Big hopes for Bramley Dock

Everton Football Club and its new American owners want to accelerate development around the Liverpool-based team’s new waterfront stadium, in a call to politicians and investors to help revive a neglected stretch of the city.

With months to go until the Premier League side moves from Goodison Park, its home since 1892, to Bramley-Moore Dock, the latest addition to the north Liverpool skyline stands out in an area that has not kept pace.

The stadium is the foundation of fans’ hopes for a brighter future under the Texas-headquartered Friedkin Group, which became the latest US company to buy into the top flight of English football last year. Marc Watts, Everton executive chair and Friedkin Group president, told the Financial Times it would be “such a shame” and a “missed opportunity” not to use the stadium as a “catalyst to lift up that whole area of the northern docks and the development of the whole Liverpool area”.

Overlooking the river Mersey, the 52,888-capacity venue is capped by a barrel roof that is the futuristic foil to the history invoked by the columns of brick below. The plaza outside can accommodate up to 17,000 fans.

But the local area is lacking the full range of pubs, restaurants and facilities that football fans and concert goers would expect. The Titanic Hotel, a repurposed warehouse opened in 2014 on the nearby Stanley Dock, hints at the potential. As Everton has held test events at the new stadium, small stalls have started to pop up.

As Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, seeks more than £200mn in government funding for the regeneration of Old Trafford, where Manchester United plans to build a new stadium, interim chief executive Colin Chong pointed out that Everton had a head start on its Premier League rival.

Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said the stadium would become a “hugely important landmark” for regeneration and that he expected housing developments, boosted by a £56mn grant from agency Homes England, to increase footfall and spur talks with investors. Wider development could justify improved transport links to complement the Sandhills train station that serves the football ground, Rotheram said.

Everton’s new home is not just critical to regeneration. The club has lost £566mn in seven seasons since its last profit in the 2016-17 financial year, weighed down by spending on players, infrastructure investment and debt.

The stadium, bolstered by bigger capacity and modern hospitality facilities, could boost revenues by at least £60mn a year, one person close to the club told the Pink ‘Un — vital firepower in the fight for top players and qualification for European competitions. It will be one of the venues hosting the Euro 2028 international men’s tournament and the Ashes rugby league series between England and Australia in November, as well as competing for top music concerts and business conferences.

The Friedkin Group, which spans sport, entertainment, travel and Toyota dealership, stepped in and completed a takeover in December. New ownership facilitated Everton’s £350mn infrastructure refinancing arranged by US bank JPMorgan, cutting interest costs.

The Everton men’s team has not won a major trophy since the FA Cup in 1995, and the last of the club’s nine league titles came in 1987. Under the new owners the goal is to return to winning ways by focusing on fans, the economics of the team and making effective use of the stadium.

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...

The Political Economy of Football V2

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