Louis

Update - expected to be finished Early 2009 and will be open to public in Spring 2009. At the closest point it's 1.1 miles to Kirkby,. so you're actually better off going by canal than by car because you can park closer!

We won't have £78million to spend - I can tell you that for free. Most of that was going to be borrowed or sought from naming rights and sold assets. I'm not shocked by it but a little disappointed that it was so vague, he could have specified whether Moyes had money if the move was going ahead or not. I'm concerned that he'll have no transfer kitty this season as it will have been earmarked for the new stadium.

I hope Amir Khan get's battered! Kahn vs. Ribery seems better :

It looks pretty good so far: http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ll/liverpool-link15.htm I don't know when it will be finished, it'll be strange going to the Albert Dock seeing it full of canal boats.

Ewe better stop.

You aint seen nothing yet... the Wirral show is on in 2 weeks. :|

ToffeeTalk interview with former Everton player and assistant manager Alan Irvine. What were the circumstances of leaving Everton as a player? I had played all the games in the Milk Cup run and also all the games up to the semi-final in the FA Cup run. But unfortunately from the January of that year I had a piece of floating bone in the back of my knee. When I played in the Milk Cup Final and then the replay a few days later my knee locked and I had to have an operation. So I didn’t actually leave before the season had ended because I started the pre-season the following season with Everton. Unfortunately it became clear to me that I wasn’t going to start the season in the team and I then had an opportunity put forward to me to move to Crystal Palace on loan. I have a great deal of respect for Steve Coppell as a right-winger and obviously being a right-winger myself I though I could go and learn things there. I was someone who came into football late and I was desperate to make up for lost time. Perhaps I was a little bit impetuous and I should have hung about and waited for my chance but I just felt that I was so desperate to play football that I decided to take the chance to move to Crystal Palace. Do I have regrets? In some ways yes but I was loving the fact that I was playing every week every time that I was available. It was a good decision from that point of view and I continued to watch Everton very closely and was absolutely delighted to see my former team mates and the Club that I liked so much being successful. I felt I made the right decision and I still do now. Would any of the current Everton players challenged for a place in the 1984 side? I think so. There were a lot of very good players in the Everton side in the 1980s but there are really good players in the team now. I always feel that it is very hard to make comparisons because obviously the game has changed. The speed of the game has changed more than anything and there are now more quick players in he game now. I think it is very difficult to say whether players were better in the 80s than they are now or vice versa but the fact is that great players from any era would be great players in any era. Were you surprised to receive the call from David Moyes to take up the Assistant Manager’s post at Goodison Park? I was very surprised because I didn’t know David particularly well. I’d met him at coaching courses and reserve games that he had come to watch up at Newcastle and I got on well with him when I saw him but we weren’t friends and there was no history between us. I was completely taken aback when he made me the offer. Having said that, I was Academy Director at Newcastle but I had been the first team coach effectively under Kenny Dalglish. So I had worked in the Premiership already, I’d been involved with a team which had reached an FA Cup Final and also one that had competed in the Champions League. David would have been aware of that, I’m guessing. They say 'never go back' but did you need much persuading to go back to Everton? Very, very little. It was a club that was dear to my heart, a club that still is. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Everton as a player and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there as Assistant Manager. It’s a great club with a lot of great of people within the club and great supporters so it was a very easy decision to come back. What have you learnt from David Moyes as a Manager and how do you feel you were able to help him? I don’t know if I taught David anything and you would need to ask him that. We certainly discussed everything and I think the most important thing about being a Manager, and something that is a real quality with David, is that you leave nothing to chance. You have to be very thorough and make sure that you don’t cut corners. Management is a demanding job but if you work hard and give everything you have got to the job then you have a chance of being successful. David’s success is built first and foremost on a lot of hard work and dedication to the job and of course on top of that there is a lot of talent as well. What are you happiest and least happiest memories at Everton both as a player and a member of the coaching staff? Well I’ve had an awful lot of happy ones, that’s for sure. As a player I would probably say getting through to the final of the FA Cup and playing Aston Villa. That would certainly rank up there and another would be making my début. I also won man-of-the-match that day too, coincidently against Aston Villa again. They were very happy moments. Least happy moments. I actually played very well against Manchester United and we lost to a last minute goal by Lou Macari having dominated the game and looked like the best team. That put us out of the FA Cup and that was a big blow, without a doubt. Any derby match in which we lost was also very bitter pill to swallow. The Milk Cup replay was a huge disappointment. It also turned out to be my last game, as I’ve already explained. As far as being a member of the coaching staff, there have been many highs. Finishing fourth in the league was a massive achievement. Qualifying for Europe again this last season, and the games in Europe were huge highs. Getting results against Manchester United and Liverpool too were massive. In terms of disappointments, finishing 17th in our second season was a major disappointment The Villareal and Steau Bucharest games too were low points for us. How would you rate Everton’s achievements this last season when you compare the budgets of the teams around them? They’ve done terrific. David and the team have done a great job, sadly they were missing key players in the last month or so and that’s definitely had an effect on them. They’ve moved up another level this year, the team has become better. Fifth is the least they deserved and I think it has been terrific season in the UEFA Cup. What David has done with the funds has been fantastic especially considering you can only spend what you have got and I believe the board helped David in every way they could. I’m sure if they could give him more money then they would do. The most important thing is that Everton remain strong as a club and don’t get into massive financial difficulties. How much of a benefit is it to have the youth and first team training together at Finch Farm? It’s a definite benefit. It’s something that isn’t a measure of cutting costs, it’s essential. It was a shame that for most of the time whilst I was there that youth team players trained at a separate location. It meant that if we ever needed to call an extra player over that we couldn’t because it was a 20 minute drive away. Now it’s possible because it simply take someone to run over to a nearby pitch and tell the young lad that he has got the opportunity to train with the first team. It’s also possible to have first team attackers playing against youth team defenders and that’s brilliant in terms of the first team players for their training and it’s also great for the youth team too. I think it’s a great thing that the youth players are training at Finch Farm and it should be like that at every club. Do you believe that the Merseyside derby has become too fierce in local years or does it give the big game an extra edge? I think that there has always been intense rivalry, it’s always been the reds against the blues. The fact is that the Merseyside derby for me was always a great occasion because whilst the fierce rivalry was there, there was never any bother at the games. It’s not an aggressive rivalry, it was intense but always as friendly as you could get. I thought it was amazing when I came down to see a dad walking down with his children and you would see a lad wearing red on one side and another lad wearing blue on the other. You could see Evertonians in the Kop or Liverpudlians in the Gwladys Street End without there being any hint of trouble. Sadly I don’t see it being as good natured now. It would be great if we could get back to that, so that we keep the intense rivalry but it’s in that good natured way that has always been part of the culture as far as I’m concerned. There’s a lot of humour in Liverpool and that was an important part of the derby matches as well. --- Thanks to Alan Irvine for answering our questions and also thanks to Adrian Ward and Rob Urbani at Preston North End for arranging the interview.

Bit late now

That is pretty much my understanding of it too 'Dank', nice to see you return by the way A lot's happening behind the scenes now, all interested parties involved are lobbying prominent people now, it's up to the government's north west office and Hazell Blears whether the development can go ahead. We'll find out within the next 15 days if the stadium will be called in for a public inquiry or not. If it is, several possible outcomes: it may not happen due to increased costs - no Kirkby stadium the government will tell Tesco the plans no good and reject it - no Kirkby stadium the government may approve it - stadium goes ahead at increased costs the government may approve it - but everton run out of money to fund the deal - no stadium If it's not, the stadium will go ahead unless Everton can't afford it. I couldn't tell you which is more likely to happen because everyone's cards are so close to their chests. Did you ever get your 1933 programme valued?

No idea.... the official site isn't exactly helpful when it comes to the academy/scouting network.

I did too. Apparently Paul Bennet was brought in from Crewe to replace him

After first becoming an FA football development officer, Ray joined Everton to start his 17 year stretch at the Merseyside club. The Academy manager began as an Everton development officer before moving on as coach, head coach and finally the manager's post he fills today. Over the years Ray has seen the inception of the Academy and watched it grow from a small team of 6 to an army of 23 full-time and over 200 part-time staff. The youth programme evolved into the 'Everton Way' with the growth of the Academy, and with it, Ray has brought many young players through the ranks and into the Premiership. Wayne Rooney, Richard Dunne, Gavin McCann, Michael Ball and more recent graduates like Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Victor Anichebe and James Vaughan all joined the club as young boys and developed into national and international stars. http://www.soccerdreams.ca/content/view/19/33/lang,en/

The line beneath Liverpool One is between Central and James Street.. wirral line suits me to a tee Well.. Phil Neville is our captain.. it's a shame that there is no EFC store there, from what I hear LFC are soaking up the extra attention due to no blue competitor in town. Was it impressive or just run of the mill?

I went there for my birthday.. it was great.. the prawn cocktail was superb.

I've just created one: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20420171372 Just for promotional reasons really.

You may end up with the Mystery Park

Where would you like to see one Aaron? One of my suggestions was the land between Paddington and Crown Street.. near the police station and half a mile from lime street, just commercial (university) premises nearby, a school and there's a subway butty shop nearby.. see I think of everything http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|Live...9:19|Liverpool|

http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Council_govern...onsultation.asp Liverpool City Council testing the water with a survey to see how much demand for a public funded skate park there is. There's a survey here: http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/docs/survey/sk...onsultation.htm Although I don't skate, I'm all for a skate park in liverpool providing it's a high quality one and not one that looks like an afterthought because someone had a lorry full of spare cement. I didn't think Walton Hall Park or Otterspool Promenade were very good locations either so I suggested some of my own

One for each age group I think

Nice birds eye view of it from here: http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|Hale...land,%20L26%201

Well.. it's only a year.

Keith Wyness said in the echo today that Kirkby is the only suitable site he's looked at out of 35. From http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-n...0252-21049140/ Some sites shouldn't be on the list because it is abundantly obvious that a stadium wouldn't go there and some have poor reasons for being neglected. Here is the full list: The above bit in bold is a posh way of saying Everton looked at 3 of these sites, the rest were taken from Liverpool's stadium planning application.

Knowsley Council will be the stadium operators and they will directly negotiate the sub-lease terms with Everton. Keith Wyness has called it a "peppercorn rent" but has still not given an exact sum. Tesco will sign a 999 year lease for the land from Knowsley Council and Everton FC will sub-lease from Tesco. So we will be paying Tesco rent for using the stadium. Also any maintenance that the stadium requires will be Everton's responsibility and not Tesco or KMBC. No one mentioned this before.. From official questions - http://stadium.evertonfc.com/news/questions-answered.php : and from http://stadium.evertonfc.com/faq.php: He didn't lie but I don't think he told the whole truth

Yeah, there was no shock.

2001 I think Josh, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Bouma were still there