It is the very direction Liverpool will be following eventually, and it must be sooner rather than later to ensure the club doesn't fall significantly behind financially to the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.
The Highbury goodbyes have further strengthened the reality that was brought sharply into focus for Liverpool fans last month, when the club's new stadium plans were re-approved by city councillors without any alterations to the original scheme.
The re-approval of the new stadium plans if not so much the green light for the project, was certainly the flashing amber.
Liverpool's stadium debate has been raging for some time now. Questions and discussions have been fired back and forth. Should we, shouldn't we? Can the club really afford it, whilst at the same time remaining competitive in the transfer market?
But now the questions and discourse are over. A new 60,000-seater Liverpool FC stadium in Stanley Park, fully conformed to new planning laws is ready to happen. There's just that small matter of finance. For some two years the club has worked tirelessly to find viable investors to help fund the £160m venture.
It's common knowledge that Liverpool Football Club will be stretching its resources to the very limit to implement the construction of the stadium and tie up other matters that will be involved in the process. New investment is unquestionably needed to burden the brunt of the huge outlay and to enable Rafael Benitez to continue his pursuit of players.
But what with Liverpool's need for a new stadium and Everton seriously considering ‘enhancing' Goodison Park after having their own plans for a new stadium at the King's Dock scuppered because of cost – there's this chattering and relentless voice from outsiders, clamouring that both clubs should unite to create a super-sized Merseyside stadium. It makes economical and commercial sense they say. True, it certainly does.
It's this attitude from the others ‘looking in' that I find of particular annoyance.
The apparent notion of “What's the problem with Liverpool and Everton sharing a ground? Both clubs need a new ground and can't afford to do it completely by their own means. They might as well share, then” They point to how it's done on the continent like with the two Milan giants, AC and Inter sharing the San Siro and Rome's two big clubs – SS Lazio and AS Roma.
Indeed, the ground share idea was doing the rounds officially in the news around 18 months ago, when Liverpool City Council put the proposal to both Liverpool and Everton – Liverpool and Parry simply dismissed it and said they would continue with their plans to build a new stadium, while Blues' chairman Bill Kenwright said he would rather resign than contemplate being tenants to their city rivals.
Ouch. Bill, that really hurt.
While the rest of the football fraternity, especially opposing fans, are thinking dumb, proud Scousers – cutting their noses off to spite their faces.
Well they can all just sod off. Liverpool fans don't want to ground share with Everton for Christ's sake and we won't have to. It's as simply as that.
Why is it that Liverpool fans, Liverpudlians or otherwise, are expected to make the precedence in a move that is unheard of amongst England's biggest clubs? It really makes my blood boil – it's as if the rivalry between the Merseyside clubs isn't as worthwhile or as true as other city/local rivals.
Do they think that before plans for Arsenal's Ashburton Grove location got the go-ahead the Gunners' board were in serious communication with Tottenham for a possibly ground share? Granted, a few years ago Spurs' Chairman Daniel Levvy did indeed allegedly make a suggestion of a potential ground share but that was quashed by both sets of fans before it was even more than a whisper. Notice also, how it is always the poorer relations of the city who make noises of the ground share. Funny that.
If Manchester hadn't been selected to host the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and subsequently had the City of Manchester Stadium built which Manchester City then inherited – and if there hadn't been the room around Old Trafford to significantly boost its capacity, meaning Man Utd would then have had to foot at least £150m-200m to create a brand new stadium from scratch to match the some 80,000 capacity of Old Trafford – would we then have heard cries for a Manchester ground share?
Not a chance. Would the Mancs, like any proud footballing city with two big sides want to? Would they hell. The case for the defence rests.
Speaking in late 2004 regarding the ground share rumours with Everton, Rafael Benitez said: "Talk of two teams sharing a stadium always causes problems and in my view it would not work. It would not be good for the pitch because obviously there would be double the amount of games played on it and it would not be good for the supporters of Liverpool or Everton.”
He added: "True, Inter and AC share a stadium in Milan but look at their pitch. It is not good. Also, in terms of atmosphere it is better that a team plays in its own stadium. In five years time we hope to be playing good football in our own new stadium."
Despite the cost of the stadium doubling from initial projections, from £80m to £160m, and that the process has seemingly stalled in recent months - that ‘five year' time frame Benitez speaks of is still very much a possibility as Liverpool's search for a major cash injection continues.
There are some notable options open to Liverpool to bolster the cash reserves and aid the construction of a new Anfield.
Firstly, the fact that Adidas purchased Reebok last year was always going to be an interesting turn of events for Liverpool. The German manufacturer has answered the calls of many Liverpool fans by taking over the stewardship of producing the sacred red jersey – the question is, how involved with Liverpool's new stadium would the firm want to be?
Barring full-on financial backing and thus attaining complete naming rights (the Anfield Adidas Arena, anyone?) I believe the smart money would be on the German giant's putting a substantial amount towards the stadium cost for the opportunity to put its name to a section of the ground – the Adidas Stand or Adidas End has to be a likely situation.
If this happens, a further amount of investment would still be required from an external benefactor. The Liverpool board have courted many possibilities to buy a slice of the club such as the US-based Kraft Group, building magnet Steve Morgan and the much-criticised interest from Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Conversely, some quarters suggested back in March that Robbie Fowler's return to his home town club was just as much to do with a PR exercise as it was an attempt to harness the player's natural finishing to bolster a shot-shy strike force.
Giving that idea more thought, it's possible to conclude that another ‘ulterior motive' for Fowler's homecoming might not be too far from the truth. After all, thanks to his shrewd property investment across the country over the last couple of years, Fowler has amassed an estimated wealth of some £35m.
It is not totally inconceivable that Fowler could be one part of a possible investment –and that's another reason he returned to the club. Let's think about it. He gets the chance to play the final 18 months or two years of his career for his beloved Liverpool, a Liverpool with genuine title aspirations. At the same time helping the club during a scoring problem – while the bigger picture for Fowler is possible coaching roles, and the chance to give Liverpool a financial boost, affording him a powerful place on the board. The club meanwhile, have their favourite son back and a cash injection for the stadium.
What club wouldn't want God on the board?
Indeed recently, rumours have circulated of Liverpool allowing investment candidates to combine, thus pooling their resources to buy-into the club. With this in mind, Steve Morgan (who has already had two bids for majority control turned down) and Robbie Fowler with the same interest in real estate could well be such a consortium.
Whilst more recently still, papers have reported that the Kraft Group are preparing finally to make a bid for Liverpool, buying-out current Chairman David Moores with an offer in the region of £200m.
It remains to be seen whether Morgan, Fowler and Adidas or the Kraft Group will be the answer to Liverpool's stadium funding problems and galvanise the club's attempts to clamber onto an all-new financial plateau.
To be quite frank, after the Champions League win last season, God's unexpected return to Liverpool and the dramatic FA Cup come-back against West Ham, I very much doubt if anything involving Liverpool could ever surprise me again.
Hopefully, the Liverpool faithful and the football world will likely know in the next 3-6 months or so on what the club plans to do, and there will be a time soon when we'll all be looking upon pictures of Anfield with a fondness and melancholy, as Benitez' Liverpool contest the Premiership and Champions League in a brand new fortress.
Liverpool's future and ongoing evolution, starts here.