A fresh start with Everton choosing to delay the opening for another season.
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00:00 Finally on Everton, obviously the decision to open their new stadium for the start of the 25/26 season.
00:07 I mean, we've spoke about the impact it has on the community and the club as a whole,
00:11 and they wanted to ensure they were a Premier League club for that opening as well.
00:16 What do you see coming from this? It must be, you know, a real positive that they are planning to open it.
00:22 Yeah, of course. Yeah, I think obviously the timeline's always been
00:26 the stadium construction will be complete by late 2024, so around a year's time.
00:33 And then the question was, well, do Everton move into it midway through next season,
00:38 or do they wait until the season after? And you can see both arguments.
00:42 You can see why Everton, some fans might have wanted to move as soon as possible.
00:48 Now, do you think the additional revenue that that stadium is going to bring into the club,
00:53 it's going to be massive for Everton? It'll be, you know, all the new...
01:01 Apart from that, you know, they've got additional seating and then all the sorts of corporate revenue
01:09 that it'll bring in will be significant. But you can understand why it has been delayed.
01:15 It just means that when Everton do move, they can get it to a T. They're not in a rush to move it.
01:19 They can get the test events correct. If there's any teaming problems, they can get those done.
01:25 And as well, I think it gives businesses a bit more quality around Goodson Park
01:32 and who are going to be opening around Bramley Mall as well, because if you're moving midway
01:37 through a season, Everton might not have known the exact date, to be honest with you.
01:40 They might have thought, "Oh, right, we can move in three weeks now."
01:44 And you've got pubs and cafes and chippies around Goodson.
01:49 We'll go, "Well, what does that mean for us now? We're going to lose out on X amount of
01:54 on-batch day money." So I think that helps for the local economy as well, you know,
02:00 this plan going forwards. And maybe with the stadium opening at the start of the season,
02:07 that summer as well beforehand, you can have more events, you know, concerts, etc.,
02:12 which will bring in additional revenue. And that can help with any teaming problems as well,
02:17 maybe for match days. And you haven't got to worry that, "Right, we need to get the season
02:23 finished," etc., and then we can move on to that potentially. I don't know. But, I mean,
02:28 you see it going up at a rate of knots every week at the stadium. And when you go past it now,
02:36 you can really see what it's going to be like on a match day. Real excitement. And, you know,
02:43 there'll be a lot. It'll be a poignant last season as well at Goodson. Obviously, it'll be 134 years
02:48 that Everton have been the grand old lady before they move, times have to change. But, you know,
02:54 Everton fans can at least go to Goodson that final season. Now we might only be here 19 times,
03:00 18 times, start ticking them down and actually really, really make sure that they remember the
03:06 experience and don't take it for granted.