First job of Everton’s Interim CEO – new stadium won’t be open for 2024/25 season
Everton’s new interim CEO and stadium development officer Colin Chong has said the new stadium won’t be open in time for the 2024/25 season.
He praised construction company Laing O’Rourke who he has been working closely with in his stadium role and said they were on track to complete what will be “one of the best – and the most sustainable – football stadiums in the country”.
Colin Chong
However, he said the timetable does not have a target date of summer 2024.
“Contrary to some ill-informed media reports, there is no delay, and the project remains firmly on track and on-schedule,” he said.
“A precise moving-in date for our new stadium has never been publicly set by the Club. We have repeatedly stated that the schedule of the development will see the keys for our new home handed to us from Laing O’Rourke during the 2024/25 season.”
A construction industry specialist with more than 35 years’ experience in the development sector, he stepped up to be interim Chief Executive Officer and Director earlier this month (June 2023) from his stadium role which he has held since August 2018, and has been focused on the delivery of the new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
He oversees all aspects of planning and construction activity, as well as directing and managing relationships with key construction partners including Laing O’Rourke, Gardner & Theobald and Buro Happold.
He previously worked for Laing O’Rourke and been involved at a senior-level in stadium redevelopment projects at Old Trafford and the Manchester Commonwealth Games stadium, as well as the build of the DW Stadium.
“When a new stadium is completed from a build perspective, it must be put through its paces and the building tested. We will be working on the planning for those test events with the aim of them taking place in the final months of 2024. What they will look like and how supporters can take part is yet to be determined. In parallel with the planning for those test events, the question of when our senior men’s first team will play their first competitive game at our new ground will be determined.
“I can confirm, after overcoming a full winter where we lifted the heaviest materials in the most challenging climate, we are confident the stadium will be completed in the final months of 2024.
“This means we won’t be starting the 2024 season at Everton Stadium – but, to reiterate, the Club has never publicly confirmed an intention to begin the 2024/25 season at our new home. If the project remains on schedule, it raises the question as to whether the Club moves in mid-season or alternatively, do we wait and give the Grand Old Lady a fitting send-off before commencing competitive league games for the senior men’s team at the start of the 2025/26 season.”
However, he said a decision wouldn’t be based on sentiment. “It will be reached in consultation with fans, while also considering the impacts it will have across our football club in terms of our football operation, our commercial partners and third-party contracts, our staff, seasonal workflows and the impact, of course, on supporters.”
He said moving mid-season may offer some commercial benefits, but also present a series of challenges and hurdles that could negatively impact other aspects of the Club – and other commercial considerations.
“What I can say categorically is that, today, the project is several weeks ahead of schedule, with another winter to come.”
He added that in the coming months Everton will be consulting supporters further on “our digital journey” as the now depleted board seeks to make a fully informed decision on when the first competitive game for our senior men’s team will be played at Everton Stadium.
