Elstone provides update on stadium progress

Hopefully it's not ring fenced....

It'll probably be the usual roller-coaster ride because it is Everton, but I honestly think the club are trying to learn from mistakes made in the past. Let's just hope whatever they decide it is the best plan for the club in the long run.

Mr Kenwright also tries very hard not to give anything away.

Especially in contributing to the funding of EFC.

Add to that they haven't actually, a) picked the architect yet, b) designed the thing, c) figured out how it will be paid for and the all important d) still looking for an 'Investor'.....

At least there is something being done/said on the subject, which is more than we;'ve had for a while....

This will easily be a seven year process from this stage. Objection after objection, change of Councillors and elected Mayors etc etc...so many variables, even before we take ownership of the club into consideration.

Can't see it happening myself.

2. These processes take years. I've personally been involved with small projects that have taken over a decade to come to fruition.

3. Without a stadium, it's hard to attract investment. Without investment, it's difficult to fund stadium. Catch-22.

I wouldn't be surprised if Billy boy gets the Polish builder who built his shed to whip up a blueprint for the new stadium.

"ItÂ’s a site that we think has got great merit and itÂ’s a site that weÂ’d like to develop and bring to fruition"

Yeah?

Well go and find 𧸖 million and bring that to fruition.

"The big-game changers — I know that’s a cliche — for Everton will be a big stadium that we fill every week or it will be a new investor on the lines of Chelsea or Manchester City and we continue to pursue both of those strands"

Â’BigÂ’?

Specifically HOW big?

And they werenÂ’t Â’new investorsÂ’, they were buyers, which is why theyÂ’re now owners - thereÂ’s a big difference.

"Our intention is try and progress towards a planning application"

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, why not say fuck-all until you can finance something.

"ItÂ’s quite a complex and quite a big planning application. It will be significant in expense and we need to find a fantastic master planning company"

Sorry but (more) Echo space-filler waffle waffle waffle.

Paragraphs of wishful thinking, stating the bleeding obvious and basically putting the cart before the horse.

A horse we donÂ’t have the money to buy.

We're unlikely to get a free ground like Man City or an Investor like Chelsea did but to finance a new ground for us there will be need for roads, car parks and retail outlets and the danger is that it could just be Kirkby all over again

It's a serious question. See http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30102343

FFS it's a stadium we want – not a new fucking city. I won't see it in my lifetime not with this board anyway. I think billy bullshit is holding out on winning the euromillions lottery draw. That may be our only hope.
Please please please me, Elstone – fuck off, and take Billy with you.

But given the aggressive nature of the sales pitch towards season ticket holders and potential season ticket holders in the past 12 months it would suggest to me at least that the intention to re-locate is a real one, however, if Bill Kenwright and Robert Elstone were to oversee another failed ground move surely their positions would become untenable?

I don't see anything wrong with updating supporters with progress, albeit with very little to announce.

That especially applies to Green and Earl with Billy boy not far behind. Elstone probably more genuine, but being kept in the mushroom house.

In my opinion, of course.

Not a chance of it being built, especially as thereÂ’s another financial crash of the horizon.

For a fraction of the cost of a new stadium, we could have an upgraded Main Stand with fewer obstructions and a two-tier Park End with the requisite corporate and entertainment facilities.

Give us these two things and I could live with the Bullens Rd and Gwladys St remaining as they are, as a testament to the traditions and the history of this once great club.

We keep being told we haven't got a pot to piss in but then suddenly they talk about building a multi-million pound stadium it just doesn't pass the 'smell' test.

So it's entirely possible that we can raise enough debt to build a new stadium if we get the land from the local authority, naming rights, some kind of real estate/retail play within the development, sale of the land containing GP etc and mortgage over future season ticket sales and TV revenue streams.

In the short run it will make the club poorer – Arsenal had to go through a period of cost management – hence no trophies since they started building the Emirates. But in the long run it should pay off and we have to do something otherwise Goodison will simply crumble.

The idea from some on here that the fans could somehow finance the stadium and own it via a trust, presumably then leasing it to the club, is clearly in the realms of fantasy (unfortunately).

With all due respect, I don't think that's true. Back in May 2013, we had total debts of around 㿜M.

In May 2014, we had total debts of around 㿝M.

I can't find any evidence in the Annual Report that we have paid down the debt at all.

Back in May of this year, we had an extra 㾾M floating around in the bank... which I feel sure we have subsequently spent. Our borrowings remain substantial.

A myth indeed.
And one that a lot of people are buying in to

As to the comments on naviety – I don't think TWers are naive. We like to debate what we can debate but I don't think anyone is convinced any of this will happen any time soon or indeed at all. It's early days.

It is the continued lack of compelling evidence to show why GP cannot be redeveloped – possibly for a much lower cost – with a fraction of the planning and other worrying imponderables and unknowns to consider. Why is this option dismissed out of hand, when the vast majority of clubs have chosen this route for good reason, and when the overwhelming body of evidence points to its viability?

Dennis’s comments (#7) remind me of the programme W1A where they have a meeting about having a meeting.

The stadium will come when they find the end of the rainbow (so hope I am wrong tho’).

As is the choice of site ahead of more centrally located options with intrinsic greater benefits in terms of planning, enabling, and public transport infrastructure.

So far, we could be forgiven for thinking the process to date has consisted of the club simply getting a generic stadium design drawn up (with a large home end apparently), and the Council saying we have a park nearby that we want to sell off if you fancy it. No real indication of how it can be funded, how the transport can be improved and how this option is so obviously superior to all others, including redevelopment of the current historic site, which has so much that can be built upon.

Maybe there is some clause somewhere in the bond or other documents that prevents this but until someone from the club comes out and says why this cannot be done, I'm scratching my head as to why we're bothering to waste time searching for new sites.

Redeveloping GP would be affordable if done over a few years, a stand at a time, and would obviously keep us in our natural home. Even 㾻M a year put towards it would get the process under way.

"So, what do you want for Christmas, William?"

"I want a twain set and a teddy bear and I want to own the Boys Pen and then EFC when I'm a big boy."

"Fuck off, soft lad, that'll be the end of us"

[Said with a Damien like stare:] "You'll see, you fat bastard, I'll make you all pay for not taking me seriously." A crocodile tear rolls down his pinkish cheek as he gives Father Christmas a sardonic grin. The scene ends with thunder and lightening...

I've emailed the fool and asked him. "I'm 53, smoke and drink too much and have a twat of a diet, do you think I'll ever get to see a game at this fabled new stadium?"

I don't expect a response...

Whatever the truth, Dave, I'm a tad older than you and even if I keep running marathons, I shan't live to see 'New Goodison'!

"Everton considers itself a proud citizen of this City."

That's priceless considering Elstone made it public he wanted us to quit this City and move to Kirkby not so very long ago.

A new stadium is all that is the on the table. And that is a big 'if' if I am reading other comments properly.

They might have reason to engineer a situation where redevelopment is not considered, in another Hobson's choice of a ballot.... ie where a third party comes along to incentivise a move, or where board members might have a vested interest in moving..... but won't declare such.

At no point has he or the club ever been able to say why redevelopment is a non-starter though.... he also once paid for GFE to prove that it could indeed be done (when it suited him). Very little has changed since.... except of course even our neighbours have now realised that redevelopment is often the best option..... even after stating categorically that it wasn't for the previous decade.

So he accepts that the redevelopment of Goodison would be a non-starter on what seems to be mere opinion rather than any hard facts – or more likely that Everton FC couldn't even afford to do that on their own – which obviously means the club is subservient to other party or parties. Not really ideal but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

That said, you are right in saying it is unlikely to be an issue at Goodison. If we're honest, the historical interest aside it has little architectural merit.

Goodison's architectural merit lies in its internal features and functionality..... and the fact that the it boasted 4 double-decker stands at a time when so many had none. It it's its collective quality that has the value. The exterior was always intentionally austere, the good stuff was always on the inside.

That is why they are not considering the option of redevelopment, not because it is a non-starter.

While we have done nothing on this front, ALL other clubs have managed to add quality capacity and facilities, often on equally or more problematic sites. Most with lower turnovers than ours, and without sugar daddies. Therefore, there can be few excuses for our continued failure to date. Saying it's a non-starter is the only true non-starter.

By ’we’, I refer to the board members. A new stadium would be funded by sponsors, outside investment and debt.

I am reading about a new stadium located in Walton Hall Park. I am someone who dose not relish a new stadium for the sake of it. I am very traditional in my footballing views and am reluctant to leave Goodison Park.

After the previous fiasco of Kings Dock / Kirkby etc, I am wary. But if a move becomes inevitable, I hope for two things:

1) That we retain the Goodison name;

2) That we build a traditional-style stadium to encourage a great atmosphere – unlike some soulless stadiums that are built these days.

I don't believe we necessarily need the vast expense of a whole new ground, and we certainly don't need a non-descript basic bowl at the expense of what we already have. A new and larger Upper Bullens with a row of exec boxes would probably meet all our short- to medium-term needs. There needn't be any loss of capacity during construction, and much of the history and character will be preserved. It might not look quite as attractive on a sales brochure for the club though.