Nov 26

Everton run out of options as stadium plans come to nothing | David Conn

• 13 years and three proposals, but club is no closer to moving
• Tesco’s offer, described as ‘the deal of the century’, in ruins

In the 131-year history of Everton, speckled as it is with distinction and moments of triumph, November 2009 will not be written up as the proud club’s sunniest landmark. Defeat by Hull City on Wednesday evening left David Moyes’ injury-raddled squad with one win in eight games and 14th position in a top flight Everton have inhabited for 55 consecutive years.

Moyes acknowledged after that 3-2 defeat that Everton could be dragged into a fight to retain their Premier League status this season and, facing the cauldron of Sunday’s derby against Liverpool with five members of the first-team squad absent with long-term injuries, described his central task as trying to get his remaining players “running around more”. In that disappointed mood, he dismissed thoughts of Everton’s estimable fifth-place finishes in the past two seasons as “gone, in the past”.

Also consigned to the past are Bill Kenwright’s plans for the club, which crumbled on the same night. The government, it emerged, had rejected the planning application for a new 50,000-seat stadium, which was part of a proposal by Tesco to build an enormous retail park in the small satellite town of Kirkby.

That was never a universally popular prospect; many even among the 59% of fans who voted in favour of the move in 2007 did so because it was the only option presented to expand the club’s capacity and, crucially, its earning potential. Everton fans are painfully aware that Goodison Park, a modern marvel when it was unveiled as the world’s first purpose-built football ground in 1892, has, in its present form, outlived its ability to generate the money required to compete in today’s Premier League.

Kenwright himself has always said he did not want to be the chairman who took Everton away from Goodison but that football’s modern economics demanded it. The prime attraction of Kirkby was not the town or the stadium itself, but the subsidy it would have received from Tesco. The superstore company had agreed to meet £52m of the stadium’s construction costs, leaving Everton to find only £78m, something the former chief executive Keith Wyness, who drove the proposal on, described as “the deal of the century”.

Wyness maintained that was the case yesterday, arguing the club would have raised much of the £78m by selling Goodison and the club’s former training ground at Bellefied, and securing naming rights for the new stadium. The club would have borrowed the rest, he said, and serviced the debt “easily” from the increased earnings at the larger ground.

Kenwright, who has said he has run out of money personally and has been trying unsuccessfully for three years to sell the club, also believed the new stadium, or even winning planning permission for it, could attract a buyer and investment to the club. All of that is consigned to the realms of speculation now, as Everton find themselves firmly rooted back at Goodison, with no alternative plan in any state of progress.

John Denham, the minister for communities and local government, supported the judgment of a planning inspector, Wendy Burden, following a public inquiry that opened fully a year ago. Burden recommended that Tesco’s application, for a 22,000 sq m superstore, a 50,000-seat stadium for Everton, and massive associated retail and commercial development, should be refused. Denham agreed that the plans “failed to provide good and inclusive design”, did not promote sustainable development or protect green space, and would economically damage the rest of Kirkby and its neighbouring towns by sucking retail custom away.

“The proposal would be likely to have a harmful effect on the vitality and viability of Kirkby, Bootle, Skelmersdale and St Helens and would conflict with policy to support and enhance the Liverpool city centre,” Denham said in his letter to Tesco’s planning consultants, DPP, on

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Nov 05

Everton 0-2 Benfica

The heaviest European away defeat in Everton’s history followed by their largest home reverse; it is safe to say David Moyes will be glad to wave goodbye to Benfica. Attempts to amend for their humbling in Portugal brought only fresh soul-searching for Everton, who have gone seven games without a win and have much to do to qualify for the knockout phase.

Moyes had promised Benfica a different Everton from the weakened side that slumped 5-0 at the Stadium of Light. It was certainly a different experience for the Portuguese supporters who ventured to Merseyside on Bonfire night, their bemusement while sampling chips and gravy on the streets of Walton heightened by the local rapscallions who ignited fireworks at their feet as they ate.

Inside the sulphur-scented stadium there was a far more resilient, purposeful Everton side on display than in the previous meeting. There was only two changes to that ignominious night in Lisbon but the availability of Leighton Baines and Joseph Yobo meant Moyes did not have to place so many round pegs in square holes.

Benfica, despite being without an away win in seven European ties, were still an inventive and gifted opponents, however, and Javier Saviola tested Tim Howard at his near post with their first attack. The Argentinian was also denied at the end of the first half when, after Oscar Cardozo had headed a cross against a post, the Everton goalkeeper produced an inspired save to tip away Saviola’s rebound.

Unlike at the Stadium of Light, however, Howard was not the only keeper in action. Marouane Fellaini endured a torrid second half in Lisbon, but almost made amends when he forced a low save from Julio César. A sublime turn from Yakubu Ayegbeni inside the area deserved better than a sliced finish.

Everton were providing the more consistent threat, although Yakubu was fortunate to escape with a yellow card for a dangerous foul on Ramires. The French referee clearly took into account that the striker’s lunge appeared slow and clumsy rather than intentionally malicious, although he deliberated the colour of the card for several seconds.

Eusébio, the Portugal legend, was present for his former club’s visit to the stadium where he scored six goals in the 1966 World Cup and would have faced England in the semi-finals until the Football Association switched the game to Wembley at the last minute, a decision that aided the host nation but still rankles with fans of a certain age on Merseyside. He would have appreciated the gifts of Everton’s tormentor-in-chief in both fixtures, Angel Di María.

The Benfica winger wasted a glorious chance to open the scoring as the visitors began to take the upper hand in the second half. Sent clear by a defence-piercing pass from Cardozo, Di María sprinted clear of Yobo, no mean feat, but blazed yards over as he closed down on Howard’s goal. He didn’t take long to make amends.

Di María’s next offering was to sting Howard’s palms with a fierce angled drive. He then carved open the Everton defence with a series of exchanges with Saviola and, as Moyes raged at Sylvain Distin for committing himself high up the field, the Argentinian took advantage of chaos inside the home area to convert into the bottom corner. Cardozo then sealed the victory with a left-footed volley into the same spot after Ruben Amorim’s shot had deflected into his path off Yobo.

Uefa Europa LeagueEvertonBenficaAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,