Dan Meis reveals worry over Everton new stadium completion and 'darkest' moment

'There was fear' - Dan Meis reveals worry over Everton new stadium completion and 'darkest' moment

The architect who designed Everton's stunning new stadium spoke of the journey from sketch to completion as he joined 25,000 supporters for the second test event at the ground

Architect Dan Meis visits the Everton Stadium construction site and (inset) an artist's impression of how it will look once complete with Everton Stadium logo

Dan Meis could not take 10 steps without getting stopped as he surveyed his wonderful new stadium from the bustling fan plaza. Supporters gazing in bewilderment at Everton's new home turned their mobile phone cameras to themselves as they pulled the stadium architect in for selfie after selfie.

None of it was too much for Meis, who like everyone else spent an afternoon awestruck. His buzz was a different one, though.

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For most Blues the shiny new waterfront stadium has been a mirage on the Liverpool skyline - a building on which hopes of better were projected as it rose while the club's fortunes sunk. Every development was a step into the unknown for them. Not for Meis though. Every detail was part of the napkin drawings that have now come to life.

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That is not to say there were not tough times, however. As the club lurched between crises, did he ever fear the worst? "Yes, lots of times," he candidly admitted. "There was fear. We had Covid, we had the Russia-Ukraine issue - all things that threw the club into disarray at times. It's not for the faint of heart, it does take a lot of commitment."

There was that and more. This is a stadium that has been the life raft supporters have clung onto as the club has been buffeted over recent years. Covid hit the club's finances hard, while the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to ties being cut with what had been, and were expected to be, lucrative sponsorship deals. There were also the self-inflicted problems caused by a mix of reckless ambition on the pitch and in the transfer market that ended with a Frankenstein squad, points deductions, a wantaway owner and survival fights that went to the final days of two seasons.

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Meis' most difficult stage of the project was a personal one, however, as he began to worry he would not be able to see his plans through to completion. Reflecting on the uncertainty, and how it was resolved, he said: "The darkest [point] for me was there was a bit of a question about whether I'd still be involved after we did the initial design. For me it was inconceivable because by that point it was all I was thinking about on a daily basis, to think I would just give it away now."

The American is unequivocal about who helped through the personal and the professional issues - Everton's late chairman. He said: "Bill Kenwright was a lightning rod at times but this building would not be here without him, full stop. He was a passionate defender of this and of me. I wouldn't be here without him."

Everton Stadium was alive as he spoke to reporters ahead of the second test event, as 25,000 Blues - most for the very first time - enjoyed their first experience of the club's future home. Music played in the fan zone, beer was supped in the concourses and jaws dropped as supporter after supporter halted at the top of the staircases that led out onto their first view inside the arena.

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Meis had enjoyed a private tour of his creation hours earlier, when Bramley-Moore Dock was calm before the storm of the tests built around a game between Everton Under-21s and Bolton Wanderers B.

It was an experience he savoured. He said: "I remember sketching it and all of a sudden it's there. Magical is the best word to come up with it.

"When we did the original drawings, we weren't sure the fan plaza would fit on the site. I remember waking up thinking: 'Oh my god, there's no way, measure it again.' We didn't know whether the fan plaza would be big enough but it's going to be amazing. Even on non-football days it's going to be an important public space for Liverpool."

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Back in those early days of sketching out his dream for the club, Meis said he was left in no doubt that - for all the subtle nods to the famed Archibald Leitch inspiration of Goodison - what could not be left at the Grand Old Lady was the intimacy and intensity of the atmosphere.

He said: "That was clear, that was the direction from the club early on. We're not Wembley, or Tottenham for that matter. This is about a proper football stadium. Of course you need it to be commercially viable and help the club grow and all the things you need in a new building but to do that without losing that right on top of the pitch feel and the intimidation was part of it."

Did that pressure make the task intimidating to him? "Very much so", he accepts. "I was very conscious of the fact I was American, I didn't want to take anything for granted and I think in some ways it was to my advantage because I dove deep in the history of Goodison and Liverpool and for me it wasn't about a big, shiny new building it was: 'How do we take the magic of Goodison and move it to a new site?'"

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The verdict of supporters, so far, has been overwhelmingly positive. That much was clear in the interest his presence was attracting throughout the build-up to Sunday's match, which saw Kingsford Boakye give Everton the lead before a pre-planned evacuation tested the club's emergency procedures.

On the rush for selfies with him, he added: "It's new for me and I've been doing this for a long time. Social media certainly changed it, being able to interact with the fans. It's to the club's credit because they could have shut that down and said: 'You need to be quiet and let it become what it is.' But they embraced the idea that fans are part of it. It's unique to Everton and who the fanbase is here. They influenced the build of the stadium. It's embarrassing when people want selfies, it's not my style but it's fine. It's great to see."

With other Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Newcastle United exploring the potential to build new homes, Meis is open to working on another football ground. Everton will always be special for him though, he said, as he sent a message to those looking to match the Blues' ambition: "I hope that other clubs who are thinking of new buildings will take heart at what we've done here, which is not to try and do some giant, over-the-top thing which could be anywhere in the world but 'we're going to put it in the middle of Manchester'.

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"This building really was about Liverpool, about Merseyside, about the brick of the buildings, and that was really important to us. I think English football, if they all become big, shiny objects, we will lose something that is unique to English football and we tried to respect that very much because of Goodison."

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