Everton announce date of planning application submission

Hopefully an end is now in sight and my thoughts are given to all the lads unfortunately no longer with us that fought so hard to stop Kirkby and who will never see our new home.

Hope I am still around to see Everton play at this venue.

Please give us some good news in the New Year that the application has been accepted.

Also, that only relatively minor amendments to the proposals previously presented are being made, and those amendments seem to have taken on board some suggestions made in the consultation process.

Apart from disquiet about the cost of the new stadium, and the debt it may load on the club, I'm going to remain positive about these plans because the alternative is stagnation and decline.

You'd hope this announcement about Bramley-Moore Dock is genuine and not a smokescreen...

I give up! I'm stabbing myself to death with a blunt spoon as we speak!

Tony, get yerself in to The Saddle (the one near the ground not the one in town) on the 18th before the Leicester game and I'll buy you a birthday pint or two, and yer aul fella — and you, Derek!

Was anyone else a bit confused when the initial designs were released... depending on which pic you look at the main stand looks either three-tiered or two-tiered.

(And in the first pic, some terrific pressing by the Blues/shocking defensive shape by the away team... I think the artist might need some schooling here from Steve F, and yes I spend too long staring at EFC-related material.)

A bit of moaning about the election result seems reasonable today, but agreed; best heading to other thead for the politics stuff.

Liverpool are going for over 60k, I know a lot fly in and travel from London, Devon and everywhere but I still feel it's an opportunity missed.

We're going to increase our matchgoing clientele by 33% to fill that.

Does anyone really think we can increase our attendance by 54% to fill a 60k stadium?

I don't!

Build it and they will come.

That was then, this is now.

Just my opinion mate.

Let's be realistic and have a full stadium every week with the room to expand if necessary.

I love being part of ToffeeWeb and posting, but honestly, it sucks the life out of you sometimes. Social media gives you the capacity to voice your concerns or plaudits, but on the flip side.

All I'm saying @37 is that if we improve on the pitch there's every reason to think we'll easily fill the new stadium of 52,000. Then, given that, (I believe) there's an option designed-in to expand to over 60,000, that option could be exercised if it turns out we're easily filling the 52,000-seater stadium.

Of course, if we don't improve on the pitch, then none of this filling of the stadium may happen. But surely we have to be positive and work on the basis of becoming a top side, which is partly what the stadium is for. It's all a question of risk, but risks can be directed in various ways with good management.

West Ham are getting steady gates of just under 60,000 this season; I'm guessing that, before they moved, some of their fans wouldn't have thought they'd get that number. Where did they come from? The old Upton Park had far less capacity.

I'd hate us to underestimate our numbers and then have to start building again not long after the ground opens. I suppose it's a crapshoot either way, but I just have this feeling that 52,000 is the wrong figure. With that logic, it's a good job I'm not an accountant, I suppose.

I, personally, don't think we'll get a 33% increase, week-in & week-out, and as for a 54% increase...

I have spoken to fans of other clubs who, whilst admiring Goodison as a traditional ground, are put off paying for and travelling to a decrepit bit of seating. So, if we had 60,000 and gave, say 5,000 to the opposition, then these seats would be taken up (I think).

I personally think standing rails might be in vogue within the next 3 years, and maybe this is what will lead to an increase in capacity without having to extend on the original plans?

Let's hope and pray we need it!

It's a different world today in that we are constantly brainwashed with football which creates the demand. Most Premier League clubs sell out on a regular basis so their average is usually pretty close to capacity.

Back in the 1960s, crowds fluctuated, depending on the opposition and the weather, because most didn't have season tickets, travelled to the game by public transport, on foot or, like me, by bike. Most of the terracing was open to the weather so, if it was pouring down, you got really soaked. Heavy rain before a game could knock 1000s off the anticipated attendance.

In the 1962-63 season, as in most seasons of that era, crowds ranged from 70,000+ for the big games to under 40,000 for the likes of Blackpool etc. Goodison held well over 70,000 but no-one ever suggested reducing the size of the ground to 50,000 on the reasoning that the season average was usually below that.

Even with admission prices being a shrinking percentage of club revenue, I feel starting at 52,000 is a huge missed opportunity and puts us firmly in with the middle-ranking clubs such as Newcastle.

We made this mistake once before building a small Park End (6,000 seats) 25 years ago. The Board, including Kenwright, had no vision for the future.

Everything points towards people attending more ‘events' in the future. Meanwhile, people play football less. It's evolution and time the Board opened their eyes. Imho, of course.

You have to bear in mind too that, in the '50s and '60s, nobody knew what the attendance was because half the crowd never “officially” paid at the gate. It was just a couple of bob to the turnstile operator. All the kids just bunked over the turnstile too.

Those bastards must have been millionaires... Wembley was the same. We went down on a full coach and only me and my brother had tickets — The whole coach got in!

The stadium was built about ten years ago, with a 52,000 capacity, has four stands close to the pitch and enclosed corners. Externally and internally there are similarities to the designs we have seen from Bramley-Moore Dock. I was therefore more than a little interested to see what the atmosphere was like.

I've been watching live football since 1969, mainly at Goodison but also some of the other grounds in the UK, Germany and Spain. My experience at the Turk Telecom stadium was on a different level and like nothing I have ever experienced before. It was helped by the pre-match build-up in our approach to the stadium and in the fan zones.

Once inside and an hour before kick-off, the ultra fans in the home end were already massed, jumping up and down and raucous. From then on, on all four sides of the ground, the fans created the most incredible atmosphere throughout.

Not only were the home fans passionately supportive of their own team, but they created an incredibly intimidating environment for the away team for the entire 95 minutes. At the end of the match, I asked my pal whether the atmosphere was always like this. He said, "Yes, for every game, but you ought to see it for the big matches!"

A well-designed stadium of 52,000 filled with passionate Evertonians can create a bear pit of a kind we all want our place to be. I hope future visitors to the Bramley-Moore Dock stadium will come away as impressed as I was after my experience at the home of Galatasaray.

Those bench seats at Wembley were seriously over crowded, though!

Spurs have gone from a similar figure at White Hart Lane to 62,000. Newcastle another case in point. Neither of these are bigger or better supported than us.

What are we afraid of? And even if it does end up being difficult to fill, an imaginative pricing structure can always be looked at – especially to attract the youngsters.

No sure if there is capasity to increase to another 5000 rail seats taking it to to 13,000 standing,65000 toatal.

So 60,000.