Thinking The Unthinkable Over Ground (echo)

[DIGGERS DRIBBLE]

Andy Kelly considers the massive pressures which are forcing Liverpool and Everton football clubs closer to the once unimaginable possibility of sharing a ground






NEWS that the leader of Liverpool City Council now believes a shared stadium between Liverpool and Everton is more likely to happen than not will send a shiver down the spine of many Merseyside football fans today.

To share a stadium with their closest rivals, to have a red or a blue sitting in their seat every other week, is something the majority do not even want to contemplate.

There will be talk of season ticket burning and of "never going back" to the clubs they currently live and breathe.

A shared stadium may make economic and practical sense, but it is too big a price for many fans founded on their own club's unique pride and traditions.

Surveys conducted when the Daily Post first revealed the possibility of groundshare last year produced a clear majority against such a move.

But while no-one should underestimate the power of supporters - particularly at clubs with such historically close links to their communities - there are other, potentially stronger forces at work in modern football.

Money of course is chief among them and there is no doubt that it is financial realities which are providing the impetus for groundshare.

Neither Liverpool nor Everton currently has a Roman Abramovich to bankroll their Premiership aspirations.

Liverpool do not yet even appear to have a Thaksin Shinawatra or a Steve Morgan to help them fulfil their lofty title ambitions.

The Thai Prime Minister's £60m deal appears dead in the water after an adverse reaction in his home country.

And the Liverpool board appeared to baulk at the terms being offered by property magnate and shareholder Steve Morgan for a similar level of investment.

Many feel it is still the Anfield club holding most of the cards in the negotiations over a ground-share. Their finances are clearly in a better shape than Everton's and their plans for a new 60,000-seat stadium on Stanley Park are already at an advanced stage. City planners should consider them within weeks.

But Liverpool are now under considerable pressure from a number of sides to agree to a groundshare. They include: ¦ Everton's new chief executive Trevor Birch has said he will formally approach Liverpool about a groundshare. He has acknowledged Everton need a new ground to increase revenues and return to the elite.

With little money apparently available from the board, sharing with Liverpool could provide their only chance of a new ground, however unpalatable or unpopular it might be.

It was the North West Development Agency which first publicly mooted the possible of groundshare.

It has offered up to £20m for infrastructure improvements in and around a new shared stadium which it believes could be a key driving force in the much-needed regeneration of north Liverpool.

* Liverpool city council, along with the NWDA, has acted as an honest broker in negotiations between the clubs. Most of its work has been in the background but Storey has now broken ranks and thrown his weight publicly behind a groundshare. A single world class stadium facility in Liverpool would be seen as a huge bonus to celebrations in 2008.

* Club finances are possibly the key pressure on Liverpool. The club is due to finance much of its £80m-plus stadium through a loan drawn from major banks. That will put considerable strain on finances in forthcoming years, thereby lessening the chances of it buying the quality players needed to win top honours.

It is success on the pitch which will ultimately bring in extra money. With each passing month the cost of the stadium will also be rising, adding an even greater financial burden, with a possible lengthy public inquiry into the Stanley Park stadium still ahead.

The key question may be whether Everton have enough collateral to bring to the table to convince Liverpool of the viability of groundshare.

With considerable debts already, Everton would be left with the need to sell their two most valuable assets to pay for their half of the stadium: a surplus to requirements Goodison Park (at least £15m) and Wayne Rooney (name your own price).

andykelly@dailypost.co.uk

[Truered]

15 Million to buy that pile of shite stadium, get real!!!

They will be a relegated club by the end of this year, go out of business and we will not have to worry about that pile of stinky poo again!