Prince Rupert's Tower
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Everton must build a team worthy of new ground

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City scores a goal to make it 1-2 during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park on February 17, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City scores a goal to make it 1-2 during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester City at Goodison Park on February 17, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images) /
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As we’ve discussed in earlier articles Everton have finally received approval from the city council for their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Now the challenge is to make sure they have a team that will fill it!

There is technically still one more hurdle to go as the council decision has to go before the Secretary of State in London for his or her approval. But barring any last minute hitches, Everton can at last start building a new ground.

The saga of a new stadium for the Toffees has been going on for a long time. There have been plans to move from Goodison Park for at least twenty years but each project ultimately fell though as the club either lacked the financial resources or the right site to make it happen.

Now finally with the financial backing of Farhad Moshiri and the council and a suitable area identified and secured, the move is on at last.

Like most Evertonians I suspect, I have mixed feelings about this change. The grand old lady has served the club well down the years and has seen some fine teams tread her turf.

From the Twenties and Thirties sides featuring the legendary Dixie Dean and Tommy Lawton at centre-forward to the sixties when the Blues won titles and the FA Cup and then of course the mid-eighties revivial and Everton’s greatest era when two league championships and two cups were won in four seasons.

But it’s true that over the years Goodison Park has begun to show it’s age while the teams playing there in recent seasons have certainly not lived up to the fabled sides of the past.

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And with no possibility of renovating and expanding it’s capacity because of the location of the ground right in the middle of a residential area of the city, it has seemed inevitable for a while that the Toffees must eventually move on to pastures new.

In addition, to compete with the other major clubs in the Premier League, Everton need a larger capacity to increase match-day and advertising revenue.

And the new ground will give the club the chance to attract and host other major events like rock concerts and the like, which bring in useful additional income.

The new ground is certainly impressive looking in those computer-generated models and if when built it looks anything like those plans, then the club will have a state-of-the-art stadium to move into.

Let’s just hope that the Covid situation doesn’t continue beyond this year otherwise it might prove impossible anyway to have a full capacity at the new ground, no matter how good the team is.

Assuming that’s not the case, now the club needs to ensure that they will have a competitive side deserving of their new home and one that will enable them to fill that 52,000 seat stadium, week in, week out.

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