Why I'm Saying "No to Ground Share"

I have been asked by a few fans about my thoughts on the potential ground share question which has arisen again. Twitter space is so short I thought it best to give some additional information here to back up my 'no' tweets.

Over recent weeks my head has ruled my heart while I have made an analysis of the level of damage being caused by our American owners. I think when you see any Liverpool fans not happy about something, especially given the volume of fans, part of you wants to stand by them. However, as a business minded person and a senior manager myself, I have a degree of empathy for the owners who currently have our club in a relatively healthy position financially.

But when it comes to the ground share I'm afraid I'm going to be all heart. There are many financial and business reasons to ground share. All across the world we are seeing businesses consolidating, especially through these trying credit crunch times. The reason for this is to save on costs and make two businesses operating together more profitable than they would be independently.

For us we would be looking at halving the design, planning and construction costs. Let's be honest we're not talking about chump change here, we are talking hundreds of millions of pounds. We would also see a major acceleration in getting from where we are now to collecting additional revenues. Additional revenues which would help promote the clubs on the pitch success.

Given we are the bigger club and that Everton would surpass their seating expectations (70,000 LFC / 50,000 EFC) I believe we would have a strong negotiation stance to get what we want out of any deal.

So it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Well no, there are also good reasons from the head why we shouldn't do it. The political fall out would be disastrous should the board of Liverpool even consider this option. There will be no mitigating factors on this one. They gave cast iron guarantees that we would not ground share. Now the world may have changed but to think this is the only option of getting a new Anfield would be wrong in my opinion. I think the owners already know that there would be a major backlash so I don't see it happening anyway. If it does, well I imagine we will see subscriptions for the supporters union increase significantly.

Any organisation has political rumblings inherently built into it. Some are managed very well but there are always conflicts and differences of opinion going on in them. So take our business with its current 'political rumblings' and then add in additional parties from Everton Football Club. Disaster.

Then there's the heart. The biggest problem for anyone looking to make the ground share reality? The fans' hearts. I don't want to ground share, I don't want to share our football club or its property with anyone. I don't want our great football club to have to share with anyone else. We are one of the top clubs in Europe, indeed the world. Why should we have to share? Again, I get angry at the years of mis-management pre-Purslow and I hope he is the man to move us forward commercially. The only rational business decisions for not having a ground share are in the paragraphs above but if you ask me, I can't give you any facts or figures, I just don't want to share.

Politically there is possibly only one way of moving this forward if the board really do want to consider it and after exhausting all other avenues. Early doors they need to set out their reasons why and let others set out their reasons why not. It should be an independently handled vote to the fans and not the board. I would expect a resounding 'no' but stranger things have happened!

Even after typing that last paragraph my LFC loving heart screams 'if it does get built (and it better had) why would we want to share it with anyone, never mind Everton. We are the biggest Merseyside club and its going to stay that way, they are not impinging on our successful image!'

NO TO GROUND SHARE!