Mayor: Docklands stadium can be catalyst for regeneration

It's line in the sand time for us now, build this and give us long-suffering mugs something over the RS we can enjoy goading them about for the rest of our lives or move to the middle of nowhere and basically give up as a club in this city and probably generally.

If we end up leaving Goodison for anywhere other than a prime location on the Docks, I'd reluctantly have to bow out.

Just for once this century, make us proud, Everton.

Anderson, who is known for spouting his gob off, has been more measured even with a touch of hyperbole 'cos he's a big 'ed.

Everton have been open, and realistic with their pronouncements last night as much as they could be and that for me suggests the Docks has a decent chance.

It's a definitely maybe from me.

How it's financed is obviously the question that all of us have and until that has been signed off by all parties it's likely we will have to wait a little longer, I think there was mention of three months by Robert Elstone last night, before any significant announcement is made.

Another good thing is that we've seen that Moshiri will go above and beyond if he's got his eye set on something. That's what happened with Koeman. He decided Koeman was his man and decided to pay Southampton a lot of money to get him.

If the docks are what Moshiri wants, I think he'll get them (as long as Peel aren't completely unreasonable).

Building the right stadium in the right location will not only bring new capital into the club, but it will also add great value to the overall worth of Everton Football Club. Moshiri is no mug. He has a plan and I'm ure there is more to come and not just from the ground move. I'm just going to sit back and watch it unfold.

I won't start adding fuel to the 'kopite fire' just yet, as they seem to be doing a good job by themselves! I'll just wait until something is 'official' and then our red neighbours will really get their knickers in a knot!

From 4 mins Mayor Anderson talking about the new infrastructure for Bramley Moore Dock.

Immediately following, at about 22 mins, desperate Red Bitterite callers complaining about Everton's possible move to the iconic waterfront site.

Don't you just love 'em!

Priceless!!!

Try this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04lj2gx

Go to BBC Radio Merseyside, Roger Phillips Phone in. 5/1/17

Mr Moshiri and his friends are running the show, they are just letting the other fella having a look at what is going on.

The good news is all parties involved seem to be sat around the table, so you would imagine they all have those scenarios mapped out – so providing we can keep everybody above the "walk-away" line a deal should be able to be done.

The most positive part of this for me is Moshiri – I'm confident his expertise with be able to drive this through commercially. The negative part for me is where "politics" are increasingly being mentioned and at the end of the day there may simply be geographic logistical issues which make the plan unviable no matter how much we, the Council and Peel want to make it happen.

So long as everyone wants to pull in the same direction, though, and people don't play silly buggers on the fringes I'm crossing my fingers this is it – and if it turns out to be what we think it is, I'm hoping it'll be worth the wait.

Sit tight and cross everything!

I totally agree with you on how Peel ended up owning this land. It does raise some interesting points, too. The docks were outside of LCC authority and run by the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board, even having their own police force and bye-laws.

I wonder if normal planning laws apply within the confines of the dock wall? Perhaps someone better informed will be able to clarify dock planning procedures.

Please let this happen.

It will deffo get funnier when Billy Butler gets on. Not sure but I think he's on this afternoon.

Anyway, for sure he'll wind them up if they come on!

Is there a link to follow to find the recording? Please advise. Thanks.

As you can see I'm genuinely confused about what the plans for the North Docks might be and precisely where our mooted stadium would fit in:

I visited the Clarence Dock yesterday and can't understand why this is not still under consideration (if Bramley-Moore Dock is the preferred option). It is closer to town and was filled to make way for a power station so is a ready-made brownfield site for a new stadium.

Currently the Liverpool Waters master plan makes vague reference to the site being used for "another cluster of tall buildings" and a "cultural building of some sort". If yer know yer 'istory and all that – what better celebration of local culture could you have?

But a recent Echo article by Liam Murphy suggests that Clarence Dock not Bramley-Moore Dock is the site under consideration. Can anyone clarify this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04lj2gx

22 minutes in...

Anything but a decaying Goodison for years to come. Years of people treating us as a 'good old club' with some history. Moshiri is right re us being a museum. I do not want Croxteth but neither do I want Goodison. It has had its day.

Bitter Blues?? How about it 'Rabbity Redskits'

Moshiri is pulling us into the era of Modern football – how refreshing to have professionals running the club!

I assume that, when the site visits happened a month or so ago, someone from Peel was there? Moshiri, Kenwright, Anderson and the lads from the press presumably didn't all bunk in over the chain link fence.

They would have been accompanied by someone from Peel surely... Does this mean they are prepared to do business? Please let it be so.

You don't need to bunk in over the fence: just walk in like I did. (It's actually a rather fetching stone wall.)

Peel issued a statement, last week, saying they were in talks with Everton FC.

Until then, I don't believe a word they say.

This will make visible the usual suspects objections, which will also provide a balanced view on the likely success of the Project.

Should it fail to materialise, then Peel will get the blame.

The supposed regeneration of Anfield is a pure scam with residents worse off than before.

Best laugh I've had for years. I reckon the RS callers are all over Bramley-Moore Dock desperately looking for Natterjack toads, or the like.

Don'tcha just luv 'em.

I hope beyond hope this comes off; the patronising all fur coat and no knickers bar stewards will be fuming.

Methinks they are getting seriously "concerned"... Reclaim our city!

Cheers in advance!

Yesterday. It starts after the news an travel with an interview with Joe Anderson re the AGM etc.. That lasts about 20 mins or so and after that 2 callers are on until about 48 mins if I remember correctly.

Two RS desperately try to come up with objections to the dock. Hilarious stuff.

Link

Just skip past the Joe Anderson interview and get right to the phone-in.

As John says at 53, this issue is proving priceless just for the way it's winding up the 'bours.

Some genuine laugh out loud moments to be had.

Always the watchword with Everton is patience and, once again, it promises, promises. The Mayor indicates that the land for the latter site is free, thus speeding up the process very considerably and freeing up millions to provide a showpiece stadium.

Anyone who takes the time to visit Bramley-Moore Dock will see it as a godforsaken part of the city which will take 10-15 years to develop and, if yesterday was anything to go by, a bloody cold spot for 'sitting comfortably'!

The Echo website last night. First sports story: "Liverpool's new shop at Anfield is taking shape" Second story: "Everton in 㿷 million deal"

Fuck them all – we are on the way.

Never dared to dream, Phil? Never had a visionary moment that inspired you to work towards?

Deciding now on one site over another will not guarantee "an immediate spade in the ground" tomorrow.

Did you miss the bit when Joe Anderson spoke of releasing funds to improve road and rail links to the Bramley-Moore Dock area? That he wants regeneration NOW, not in 15-20 years?

Bramley-Moore may well be "a godforsaken part of the city right now." Clearly, the city council and Peel Holdings wish to transform it into a commercial and cultural lynchpin.

How much more rewarding it would be on many levels if Everton FC sat at the heart of that transformation.

From what I read of Elstone's words, Everton WILL need outside funding whichever option we invest in. Why not dare to dream and go with a more iconic option than being close to a motorway exit on the East Lancs Road?

After all, in the depths of winter, either one will be
"a bloody cold spot for sitting comfortably."

My points of view are this: Firstly, is it not a bit of a coincidence that Liverpool Council come out with a statement that they are going to throw 㿀m at the road connections around Bramley-Moore Dock a day after our beloved club basically say it's our first choice for a new ground?

Surely Peel would have been spoken to before hand, our board of Directors was down on Bramley-Moore Dock before Christmas? Yes, I know you can just walk through the opening but I'm as sure as hell that Moshiri and Co are no Urban Explores (take pictures, leave foot prints etc etc). It goes without saying Peel are on board; we are the cherry on the cake. Yes, it might cost a bit, but the USM Holding, run by Usmanov and has Moshiri as part of his set up on Board.

The rules say you can't have an acting roll in 2 English Clubs, it does not however stop you sponsoring another club. And how bloody obvious is the Sponsored name for Finch Farm?

My guess is, and yes it's just a guess, Usmanov is edging his bets. If he's not going to get what he wants at his "beloved" Arsenal and take control of it completely, he can run with Everton having put his man Moshiri in place already.

After all, Everton has got to be one of the most viable and cheapest clubs to invest with in the Premier League. Added to that, all the steel for the stadium and other ventures around Bramley-Moore Dock... it's a complete no-brainer.

Premier League clubs have only just started on a world domination; no one given league in the world holds such pulling power as ours. Everton as a club have got stuck in a groove for too long, and Moshiri and his boys can see an opening.

If not, then the Club, Moshiri, The Council and Peel have got a lot more than just eggs in their faces.... Time will tell, but there are too many cogs turning on this one. Hence those babbling Kopites.
Sweet Dreams, my Fellow Blue Boys and Girls.

Kroenke is a stubborn git and I have always hoped that Uncle Alisher would get fed up, even if his kiddies love the Gooners. Nothing has really, though, happened just yet. The numbers involved are peanuts to Usmanov and may be a move in a wider power game at Arsenal. But this is a move, no doubt about it, and I am prepared to let myself become mildly optimistic.

All the Russian oligarchs are bastards, of course, but at least he'd be our bastard. Having wrestled with my conscience, not for very long, I am prepared to go to hell if it means that we start winning seriously again, and wipe those smug twats from across the park right off the face off the earth. They sold their souls to Satan long ago, as we all know.

Will it happen, really happen, and will ours be the next Empire? Almost certainly not, because we are Everton. Nice delusion, even so, while it lasts.

Do you remember the day we beat Southampton 8-0? It was a cold, sleety, December day in the early '80s, if I remember correctly.

I came straight from a union meeting in the Baltic Fleet. At lunchtime I wandered over to have a mooch around the Albert Dock. It was derelict, most of the windows were smashed in and the docks were just mud. Everything from Wapping to the Pier Head was just empty and wrecked.

The Baltic Fleet stood alone surrounded by empty warehouses and bomb sites. Towards James Street was the Police HQ and the fire station and not much else. Just like the north docks are, now.
Everton will be the catalyst for what will become a vibrant extension of the city centre to the north. Just like the south docks are, now.

Just looked it up and you're quite correct! Bit of age-related brain fog!!

Hilarious – even Roger Phillips (a non-footballing bloke) sounded exasperated at the knob-head(s) he was talking to. He just stopped short of calling him a Neanderthal unambitious tw@t from what I heard.

"These docks should be used for what they were intended for ... docks." UTTER PRICK.

"But the people who live around there" Roger: nobody lives around there. "But they should re-populate the area" you can almost hear the very civil Roger Phillips say "STFU, dickhead".

"But we need an Isle of Man ferry"; "the links we have (by sea) with Wales" ... retarded prick. Are we supposed to bring galleons back?

When the ground work commences I will even look forward to the road disruption to our Norwegian 'friends' with any traffic jams that develop in the area. We should have some car stickers printed just to wind these fuckwits up.

Bitter scum bags.

I can see it now, The Black Pig, Captain Kloppwash, Seaman Staines, Roger the Cabin Boy, Master Bates... all the Koppites waving on the (our) dockside...

The opening music in our new stadium has to be "Royal Blue Jersey".

(They won't have The Black Pig, Ray – not after the Suarez / Dalglish era.)

MotD would have to speed the film up as Nuno Valente chased a sussie clad Toffee girl around... [Steady on, Ray...]

Geoff (from West Derby), if you're reading this (which as a Red Shite cab driver, you probably are) you really are an absolute beaut. Thanks for cheering me up:

"They're not renting Finch Farm, Roger, they're leasing it."

Oh dearie me, you couldn't make it up – you really couldn't!

If I had the wings of a sparrow
If I had the arse of a crow
I'd fly over Anfield tomorrow
And shit on the bastards below

Shit On, Shit On
Shit on the bastards below
Below

etc

Not as poetic as "Royal Blue Jersey" but still appropriate.
And when sung well (by 60,000 dockside), it will be very catchy.

"Nasa?"

"Yeah Nasa, they put it out that... erm... they've picked up like these bleeps right, from like another... y'know... like galaxy or whatever, right?"

"Okay..."

"So if that's an Alien life-form or whatever, we'd be more susceptible wouldn't we?"

"I don't foll..."

"Well, they'd want somewhere to land, wouldn't they, and if there's a ground at the dock, they'd spec it from space and probably choose to land there and... erm..v. apourise us, like."

(I've just listened to some of that radio stuff, Christ there is real panic there... as well as pure unhinged lunatic bollocks.)

It would do no harm as well for Blues to apply a bit of pressure to Peel by way of public expressions of impatience and concern that private interests should not stand in the way of development to public benefit.

After all, Peel are just another bunch of greedy bastards looking to fill up their pockets with coins. If they want to do that in Liverpool, then let them be answerable to a significant part of the Liverpool people.

Their mentality built up over the years is to ridicule and laugh at us at every opportunity available and now their getting mentally unstable just over the mere thought of us outshining their new stand!

It's really fucking sad how desperate they sound already. The tide is turning and they don't like it one bit. We are on the way back and they hate it. COYBB.

The Bradley-Moore Dock is majorly surrounded by next to nothing where any sane person would want to spend any time at all. For those unfamiliar with the area it looks like Chernobyl without the radioactivity.

The cost of a stadium will be huge, the cost of publicly funded redevelopment of the area will be nowhere near as much but will still be huge to the council coffers, and as distinctive as the Albert Dock is, with Liverpool 1 across the road, does anyone think the Bradley-Moore Dock area will be transformed into anything like them just because a ginormous stadium is built?

Don't get me wrong, it'd look the dog's bollocks from the river or Birkenhead, and it'd feel like Fido's chunks too whenever we filled it, but as for being in the middle of a Las Vegas style strip, or even a place where the "facilities" around Goodison are matched, forget it.

Unless you're 40 of course, and then you may live to see what we all dream of about the same time as you're starting to draw your OAP.

Me, at 60, I just want to see us win the League again. Simples!

"They're not renting Finch Farm, they're leasing it" Haha – just pure gold... take a bow, kopite.

I think Phil (#59) is a defeatist already. I can understand his lack of patience based on years of Peter Johnson and Bill Kenwright but perhaps we have someone a bit smarter and also sharing impatience at the helm now. If he and others got their way due to lack of a dream or vision I would just give up.

We have never forgiven Kenwright re Kings Dock and to do that again, even if the development takes time and some of us older ones may not see it all, would be unforgivable. To me it reeks of "I have suffered enough and want something in Croxteth or somewhere NOW ! Sod you youngsters. "

If I was a Man City fan I would be laughing at this small town mindset. I think it reflects the economic health of the two cities and think that Joe Anderson is one guy who is trying to rectify this. For once, the planets may be lining up for us.

Phil has a point because if he's stopped swimming in oil! It's a lot easier to get to Stonebridge Cross from "The Wilderness of Wigan", unless he drives to Blackpool, and gets The Hovercraft!

I think he is a closet Red, I hope I go before I see that, the first ever Red in the family.

Oh the shame of it, never thought I'd see the day.

However, I have read the various stories in the Red Echo about our proposed new stadium, followed by the comments, and oh boy, the desperation almost seeps out of my Kindle. Go and have a look, it's hilarious!

I hope so; if he is a Red, I'll have to cut his birthday and Christmas money down from 50p to 25p, and even that is too much for a Red.

I've told him he's got to go and live with his other Granddad, and Ava said she will have his present, coz she's a toffee!

Thanks for the link – it was priceless. However, I'm still at a loss to understand why the Clarence Dock is not up for grabs. It is the next logical step in the development of the north docks and fills in the gap between Princes Dock and Stanley Dock where the Titanic Hotel is stranded at the moment.

Does anyone know why this is not an alternative to the Bramley-Moore Dock?

What they are doing isn't bitter, it's spiteful, they'd actually be happier for the City to stagnate rather than Everton succeed. I feel a new moniker is about to be born on Merseyside over the coming years: the 'Spiteful Shite'.

Rob, it's well worth a listen. It's like a Monty Python sketch. They get more and more desperate, as they go on, and their objections become more and more absurd. It's absolutely hilarious!

I now live in south Cheshire, surrounded by reds of course. When they play, say, Man Utd, these beauts always look astounded that I don't want them to win.

I always remember, possibly the greatest time in their history when they brought the European Cup home. Thousands of blues in the crowd at the Town Hall and the blessed Emlyn coming out with his "Everton are tragic line".

Dunno why but they really detest us; it's ingrained.

I reckon I can tell one of them within 10 minutes of being introduced, nine times out of ten.

There is just something different about them.

Until it either happens or falls through we should officially change our name from the "Toffees" to the "Docksiders"

Just got to think of an apt tune to come out to as opposed to Z-Cars.

Also, if Peel Holdings start fucking us about, maybe Usmanov can just buy the whole organisation.

Robbie Shields has just come out with a cracker, and I would love someone like Patrick to go and dig out old footage from Granada Reports the day before we played Man Utd in the 1985 FA Cup Final. I've been called a liar, by more than one phoney Liverpudlian, because they won't believe me, when I tell them what happened.

They was in Williamson Square, with the microphone, because they were saying it must be a Liverpudlians, worst nightmare having to watch a cup final between Everton, and Man Utd, and who did they want to win?

No prizes, for guessing the answer, and it was all because they didn't want Everton, to do the double because they had never done it themselves. Nothing wrong with that if you ask me, but 10 years later, in the very same game, suddenly they had changed there minds and all wanted Everton, to win the cup because they hate Mancs?

I'll have the Reds who go to the game all day long, some of them know what they are talking about.

Surely any Blue with any sense will be wary, I have also warned of the type of kick in the bollocks that only Everton can deliver (#18 Link)

As for – Just got to think of an apt tune to come out to as opposed to Z-Cars

We should always run out to Z-cars, but just before.. Link

Don't get me wrong, it's great to have overseas supporters, especially, if they can get to a home game, but the RS have taken it beyond reason. I seem to remember a few years ago they had a survey that showed we had the biggest "walk up" support in the league whereas they and Man Utd had the least.

New Year's Eve was especially Scandinavian in town. A polite group of red festooned, multi-scarf wearing, accented tourists stopped me in Bold St asking the way to McKenzie's Whisky Bar.

I complimented them on their English and, for a second, thought of pointing them downhill to Church St but my inner Evertonian got the better of me. I know we're accused of myth-making over the "You're not from round here, then?", but it is, nonetheless, a reality.

My mate is a scouser, a big reds fan but he even pointed a lot if what you are saying. He has a real grudging respect for everything Everton, same fans in same seats for years, scouse accents no matter where you are in the ground & also the great tribute before kick off to those who had passed in 2016.

He also respects travelling fans from elsewhere and the money they bring into the local economy but he felt that Everton as a club and their fans still have a strong link with their roots and the community. The People's Club are well named – especially for those born and bred in Liverpool.

Yes I don't want to be taken literally but the difference on matchdays is immense. It is fantastic when fellow Blues travel from all over to get to a game at Goodison, I wish more could manage it and I respect them immensely for their support and effort.

Just seems to me that when the RS are on the telly and at home you will always find a lot of their supporters in the ale houses watching the match.

Maybe it's good for the Club but it seems to me they just lack something – brains spring to mind.

Great to hear you lot got over for the game, if you bring that result with you then get over more often.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10211908529613268&id=1372340766