Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
Everton fans should be getting excited about the move to their new Bramley Moore Dock Stadium, which is scheduled to open in time for the 2025/26 season.
It's with a heavy heart that they leave Goodison Park after more than 130 years of calling it home, but there are many plus sides of moving to a modern new ground that can hold in excess of 52,000 fans.
But one of the drawbacks, it seems, is the venue's drainage, with viral photos and videos confirming that the stadium flooded for the second time in just three months in the wake of Storm Darragh.
With the Premier League title odds making their fierce local rivals Liverpool an 8/13 chance to lift the trophy this season, Toffees fans are looking for any positives they can take from 2024/25.
The good news is that, according to the bookmakers in their Premiership relegation odds at least, the threat of demotion has eased: Everton are out to 11/4, with Southampton (1/12), Ipswich Town (1/4) and Leicester City (4/5) all at odds-on prices for the dreaded drop.
With the Friedkin Group's takeover of the club expected to go through in the coming months, there are reasons for Blues fans to be cheerful… even if the flooding issues at their new home will leave plenty red faced.
BREAKING: The Friedkin Group reaches total agreement to buy Everton. TFG purchasing all Farhad Moshiri shares + investing to reduce club debt. Moshiri accepted best deal for #EFC. Approval process ~12wk. Secures financial stability/future @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/iuodV3V47U
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) September 23, 2024
The torrent of rain that came during Storm Darragh caused a surge of water to flood the concourse and flow rapidly down the stadium's steps, with concerns of how the lack of drainage will ultimately affect the matchday experience next season.
It's the second time in three months that the Bramley Moore Dock Stadium has flooded, with similarly high rainfall back in October causing a leak in one of the stands.
All of which has left the construction team with egg on their faces, after proclaiming that 'the rest of Liverpool could flood but the football stadium should be okay.'
To the naked eye at least, the Bramley Moore Dock Stadium project appears to be complete.
Each of the four stands has been erected and all of the 52,888 blue seats are in place, with a 'pitch' – still just a rectangle of grass at the time of writing – installed.
The construction, which has taken more than three years, has not been without its hitches. The docks at Bramley Moore were a Unesco World Heritage site prior to the waterfront development, which put some limitations on the build, while the parcel of land upon which the stadium has been built was once a designated floodplain area.
With the red tape likely to be cut on the ground early in 2025, a series of test events will be held there to ensure that the stadium is ready to be opened for Everton games next August.
But there's a big question on the lips of their supporters: which division will the Toffees be playing in at that point?
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