Should Everton build the new stadium?

Everton chief executive Keith Wyness sure thinks the stadium, which would see the club move outside the boundaries of Liverpool, is a good idea. "The deal of the century", he calls it. Is it?

We know how Wyness wants things to go but now 33,000 Everton fans will get a vote on the matter.

The stadium deal involves a 50m pound investment from supermarket chain Tesco. The rosy portrait being painted is that the new ground could open by 2010 and will see “minimal” debt being placed on the club. Most of the cash Everton needs to raise for the project would come from the sale of Goodison Park. And to boot, 10m pounds of extra transfer funds every season with the revenue from the extra seats. All sounds great.

No shortage of good salesmanship out there, but is the line being peddled by Everton’s management true or is the rosy a picture a farse?

The proposed stadium will be built on land contributed by Knowsley council and will hold around 55,000 people.

The main problem regarding the deal is the reluctance of many fans to leave Liverpool. As when politicians sell wars, scare tactics are brought in to make sure you do what others want:

"Attendance numbers will go down and then revenue will go down and when that happens, you can't compete. There is no Plan B. There is no other option."

“No other option”, sound familiar?

"Attendance numbers will go down"? Where are the facts to back that up?

“More transfer funds”, where have I heard that.

“Deal of the century”, there is a sucker born every minute.

Could this be a good deal? It might… but by the tone of the salesmanship, I have strong doubts. There are always other options unless you know what you want in advance and don't want to look.