EVERTON are rightly proud of their glitzy new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
It took three and a half years to build, and an eternity of planning before that, to end up with something spectacular on Bramley-Moore Dock.
Everton wanted to build a stadium in Kirkby in 2009[/caption]
The ground would have been the centrepiece of a huge retail park[/caption]
But if former Toffees bosses had their way, they would have made a totally different move.
Everton made multiple attempts to ditch Goodison Park before they eventually got the go-ahead from local authorities.
One such effort involved a brand new £150million stadium forming the centrepiece of a giant retail park in Kirkby.
Then-Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy – an Everton fan – was behind the scheme that the government rejected in 2009.
The ground would have housed 50,000 supporters and been surrounded by shops – a far cry from where they ended up.
A separate proposal was also drafted up by a Merseyside consortium in 2010, which would have involved the construction of two conjoined stadiums for Liverpool and Everton.
Fans may now be pleased that both of those plans failed to materialise as club bosses went on to splash a whopping £800MILLION on the Hill Dickinson Stadium, which sits on the waterfront and has earned rave reviews.
Goodison was given an emotional send-off at the end of last season, but the new ground boasts a significantly higher capacity of 52,769.
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Architects made the Hill Dickinson Stadium stands as steep as possible to give fans an optimal view of the action.
Everton hired a chef with Michelin star experience to come up with ‘Instagrammable’ food options in the concourse.
Fans use a high-tech electronic system to order half-time drinks with the aim of speeding up service.
And the stadium was designed to run on 100 per cent sustainable energy sources.
The move is set to earn Everton millions of pounds extra in matchday revenue each season.
Everton spent £800m on the Hill Dickinson Stadium[/caption]
It boasts a capacity of nearly 53,000[/caption]
