Liverpool and Everton are both currently pursuing plans to build new stadium independently of each other, although the Reds plans have been pushed back to 2012 and the Toffees plan to move outside city boundaries to Kirkby is not universally popular.
Liverpool's massive debt was also revealed earlier this week, with the club's parent company showing a loss of £42.6 million.
Warren Bradley, head of the city of Liverpool's committee for England's 2018 World Cup bid, a man who claims to have seen the accounts of both clubs, has stated that the only way any plans for new grounds can succeed is if the two clubs agree to share.
Neither Anfield nor Goodison Park currently meet FIFA criteria as stadium which can host World Cup games.
"We've got to do something, if we are serious about being a bidding city for the World Cup. I don't want to see everything migrate down the M62 to Manchester where there are two fabulous stadiums," Bradley told The Observer.
"There is a need for a 60,000 fit-for-purpose, 21st-century stadium in Liverpool. It would cost around £300m. Sure, we still have the tribalistic supporters in the city who would say, 'I won't sit in it after a Liverpudlian or Evertonian has.' But that's not the argument, is it? I don't see any reason why it can't work – it does so across the southern hemisphere, and in Germany, Italy and America.
"We recognise the FIFA criteria, that both clubs must have 40,000-plus seats available to the paying public that doesn't include VIPs. I don't believe either club is in a position to satisfy that criteria, so therefore something needs to be done quickly," added Bradley.
Whilst Liverpool have refused to comment on Bradley's remarks, Everton spokesman Ian Ross angrily retorted, "Yes, the Everton directors have one view and that view is that we should push ahead with the destination project. For Warren Bradley to suggest that the directors have one view and that is [to have] a shared stadium is the usual utter nonsense.
"We have spent nearly three years working on destination Kirkby and are giving absolutely no consideration to any other scheme. Perhaps councillor Bradley should have fought somewhat harder to keep Everton inside the Liverpool city boundary if he is that intent on a joint stadium.
"We would have welcomed more help from our city council – that never happened, which is why we pursued Kirkby. For councillor Bradley to now claim there is a weight of opinion to suggest we should now have a joint stadium would appear to be opportunism of the first order."
Stanley Park, the city green space that separates the two geographically close grounds, has been mooted as a possible site for a shared ground. This is also the proposed site for Liverpool's new stadium.
Liverpool's massive debt was also revealed earlier this week, with the club's parent company showing a loss of £42.6 million.
Warren Bradley, head of the city of Liverpool's committee for England's 2018 World Cup bid, a man who claims to have seen the accounts of both clubs, has stated that the only way any plans for new grounds can succeed is if the two clubs agree to share.
Neither Anfield nor Goodison Park currently meet FIFA criteria as stadium which can host World Cup games.
"We've got to do something, if we are serious about being a bidding city for the World Cup. I don't want to see everything migrate down the M62 to Manchester where there are two fabulous stadiums," Bradley told The Observer.
"There is a need for a 60,000 fit-for-purpose, 21st-century stadium in Liverpool. It would cost around £300m. Sure, we still have the tribalistic supporters in the city who would say, 'I won't sit in it after a Liverpudlian or Evertonian has.' But that's not the argument, is it? I don't see any reason why it can't work – it does so across the southern hemisphere, and in Germany, Italy and America.
"We recognise the FIFA criteria, that both clubs must have 40,000-plus seats available to the paying public that doesn't include VIPs. I don't believe either club is in a position to satisfy that criteria, so therefore something needs to be done quickly," added Bradley.
Whilst Liverpool have refused to comment on Bradley's remarks, Everton spokesman Ian Ross angrily retorted, "Yes, the Everton directors have one view and that view is that we should push ahead with the destination project. For Warren Bradley to suggest that the directors have one view and that is [to have] a shared stadium is the usual utter nonsense.
"We have spent nearly three years working on destination Kirkby and are giving absolutely no consideration to any other scheme. Perhaps councillor Bradley should have fought somewhat harder to keep Everton inside the Liverpool city boundary if he is that intent on a joint stadium.
"We would have welcomed more help from our city council – that never happened, which is why we pursued Kirkby. For councillor Bradley to now claim there is a weight of opinion to suggest we should now have a joint stadium would appear to be opportunism of the first order."
Stanley Park, the city green space that separates the two geographically close grounds, has been mooted as a possible site for a shared ground. This is also the proposed site for Liverpool's new stadium.
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