Everton scrap plans for new stadium

London, May 16: English football club Everton said on Monday it had abandoned plans to build a new $439 million stadium at a park close to its home at Goodison Park.

The announcement comes just days after the club sacked head coach Roberto Martinez after a dismal showing in the English Premier League (EPL) this season, reports Xinhua. Everton finished 11th.

The club in a joint statement with city hall officials said it had concluded that building a new stadium on Walton Hall Park was a step too far in the current economic climate.

The proposed development would have seen an all-new stadium as a replacement for one of the oldest football grounds in the EPL. It would have included hundreds of new homes, shops and retail space in a new village within the park.

Local residents had waged a massive campaign against the proposed loss of a park created in the 1930s. IANS