New Everton Stadium gets green light
After a long and at times uncertain wait the Government have finally given their approval for Everton to build their brand new ground at Bramley Moore Dock.
Everton have been hunting for a new home for many years and at one point it seemed as though it would never happen with financial constraints and planning uncertainties a constant background to such plans, none of which came to fruition.
Well now it’s finally happened and the Toffees are about to embark on a brand new chapter in the club’s long history.
There are still a few more hurdles in the almost never-ending bueauracratic process with these things. The council still have to formally sign off on the project, which is apparently a formality and there could also be a judicial review.
Assuming nothing like that happens the next stage will be to sort out starting construction work which will begin later this year.
Owner Farhad Moshiri deserves credit for his willingness to persist with this project and for the amount he has invested in it.
While there have been plenty of issues with the managers and backroom staff he has previously appointed, (at least until Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival), no one can doubt his commitment to the club.
It will be sad to say goodbye to the Goodison Park ground as the grand old lady has been home to the Blues since 1892 and has seen numerous championships and cups won and some great Everton teams in it’s time. But sadly she is now starting to show her age and there is no way to expand the ground and rebuild it.
So now the question is can Everton ensure they have a team good enough to grace this new arena and make sure they can fill it too.
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There seems to be quite a lot of confusion over the Toffees transfer plans for this summer with various reports that the Blues are only signing two or three players and may or may not wnat to keep on-loan players Robin Olsen and Josh King.
There’s also the usual chatter about the club being after this or that player including one or two that seem very unlikely.
Chief among these reports recently is that Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti wants to bring another of his former charges to the club: Khalidou Koulibaly.
Despite the club having a surfit of centre-backs Mason Holgate, Yerry Mina, Micheal Keane, Ben Godfrey and the two youngsters on loan Jarrad Branthwaite and Lewis Gibson, reports claimed the club were interested in a summer deal for the Napoli defender.
Well whatever the truth about that particular rumour the next few transfer windows will be crucial is ensuring that when Everton run out on the pitch of their new stadium, hopefully in 2024, they have a team that is a winning and competitive one for all those fans to cheer on.