"Central and local government have been reluctant to help us because of the project across the park, but I've no doubt if that falls through, they will try to push us into a shared stadium again," said the Everton chief executive Keith Wyness. "The redevelopment of Goodison Park, a new stadium and a shared stadium are still on the table, but we cannot do it ourselves without help from central or local government. A lot rests on what happens across the park and I think that is going to come to a head very quickly."
Everton and Liverpool have dismissed calls for a groundshare, intent on preserving each club's identity while keen to be able to generate their own match-day revenues in their own stadium.
Everton, in the meantime, have welcomed the breathing space eked out between themselves and the relegation zone. Sunday's victory over Newcastle, their third in four league games, edged them three points clear of the bottom three, helping to ease the pain of the previous week's 4-0 humbling at West Bromwich Albion. "It was exactly the response the manager and the fans were looking for," said Phil Neville. "The manager spoke to us a couple of days after West Brom and made it plain we owed the supporters a performance. He wanted us to show we cared and we did that. In terms of the chances we created, it was probably our best display of the season."
Liverpool's winger Boudewijn Zenden will miss next month's world club championships in Japan because of knee ligament damage sustained in training last week, an injury which could yet rule him out of the side's Christmas fixtures.