ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Time to get real

The debate on the ground move highlights the depth of feeling about the club.

I share almost all of the well-founded reservataions about moving to Kirkby and it could indeed be the death of the club in the long term. I should be a definite No vote but the problem is that I may still vote YES.

The reason for this contradiction is that I, and I would suggest every other blue, need to get real about the alternative. If we vote No and stay, our long-term prospects are entirely reliant on a major investor. Of course this may happen and if so fantastic, but if it doesn't then we are in very serious trouble.

Nearly 40 years of poor or incompetent management have brought us to this terrible dilemma. In the end Kirkby may (or may not) be the lesser of two evils.

Anyone who pretends the choice is easy and clear cut either way is deluding themselves.
John Bellis, Wirral Posted 25/07/2007 at 21:14:02

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Lyndon

I think you'll find a lot of Blues feel the same way, John, and the choice is far from easy. Unfortunately, the Kirkby move would not make us any less reliant on a major investor, it would just make us more attractive to one ? that may indeed be enough for some, but it's still not worth leaving our heritage behind.

In Kirkby we'd have, by Keith Wyness's estimation, around £10m in additional revenue each year ? which, as we've found out this summer, won't go very far ? but we'd also have the same Board with the same lack of capital and bigger debt.

The more you look at it, the more it looks like a quick fix solution with questionable ? not to mention inconsistent ? cost projections and, most frighteningly of all, no way back once it's done.

Ray Robinson
1 Posted 25/07/2007 at 22:43:16

You’re spot on John. I work in IT where there always seems to be a right and a wrong answer. In this case, there isn’t any right or wrong - so I’m voting with my heart - which is a "No". But I could still be convinced the other way! Getting married 26 years ago was simple by comparison!

philip mcavoy
2 Posted 25/07/2007 at 22:44:55

same board, new board, goodison, kirkby - the only thing that will kill our club is if our supporters walk away. I don’t believe that will happen for one instant whether we go or if we stay.

Tony Marsh
3 Posted 25/07/2007 at 22:50:10

Phil your wrong mate I know plenty who will walk away if we go to kirkby .A mixture of anger and a hatred of BK and Wyness for taking us there and a feeling of being lost will do it for thousands of us.We are better off taking our chances at Goodison Park for now as leaving this city and going to Kirkby will kill us off anyway.The shame of running away from the city that we come from because we are to skint to stay is a stain that we will never erase.It will haunt us forever.Potential investors will not want to know a club that scuttles off like a shithouse rat
because it cant compete with the big boys.Thats the truth of it all.

Paul Moorhouse
4 Posted 25/07/2007 at 23:49:25

Tony, your wrong mate. So all these true blues who have supported this club all their lives and put up with unbelievable amounts of heartbreak and garbage, who have blue blood running through their veins are gonna turn their backs because we go 4 miles down the road to a brand new stadium ! I dont believe that for one second.

Barry Bragg
5 Posted 25/07/2007 at 22:43:03

John I feel the same way as you. I am voting yes to Kirkby but a part of me will be sad to leave both GP and Liverpool. The only way we will know what the outcome of staying or going will be is through hindsight and sadly the only way to achieve it is through time.

It has been 10 years since we realised that a new stadium was a priority but time has been wasted and opportunities lost. We can wait at GP for the next deal if Kirkby falls through but all the time we are getting closer and closer to the point of no return where the decline becomes so serious as to prove irreversible.

Whatever people think about the current management of our great club I happen to think they have done a reasonable job in keeping us on an even keel both on and off the pitch and I also think Kirkby is as good a deal as we can hope to get in the current climate. Even if it only serves as the catalyst for investment it will be the first step on the road to recovery.

We are proposing a move 4 miles from our current site. That is hardly spitting distance in this day and age and certainly a lot closer than Speke for instance.

I also don?t hold with the view that we automatically leave our heritage behind if we move from GP or Liverpool. Surely as Evertonians we take our heritage with us and we pass it on to future generations in the same way as it was passed on to us. It seems as though we lose GP anyway wether we stay in Leverpool or move to Kirkby. Our history is recorded in print and on film and our memories remain with us wherever we go and are passed on by word of mouth while the club moves on, making a new future and adding to our history.

Jeff Eyres
6 Posted 26/07/2007 at 13:34:16

Will people really stop going if we move,will future generations of Knowsley dwellers support Everton as it’s their boroughs only team.I loved Tom’s new design of my beloved goodison and would love it to happen but the board don’t seem able or want to share my dream.His costing made sense to me,ban away fans for three seasons,still 30 k at least per game,I’d feel sorry for the people living on a building site for 3 years but we football fans are selfish.