Everton Football Club: The Kirkby Option

In a few weeks, if not days, the fate of Everton Football Club will be known, regarding whether they will be moving to a brand new, purpose-built stadium on the fringe of the city of Liverpool, or remaining in their current home at Goodison Park.

Now would be a good time to address some of the frequently asked questions surrounding this controversial move.

Where is Kirkby?

Kirkby lies six miles (10 km) north-east of Liverpool city centre, and roughly within the geographic centre of Merseyside in the north-west of England.

The actual location of the new stadium is in fact less than half a kilometre from the border with the City of Liverpool boundary, and the population is made up of mostly Liverpool people ("Scousers") who were relocated there during the 1950's and 1960's as an "overspill" town, as the population of Liverpool grew apace during the post-War years.

Is the transportation adequate?

The M57 motorway runs adjacent to Kirkby, and the M58 connects just to the north of Kirkby. Other major routes include the A580 East Lancashire Road and the A506. The area is well served by public transport, with rail connections from Kirkby railway station to Liverpool city centre (on the Merseyrail Northern Line) and Manchester (via Wigan, on the Kirkby Branch Line).

Stagecoach Merseyside provide the vast majority of bus routes in Kirkby and these connect Kirkby with several nearby districts of Liverpool and Merseyside. The transportation is due be looked at in greater detail, with significant changes to be made once the project gets approved.

Won't moving to Kirkby load the club with too much debt?

The cost to the club of the new stadium (approximately USD $123.6M) is far outweighed by the many new income streams it offers.

These include a 25 percent increase in capacity, bigger and better corporate and hospitality facilities, stadium naming rights and a much higher profile for the club with a new modern stadium capable of hosting international football games, including the soccer World Cup if England are successful in their bid.

Why do some people still oppose it?

The reasons are many and varied, with some examples being a fear of loss of identity within the city of Liverpool. Some have vested interests (several local pubs, fast-food outlets and other businesses currently enjoy the extra trade that large crowds descending on Goodison Park brings), others object to being inconvenienced by having to travel further to get to the new stadium.

Meanwhile others believe that the stadium will make the club financially worse off because of the initial increase in debt, but fail to take into account the many new and substantial revenue streams that will become available to the club.

And so to the future. What awaits this illustrious club?

Whichever way the decision goes, the fans of this fine club should remember that the location of the ground may change, but its trophy-laden history cannot be erased, wherever they play their football.

And a return to the glory days of old could be just become that little bit closer, if the decision to allow the club to build their new stadium is granted.