The football dealmaker who has been asked to find a buyer for Everton said yesterday that he believes that a groundshare with Liverpool is the way ahead, with both clubs struggling to build one.Everton's plans to relocate to Kirkby have been delayed by a year and remain in the balance, with a public inquiry into them due to start later this month, while Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Liverpool's owners, simply cannot afford to build the stadium their club's financial growth is pinned upon. Harris, who declared earlier this week that the task of finding buyers in the current financial climate was challenging, said a San Siro-style shared stadium – rejected by both clubs' fans in the past – may yet offer a solution. "The controversial thing to suggest, which no one will do, is the notion that maybe the city of Liverpool could have one stadium," he said. "Why not? Technology today can turn a stadium from blue to red in the flick of a switch." The people of Milan and Rome would see the sense in that, though on Merseyside, a conurbation which rejected blue wheelie bins in favour of purple to avoid identification with either football team, the case has always been harder to make. Liverpool's seeming inability to build a stadium has prompted the leader of Liverpool council, Warren Bradley, to advocate it, though the Reds' chief executive, Rick Parry, reiterated recently he does not see it as the way ahead. "Groundshare is not back on the agenda. It's a case of a delay while things settle down," he said. How long that remains the case seems dependent on whether Hicks and Gillett manage to sell, before or after the January date on which their loan arrangements expire. Harris said: "I know there are loads of issues about how the revenue is split, but a shared stadium would make the prospect of investment in either club much clearer." He also believes that the mutual antipathy present between the Manchester clubs' fans is not to be found on Merseyside. "My impression from going to Liverpool – and I've been to both grounds many times – is that the fans there may have a bit of banter, but there isn't that in-built hatred." The Seymour Pierce executive chairman, who is also seeking a buyer for Newcastle, said the competition between the Merseyside clubs made it harder for them to generate stadium income than Newcastle. "The model that Arsenal used when it moved from Highbury to the Emirates, going from 38,000 to 67,000 and immediately filling it with corporate seats, was done at a time of substantial corporate wealth, and when levels of wealth in the South were higher," he said. "That's not quite so straightforward anywhere in the North. The big cities outside London don't have that level of personal income and don't have that number of companies clamouring for boxes... and it was also four years ago." Everton were not for discussing Harris' suggestions yesterday. But the prospects of selling the club were certainly not enhanced by the Government's decision to "call in" Everton's plans for a purpose-built stadium. The prospect of a facility-based development model, by which a 60,000-plus stadium is built and match-day income is used to build a future, as Manchester United and Arsenal have done, makes a club an attractive proposition. Instead, Everton must now demonstrate to a planning inspector that their stadium will not threaten the economic livelihoods of towns and villages in the Merseyside conurbation. Winning the public inquiry is not a foregone conclusion. Grounds for change? Stadium details Anfield * Built in 1884, originally home to Everton who left after a rent dispute. * Current capacity: 45,362. * Proposed new stadium would hold 61,000 and cost "at least ｣400m". * The Shankly Gates were erected in 1982, emblazoned with the words, "You'll never walk alone". Goodison Park * Built in 1892, the first purpose-built football stadium in England. * Current capacity: 40,157. * Proposed new stadium would hold 50,401 and cost ｣130m-｣150m. * First English ground to install covered dugouts and undersoil heating. Revenue streams Anfield: ｣1.4m per league game Goodison Park: ｣0.8m Arsenal's Emirates: ｣3.3m Man Utd's Old Trafford: ｣3.5m
