Kirkby, I presume

The stadium question is undoubtedly going to have a huge impact on our great club over the next 50 years. Indeed, it could decide our very future as a top-flight club. A dramatic statement some might say but one that has real relevance.

The summer?s transfer dealings have confirmed what we already know but refuse to acknowledge. On an annual basis we struggle to compete in the transfer market with clubs like Wigan and Portsmouth, which is amazing given our contrasting fortunes over the last 100 years.

Our best avenue of generating revenue is our stadium and it now seems that those who want to stay in Goodison have all but agreed that she is no longer a viable venue for a club with European ambitions.

Yes, we will lose the romance of Goodison, the atmosphere and the sense of history but we will lose at lot more if we get dragged into another relegation dogfight and end up in the lower divisions.

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Moyes has bought well from the lower divisions but with the transfer market getting ever more competitive, we won?t have the chance to buy a Cahill or a Lescott every summer. We will, as we were with David Nugent, be priced out of the market by less illustrious foes.

In recent times we have been fortunate that we could loan players before making the deal permanent (Yobo, Arteta). Both those players have proved to be bargains in my book but loan signings will only get you so far and again we will lose out on players like Fernandes due to our lack of financial clout. The Portuguese midfielder was a particularly sickening player to miss out on because the whole world can see that he will be a quality player. We baulked at the asking fee this summer (believed to be around £million? open to correction on this) when he could conceivably be worth twice that in a few years.

So the bottom line is we need a new stadium, even if it means moving out of Liverpool. It?s a tough call but we have to decide with our head not our hearts. The new Loop proposal already looks more appealing to me given its location on a major gateway to the city. But we have come to realise that things will be far from simple.

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Brendan Fox
1   Posted 26/07/2007 at 10:51:48

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Your article is all if’s and buts? What if this? But that? The said lesser teams have priced us out of the market boo hoo! There are a lot of teams out there who are throwing money around like there’s no tomorrow, clubs like Wigan Sunderland,Portsmouth etc are either replacing tit for tat or buying overpriced rubbish, there are the odd exceptions.

Why should the club pay over the odds for crap/average players just because some other team is willing to do so? If Moyes feels it’s prudent to bide our time or try before you buy then I’m with him. This season is not like last season when Everton were able to get all their transfer business conducted at the start of the window. Don’t panic we have a settled squad although be it a small squad.

I agree the squad needs numbers but most of all it importantly needs those numbers to be quality additions. Those quality additions will more than likely come from Europe as Moyes usual British based players are over priced.

Everyone lets get behind the team, the board will do what it likes but it’s the team we go to watch on match days isn’t it?

COYB


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