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No you haven’t walked into a Mark Clattenberg wet dream, I’m referring to the new £900million development in the centre of our city.

So the initial opening of our new centre of shopping has taken place, as the rejuvenation of Liverpool continues with the building of Liverpool One, except there is one notable absence, one of Liverpool’s longest established institutions hasn’t been invited to the party, Everton.

Here we are, in Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture, home of world heritage buildings, The Beatles, the most museums and galleries outside of London, Aintree racecourse, and two of England’s greatest footballing institutions, or so I thought.

A visitor to Liverpool would be forgiven if they didn’t realise that Liverpool was the home of two very big clubs, each with very illustrious histories, as only one has any notable presence within our great city.

This year, 2008, is the year our city aimed to put itself back on the world map as a vibrant rejuvenating city. However this new incarnation of our city seems to have been built with the exception of our great club.
Liverpool 08, the culture company, the company which has been given a year to sing the praises of everything that is good about Liverpool, have put football on their agenda. Most visitors to Liverpool08.com will find a photo of Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, on the front page, followed by a quote of how he loves the city, but no matter how many times you refresh the page, in the list of notable scousers whose quotes will appear, none of those have any connection to Everton. In fact, had it not been for Everton FC shareholders, who put on ‘The Dixie Dean Story’ at Crosby Civic Hall, Everton wouldn’t even have had a mention in what is supposed to be the dawn of a new era for Liverpool. Unfortunately the absence of Everton FC doesn’t stop with this one company.

Walk around Liverpool and you’ll see a fleet of buses painted in Liverpool FC red, with Liverpool legends of old gracing the sides. Above Lime Street, on a 100ft banner, the Liverpool squad look down over city, and as you walk into the new shopping district, you are met by the new Liverpool FC Superstore. The Mersey may flow Royal Blue, but the town is very definitely painted red.

Liverpool One boasts a catchment area of 4.7million, out of whom each spend more per head on average on clothing than in any other city. Yet Everton are confined to a corner of JJB, which resides under the shadow of a derelict St Johns. If we are to restore ourselves as the ‘People’s Club’ of Merseyside, this must change.

Letters are currently circulating amongst minor shareholders to call for an EGM, in order to question the board about many important issues surrounding the stadium, but I think they should look at the broader picture. Everton were once pioneers in football both on and off the pitch, and now, at a time when clubs are throwing themselves at the big money from foreign investors, I believe Everton should do what they do best, be innovators, not followers. Personally I believe the minor shareholders, and fans alike, should take the opportunity of an EGM to call for the formation of a fans pressure group, not a protest group which we currently have,

whose aim is to protest over a single issue, but a group who will ensure, under scrutiny and pressure from the fans, that the board is pulling the club in the right direction. A share issue could be called for to allow a new group of fans to not only buy into the club providing a short term cash boost, but also to give a larger group of fans the chance to have a greater say in the club’s future. The fans should be given the chance to elect a representative onto the Everton board to ensure our interests are being looked after, and that the elite of our club does not become a closed shop

Now is a vital time for Everton Football Club, with our greatest chance in decades to break into the elite again being just a few rungs of the ladder away, with the fate of our new stadium hanging in the balance, and most important of all with the city of Liverpool attempting to rebuild itself without Everton. The next few years will decide the future of Everton, and I believe we the fans should be given a voice and influence in the shaping of the club. We are not just loyal customers to a business, we are the life and soul of a great institution, and we should take the opportunity of an EGM to give us a permanent voice is the shaping of our great club’s future.

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