City council and Premier League football club settle dispute over payment for £841k financial and legal advice on new stadium

Liverpool City Council and Everton Football Club have reached what has been described as “an amicable settlement” after concluding negotiations over the payment of historic external financial and legal advice sought over the club’s new stadium development at Bramley-Moore Dock.

The local authority and the football club were – between 2016 and 2019 – in talks to discuss whether council funding could be provided to support the scheme.

However, they could not reach agreement on the funding, which led to the football club pursuing a different funding solution.

In a joint statement Liverpool City Council and Everton said: “In recognition of the council having incurred fees undertaking due diligence in respect of the potential funding, the club has agreed to meet those costs which were reasonably incurred and attributable to the funding project.

“A proportion of the fees incurred related to the council exploring the use of any future stadium in its bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games which Everton would not be liable for.”

The statement said the council considered this to be a fair proposition from the club, with the two parties needing to agree the apportionment of fees.

Liverpool’s Cabinet earlier this month gave permission for the council to conclude its negotiations with Everton.

Both parties have agreed that of the total £841,000 of fees incurred by the council, it was reasonable and proportionate for £502,000 to be attributed to the work done solely for the benefit of Everton.

Accordingly, Everton have agreed to make payment of this sum to the council.

The city council said the settlement had no new impact on its finances as an amount had already been set aside when setting the 2022/23 budget.