Royal Liver Building is sold for £60M

So ends Moshiri's connection with the building and any that we had as a club.

I'm going to have to break that down a little bit, Scott:

So ends Moshiri's connection with the building

Yes, I would imagine you are correct — he may have made more of a return on this investment than he did in Everton!

So ends any connection with the building that we had as a club.

You may be right… but the information I have is that the club is still renting those blinged-out offices on the 7th floor and they are only partway through a 15-year lease. The annual rent is well over £½M, and goes up every year.

But strange that the corporate offices of Everton FC Co Ltd never relocated there, and are still registered at Goodison Park, even now. That I would expect to change.

I can just see a couple of vultures hovering over the Liver buildings soon enough.

My late father worked for the Royal Liver Assurance Society for most of his working life. Every time I go to Liverpool, it is always pay a visit to the front of the building and reflect on him.

The building has strong links to our family as my brother later joined ”The Liver”, where he met his wife.

Yet I am the only Blue amongst all of us… “The chosen one!” (Smiley)

With my sister working for the other side, they have moved a lot of their operations away from Anfield and are located in one of the buildings directly opposite the 3 Graces.

I'm the only Royal Blue from a family of Sky Blue (Man City), that goes back generations, along with a bit of Wigan rugby.

One company I had to visit frequently at the end of the 80s was "Merseyside Information Services". From memory, their remit was providing data, research etc to all agencies within the Merseyside area – it was a private company, but owned by Wirral Borough Council.

I suspect it's long been "proper privatised", if it still exists.

My wife is a Geordie. Having spent a few years in Newcastle and visiting there in late 2019, it appears to be a thriving region.

Here's the point. On the same trip, we spent plenty of time in Liverpool. It didn't seem to be as thriving as Newcastle, which I found unsettling. We went to look around BMD (still undeveloped) and I felt the development of the stadium would create a hub that would bring the city back to life. I am now convinced this will be so.

A question - Was the north west and Liverpool in particular, neglected by government funding and Newcastle (the North East) given preferential and substantial grants? And if so, why?

Your last paragraph could spark an entire separate debate that could get very political. There did seem to be a deliberate attempt to break Liverpool, partly due to the near rebellion by Liverpool City Council in the 80s.

Many other factors played a part. The decline of the docks as the UK became more Europe facing. Failure to claim Speke as the north west Airport. Decline and closure of what manufacturing there was.

Whereas Manchester worked with the Government and is now, in my eyes, forgetting Birmingham's population, is the 2nd city of the UK with the 3rd busiest international airport after Heathrow and Gatwick. That could have been us.

That doesn't mean that Liverpool isn't thriving, especially the city centre, which has been totally transformed over the past few decades. I have a lot of non-Liverpool relatives and friends who love Liverpool and UK wise, if not hitting the hills somewhere, it's their go to city for a weekend.

There are still a few ugly spots. The old abandoned cinema on the corner across from the Crown and Lime Street. Renshaw Street looks tired.

And sort out the Adelphi!!! It's a historic building, the downstairs meeting areas, dining room and bar are really nice.

But then you move to the rooms. Outdated and the heating often not working in the winter. Fine by me as it's a bed, cheap and within walking distance to Lime Street for the first train back. But I often wonder what visitors must think.

I, like many others, left Liverpool when thatcher came into office. My gut feeling was she was a wrong ‘un who had a vendetta against Liverpool and the north in general. She wanted to not only “manage our decline” but to make people kneel before her as though she was some medieval queen.

I not only left Liverpool, I left the UK for over 20 years until she and her mob had gone. Liverpool looks, from the outside, like a modern, vibrant city but we are well behind Manchester in terms of connectivity. John Lennon airport is tiny compared to Manchester. Limey is a provincial side track these days. Even our docks have less traffic than the Mancunians.

So to answer your question, yes, Liverpool has been (purposely) neglected. From being the second most important city in the empire we are not even the most important city in the north west, never mind the north.

But I still love going home. I love my city and it’s people. BMD will help with the regeneration of that part of Liverpool but don’t count on any governments, National or local, to help, scousers will do it themselves.

Like I said, I’m not getting into a political discussion as this site should be dedicated to moaning, or celebrating, Everton. UTFT!!

Throughout the nineties, into the noughties, Merseyside qualified for EU Objective 1 funding. This was for regions where GDP was less than 75% of the EU average. From memory, South Yorkshire, West Wales and Cornwall received the EU O1 funding.

Merseyside received around £1.6bn in the mid 90s and early 2000's. The figure was boosted due to "match funding" requirements.

Projects included Liverpool Airport, Wirral Waterfront, Wirral International Business Park, restoration of historic buildings, funding for SMEs, and money for tourism projects - Liverpool waterfront, and the Arena and Convention Centre.

(Everton's original application for King's Waterfront would have included substantial Objective 1 funding and other grants, hence why the amount needed was - initially - £30m (although it did subsequently rise to £65m). Good job the money was ringfenced )

There were constant battles between quangos and local authorities over priorities - one of the early victims was an earlier version of the Merseytram light rail - Merseytravel wanted it to serve key corridors to support regeneration, whereas MDC wanted a "tourist tram" and wouldn't support it. End of project.

"With my sister working for the other side, they have moved a lot of their operations away from Anfield and are located in one of the buildings directly opposite the 3 Graces."

My brain has interpreted being opposite the three graces means Birkenhead!

Sorry for the confusion.

I wonder if the Mersey tram light railway idea could work alongside the existing Mersey rail and in particular along the docks.

I went to Newcastle in 1977 to be a student for 3 years and the differences you describe between the two cities were apparent even then.

I put it down to the foresight of a certain T Dan Smith who, for all his other faults, had a vision of regenerating the city of Newcastle in the 1970s and keeping the historic city centre intact. They had also developed their metro system fully by the time I arrived.

Liverpool on the other hand were intent on knocking down its heritage and replacing it with ugliness.

Then of course there's the ill-fated ring road around Liverpool which the council issued compulsory purchases for then tore down the buildings before listening to sense and scrapping the project. Too late as the damage had been done and part of the city looked like the Luftwaffe had just paid a visit.

Just my impressions on returning home for the summer holidays each year. I haven't been back to Newcastle since finishing my course but mates that I still have from there say it's gone to the dogs, so pretty much like Liverpool.

Being honest, I would describe Liverpool like a lot of towns and cities in Great Britain as “a City not our own”. Just walk around any of these places and you'll realise why.