Everton are considering leaving their Goodison Park ground, home for the club for 114 years, to a new stadium outside the city of Liverpool.
The plans, which provoked angry opposition from many supporters at Monday night’s Annual General Meeting, would involve a new stadium being built in the nearby town of Kirkby as part of a development in conjunction with Britain’s biggest supermarket chain Tesco.
Goodison has been Everton’s home since 1892, when the club moved from its former ground at Anfield, which was taken over by arch-rivals Liverpool.
The current Goodison Park stadium has a capacity of just over 40,000 and local planning constraints have meant that Everton have been unable expand on the site.
Club chairman Bill Kenwright told the annual general meeting of shareholders on Monday evening Everton needed to move if it was to compete again at the highest level.
“I would love to say here forever,” he said Tuesday. “But it is not an financial option for Everton to remain at Goodison Park.”
Liverpool are reportedly close to finalising plans to leave Anfield for a new 60,000-seat stadium at nearby Stanley Park in time for the start of the 2009-10 season.
