneration projects in cities across the UK have been driven to success by a mixture of private and public cash, even the churches act as one for the general good of their communities.

And cross fertilisation is certainly not unknown in sport.

For example, Wigan Athletic Football Club and Wigan Warriors Rugby League Club share the custom-built, 25,000-seat JJB stadium in Robin Park.

Yet Everton and Liverpool spurn the idea of developing one ground, which could be a showpiece for the whole North West, despite the obvious cash advantages to both clubs.

Think of the money: Just building a stadium to the requirements of international football costs about £100m; then you have all the additional costs of heating, water supply, rates, administration, maintenance and staff wages.

So the two clubs, presently separated by less than half-a-mile of parkland, are ploughing ahead with their own massively expensive plans.

Liverpool hopes to build a 70,000-seat stadium near its present ground in Stanley Park, while Everton has earmarked the Kings Dock as its future home.

But it's not as easy as it seems.

A strongly-orchestrated campaign by Anfield residents means that Liverpool's Stanley Park proposal may be settled by a local referendum.

Liverpool City Council leader Mike Storey has asked his chief executive, David Henshaw, to make the arrangements for this within the next six months.

Although some may consider this a possible stumbling block to Liverpool, the city council would not wish to see one of the most famous football clubs in the world having to look for a new home beyond its boundaries.

The Everton position is still more complicated.

It is one of 12 organisations which responded to an invitation from English Partnerships to develop a 36-acre site at the Kings Dock.

The selection process is being overseen by the Kings Waterfront Forum, which includes English Partnerships, Liverpool Vision, the city council and the North West Development Agency.

Everton's plan for a 50,000-capacity stadium has made the provisional short-list.

Submitted under the banner of the Kings Waterfront Consortium, it would be part of a "leisure village" with a 20-screen cinema, a family entertainment centre, health club, night club, bars, restaurants, retails outlets, a hotel and 200 waterfront homes.

But it will face stiff competition from a French consortium headed by Vouygues, which built the Stade de France in Paris and was involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel; a consortium headed by AMEC and British Waterways; the North Star Consortium, including Fiortho, which is building luxury flats next to the dock; Chester-based leisure developers THI, who built the Cheshire Oaks at Ellesmere Port; and builders William Bowden UK.

Details of all bids must be in by December 13.

The successful one will be announced early next year.

There can be no doubt that a site dominating the waterfront, would give Everton much needed glamour.

But if its bid fails, the club will be back to its position of three years ago when former owner and chairman Peter Johnson first proposed leaving Goodison.

Among the potential locations favoured by him was land owned by United Utilities, near the Kirkby Golf Club at Gillmoss, on the Liverpool/Knowsley border.

Some thought that this would be the ideal place for a shared ground because it is served by the M57 and the East Lancs Road, which would have enabled fans from such places as St Helens and Warrington, as well as Liverpool, to reach the ground with ease.

But no progress was made during the stormy times at the club which led to Mr Johnson being bought-out by a consortium headed by Bill Kenwright, now Everton's deputy chairman.

And the land has been acquired by Arrowcroft Development Ltd.

It has renamed the site Axis Liverpool and received planning permission for mixed business uses which include industry, offices and distribution.

The company has already completed a major infrastructure programme granted by the European Regional Development Fund and Liverpool City Council.

Mr Kenwright, a passionate Evertonian, has always listened sympathetically to the fans who don't want to leave Goodison.

His own belief is that the club must stay within the city boundaries.

But getting them to move at all, never mind sharing a ground with Liverpool, would be difficult enough.

Many Evertonians still regard Goodison as one of the finest grounds in the country, against all the evidence.

In his 'Guide To Football Grounds', revised for this season, Jon Ladd wrote: "All in all, there was something special about Everton.

Sadly, in the post-Taylor era, it has fallen, if not into decay, then way behind other clubs."

Although it was extensively modernised in the late 1990s, Anfield, too, fails to reflect its past glories, or its ambition to rejoin Europe's top clubs.

Neither ground can match Milan's San Siro, the Giuseppe Meazza (capacity 85,443) shared by AC and Inter, or the Olympic stadium in Rome shared by Roma and Lazio, or the Luigi Ferraris stadium shared by Sampdoria and Genoa.

In England, rooted in tribal tradition, the only major club to have made a ground-sharing deal is Division One's Wimbledon, which joined Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

On one side we have the traditionalists with their pork pies, striped scarves and bobble hats, whose family trees sprang from the concrete of the terraces.

On the other are the progressives with their designer football shirts, season tickets for executive boxes, and delicacies prepared by a real chef in the club restaurant.

Rogan Taylor, director of Liverpool University's football research unit, said: "In 1990, in the light of the Taylor report into Hillsborough, when a ground merger was being discussed, I loved the idea of a big stadium down on the docks, joining the profile of the two cathedrals and the Liver Buildings with a fantastic footy ground."

The Liverpool supporter added: "Personally I would be quite happy to share a stadium.

For my money, they knocked Anfield down when they modernised the Kop.

I don't have any overwhelming attachment to it any longer.

I didn't fight the going of the Kop.

I knew after Hillsborough that it was inevitable, you couldn't do anything about it anyway.

The subsequent development of football has made that whole world an old world.

You have to accept that.

"Provided that the new stadium is the kind we like - intimate, close and dedicated to the game and the game alone and not full of fancy hi-tech - I would have no objection."

September 21
New Anfield will be circular 

Kop Talk

Liverpool Football Club will this evening unveil its design for a new circular stadium on Stanley Park.

Architects from Manchester have completed the drawings of the proposed 70,000 capacity stadium and they will be presented to the Anfield and Breckfield community groups this evening.

If the plans are approved, the new stadium will be built on the match-day car-park off Priory Road and on part of the Stanley Park playing fields.

Liverpool's Chief Executive Rick Parry refused to comment about the design of the stadium other than to say: "The stadium will be a world class facility and there will be absolutely no compromise on quality."

September 4
Training for the future

Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

It used to be no more than a wooden hut, but Liverpool's Melwood training complex will soon be one of the finest facilities in Europe.

Liverpool hope building work can begin this Christmas on a £3m investment, providing their squad with a training ground which will be the envy of most Premiership clubs. 

Money raised from Liverpool's joint-venture partnership with media giants Granada has been earmarked to pay for the new site. Subject to planning permission it should be complete during the 2001-02 season.

Club manager Gerard Houllier was heavily involved in the design of the "Millennium Pavilion", as it will be named, having visited some of the best sites in European football.

Said Houllier: "The facility will be wonderful for the club and will be adapted completely to meet our needs. At the moment we have the Academy which is a top flight site for all our youngsters, but it's been clear we have needed a similar requirement to upgrade our facilities for the senior players at the club.

"Initially we worked to upgrade the current building, but now we will knock the current offices down and rebuild.

"Visitors who come here can see we are a bit short in space at the moment, so everything will improve. 

"In terms of training, there will be new changing areas, a gymnasium, swimming pools, saunas, a hydrotherapy pool and rehabilition rooms. A lot of things we don't have now, we will have. It will be more in tune to what a club of this standard wants to achieve.

"You will also be pleased to know we are even going to be nice to the Press! There will be new media offices for TV, radio and newspaper reporters to conduct one to one interviews."

The Melwood training ground was only recently renovated with gradual additions such as offices, catering, physiotherapy and changing rooms. But regular visitors recognise it is still some way behind the standards available at other top Premiership and European clubs.

Added Houllier: "Arsenal, Manchester United and Leeds have all recently improved their training grounds. We need to have the same because at the moment these clubs clearly have better facilities than us. With this project we will be back on the same level as the best.

"The players are thrilled by the plans and it's a very exciting project for them.

"The whole staff worked together to specify designs because it is essential the players have the best standards available.

We will have to pull the current building down but the main thing is keeping a family atmosphere about the place. We want an enviroment where the players are comfortable, where they enjoy coming to work and where they can not only come to train, but relax.

"The players have to be happy when they come here. That's one of the most important factors in the squad. The quality of the grounds here will help us achieve that."

The buildings in use now will be demolished and replaced by more pitch space, while the Millennium Pavilion is to be built on a rarely used astro-turf surface on the opposite side of the Melwood grounds, creating a new entrance and parking area. 

Heavily involved in the design of the structure is Liverpool's stadium manager, Ged Poynton. He says another part of the development will be a section where spectators can, occasionally, watch training sessions. 

Poynton said: "The Millennium Pavilion will have a very European look about it. We have tended to add to the current building over the years, but the obvious thing for us to do was to create a purpose-built complex for the team. As well as all the new offices and facilities, car-parking for staff and visitors will significantly improve.

"We will also be creating a small pavilion area where it will be possible, on certain occasions, for a small group of around 25 people to watch training sessions." 

The plans are certainly meeting the approval of the players.

Having played across Europe, many of the Liverpool stars are in a good position to compare what's an offer now to training facilities on the continent. 

Striker Erik Meijer says: "In football, if you can help your chances of success just one per cent, it can make a difference. The training facilities can help you get that extra one per cent in your preparation for a game.

"I like the charm of the current Melwood grounds and I have respect for it because it's been this way for many years. But there is no doubt the plans will make it a lot better and could even make the difference in winning a game."

Thor Zakariassen ©