Which is a bit rich coming from anyone at Liverpool City Council eh. "Lord" Joe should remember its our beloved council (and the club too) who've allowed a decade of decay around the area. Let's be honest, this expansion plan is little different than the one that the council managed to scupper ten years ago by being ****ing useless. Yes he is right to be trying to get a solid committment from the club but shouldn't he still be committed to redeveloping the area either way? That is his job after all.
Of course it's his job just as it was the job of successive council's down the years, the urban decay in Anfield is a disgrace, we've seen the area go down the pan for years and lets be honest a lot of it has been down to local residents that are Evertonians voting against a move to the park etc and local councillors that are blues stopping progress, this mornings news doesn't move us any nearer to what we need, and Ian Ayre did everything he could not to commit the club imo.
As much as I'd love to blame the bluenoses for this mate I don't honestly think that's the case. The fact is when you try and force people out of their homes they have a tendency to say "**** you". Even as a Red if I'd found my club treating me as an inconvenience for having the cheek to reside near the ground I'd have never given up my home just to "help out" the club. Ultimately neither the council or the club have up until now gone about this properly. They have bullied and cajoled and then acted surprised when locals (Red, Blue and not interested) have dug their heels in. IMO residents were right to be up in arms about the councils plans to just hand over half the local park to LFC. That park is ours as residents of the city, it is a historic public park built for good reason (the houses in the area don't have gardens) and not just something to be handed over to anybody to build on. Even as a Red I totally objected to that mate.
Fair enough, but if i was an Anfield resident i'd think that losing the park but gaining a better environment for my kids and the elderly was worth it, better housing and everyday facilities and a new medical centre and better shopping etc far outweigh the need for the park imo. A fair chunk of the park was turned into a matchday carpark without any problems and even if we'd built a new stadium on the park close to where we are now the side of the park by the boating lake and St Domingo would have survived. I agree about families getting rough treatment from the club down the years and their right to live where they want Billy but how are we as a club going to move forward if those issues aren't addressed properly?
OK so let’s say each new seat brings in £1000 a year? And we increase by 15.000 that will bring in 15.000.000 more a year, at a cost of 250.000.000 that will take about 16 years for it to pay for itself. Is that about right? Rough numbers of course. I have a whopper of a headache today
The expansion will also see a corporate box being built, which will be great for business and attracting fresh investment. It will also see an improvement to the area around Anfield. This will improve the community and tourism. Chaching.
Sorry Billy but lots of the property around Anfield should have been condemned in the 1950's. The continued deterioration in the area has far more to do with the Council than it does with the Club. All I would ask of the Council is that they treat the residents with respect. If they are to offer them other accommodation then let's see them return to the quality of the council houses that they built in the 50's rather than the ticky tacky shoddy stuff that the errected in the 60's and onwards. I don't know the details of the proposals as well as you do but irrespective of the needs of both Liverpool and Everton to develop their grounds, the whole area is in desperate need of regeneration.
Sorry mate I disagree. I don't think it should ever have been a question of "you can have a better area to live in but you can't have the park as well". The residents of Anfield deserve these facilities anyway. Yes a fair chunk of the park was robbed for matchday parking. Should it have been? No not in my opinion the bloody council has done **** all to improve transport links to the ground over the years hence the need to have everyone drive to the game. The simple answer to your last point is that the club needs to care. Not just about money, not just about expansion but about the positive impact it can have on Anfield as an area. Most residents I've ever spoken to in the area despair of the actions of the club in recent years. They don't despair of the club itself just the way those who have owned it have totally neglected and chosen to ignore the problems that abound outside its walls and fences. Change that attitude and you'll find locals will welcome the news of expansion because ultimately most still do want the club to remain in the area.
These Americans are very media savvy. I doubt they give a damn about the people living in and around Anfield (and why should they) but they'll give them the best treatment possible for their own corporate reputations if anything.
My last point still stands, how are we ever going to move forward? So the park stays, the people in the surrounding streets have a right to live there etc, i think the situation plays into FSG's hands(as i implied in my 1st post on the thread)because i honestly don't think our owners want to spend all the money LFC make on LFC. It's done my head in to see club after club modernise or newbuild and we've been left in limbo, i think Ayre's negativity today shows where our owners stand on the issue.
You're right about a lot of the housing in the area Dave as you're right that the council should take the majority of the blame for the state of it. However look back at recent years and the problems LFC have had with expansion. Ask yourself why residents have been so unwilling to compromise with club and council. The simple answer is because neither club nor council have ever tried to compromise with them. They have simply tried to drag people from their homes and bulldoze them. They have never offered to build good quality replacement homes, renovate the good quality houses that are still around, or spend money in the area, build new schools or healthcare facilities. In short both council and club have wanted to take the easy option every time and basically its got us absolutely bloody nowhere. All it will take is a bit of vision and a more socially aware approach and everyone can benefit
It can be done mate. In fact its actually not that complicated. Offer people a fair price for their homes instead of just trying to steal them for a pittance as happened ten years ago. Offer to improve the area and its facilities along with the re-build. Give the locals an incentive and they will get on board. Telling them you're going to steal their home or their park isn't getting them on board. Telling them you're going to buy their home for a fair price AND the councils going to spend x amount on your local area...and the clubs going to get much more involved locally, ensuring jobs stay local etc WILL get folks on board.
I'll give you a simple reason "why they should care". Its having owners who didn't care which has held back the expansion of Anfield for decades and turned the entire area into a near wasteland in the process. They want extra matchday revenues then they need the locals onside to enable the expansion to go ahead smoothly
I doubt it has anything at all to do with the Owners being American. In truth there are very few commercial organisations that truly have any great concern for those who are affected by their operations. When there is good PR to be gained then they will appear to go beyond what is legally expected of them. However, they will all limit their liabilities to the best of their ability.
I've just heard the residents have been offered £48k and an extra 4k upheaval money, where the **** are they going to get another house for that? This will drag on for years with court cases etc.
So nothing new really. The only definite update is that a new stadium is out of the equation and we will be redeveloping Anfield. The rest that is said is all covered in uncertainties!
Then its up to the Council to force them in to it. You want this land and this expansion then here's what we want in return. If the Germans can do it so successfully why can't we? Demanding a certain level of social responsibility from their big companies and employers hasn't exactly done German business and industry much harm has it
That's not what I meant by doing things properly In which case this will end up as it did ten years ago...a total failure and another wasted decade. Where did you hear that? I suppose they could use that money to buy a whole street in Page Moss
An Anfield resident was just on the BBC phone in, he gave the figures and said they were told if they don't accept the money offered cpo's will happen.
