It was, financially, a good deal for Everton and an affordable way out of a crumbling ground badly served by surrounding infrastructure.

But it was also a good few miles away from Goodison and came with a bundle of other leisure and retail strings attached.

Communities secretary, John Denham, was apparently worries about the negative impact on surrounding areas of a vast out-of-town development.

It’s almost enough to make one what Liverpool One’s management team made of it all.

So, Everton are still looking for a way out, having ruled out tarting up Goodison. So is Liverpool, but it’s by far the more resistant of the two to any notions of ground sharing.

LFC is still banking on Stanley Park, but it’s now faced with a council and regional development agency keen on a shared ground.

I suspect that will also be the government’s view, with a mind on a 2018 Olympic bid, having turned down Kirkby.

LFC remain tight-lipped. I suspect a groundshare is a financially-attractive option but it’s likely to be a hard-sell to Reds.

So, the situation is unchanged. A goundshare may be still be the least-worst option for both clubs, and it’s moved a significant step closer to reality.

According to Comscore:

…Out of all U.K. visitors to Evertonfc.com, 46.8 percent come from the North West, compared to just 16.8 percent of all U.K. visitors to Liverpoolfc.tv!

What does this prove? Arguably not much, but Everton will enjoy the feeling of validation, while Reds will get all defensive and start talking about being the ‘most-supported club in Liverpool/the Permiership/the UK/Europe/The World’.

Living in south Liverpool I know loads of plazzy Liverpool fans, so it comes as no surprise to me.

And, no doubt, it will come as little surprise to Wayne Rooney, who voiced his opinion on Liverpool in an interview on MUTV this week.

“We’re in pole position in the title race and we know if we can beat Liverpool then that’ll more or less end their chances of winning the league. I’m very excited about the game because I grew up as an Everton fan hating Liverpool — and that hasn’t changed.”

The website subsequently changed the comments to:

I’m very excited about the game because I grew up as an Everton fan.

A bit of a storm in a teacup, I suppose. Still, good to see a sense of perspective.

Liverpool fans will be weeping into their prawn sandwiches.

Here’s Setanta’s advert promoting the forthcoming Liverpool Everton Merseyside derbies on 19 and 25 January in the league and FA Cup, featuring the impressions of
local lad made good Darren Farley.

Darren hit the big time a few months ago when his impressions of Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and Peter Crouch – while apparently standing in a shop – went viral and landed him a load of spots on national TV.

This one promotes the Merseyside derby and features Farley imitating Benitez, Gerrard, Carragher, Phil Neville, Leon Osman, David Moyes and Mikel Arteta.

I’ve not much to say about it, apart from the fact it’s obviously pretty amusing (“More chance of Keano getting 90 minutes”) but Stevie G’s appearance at the end is what makes it.

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