The stars align for Merseyside football

Dear readers – Welcome, welcome, to your Monday Briefing on this blessedly short workweek before Easter weekend festivities commence.

Today’s edition is devoted to an incredibly rare phenomenon: all three Merseyside football clubs ended this past weekend on a high note  – what might their success portend for the future? Plus, yet another transport leader is calling for Merseyrail to be brought under public ownership, some good news for the city’s SEN students, and more. 

Catch up and coming up 

Last week we published a particularly excellent run of stories (if we do say so ourselves). 

• First up, Shannon is 95% sure she’s solved the mystery of who bought Ye Cracke – and it’s not who everybody thought it would be. 
• Meanwhile, Abi investigated the trouble behind the scenes at City of Liverpool College and found a worrying pattern of abuses of power, previously unreported financial mismanagement, and a workplace culture of mistrust and fear. “Great article,” one of you wrote in response. “Well done The Post for digging deep on these issues.” 
• And Laurence’s big weekend read about the current state of Liverpool film and television on the 35th anniversary of the Liverpool Film Office has sparked some lively conversations in the comments – dive in.
• Later this week, we’ve got a fascinating deep dive into the latest doings of an alleged scammer and a longread from Laurence on the legacy of the Pool of Life and Liverpool’s Bohemian underground. Have any related memories to share? Laurence would love to hear from you: laurence@livpost.co.uk.

Your Post Briefing

Eddie Dempsey, the new leader of the country’s main transport union, has described Merseyrail as 'a cash machine for its private operators’ and called for it to be brought under public control. Dempsey, who has succeeded Mick Lynch as the general secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport workers union (RMT), also criticised a recent move that could see Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram sign onto a five-year extension to an existing private deal when the network’s current contract runs out in 2028. Mr Dempsey told the Echo that dividends drawn by the network's private operators were earnings which “should have gone back into the network – to keep fares down, upgrade infrastructure and improve services for passengers. Instead, it’s gone straight into shareholders’ pockets with much of the money leaving the country altogether. Now we have a Labour government in Westminster that is finally doing the right thing and legislating to bring rail passenger services into public ownership… Even the Government’s own figures show it will save money and lead to better services.” But he thought that Labour in Liverpool are 'looking the other way': "The Merseyrail contract is up in 2028. That should be the moment the region joins the national effort to rebuild our railway as a public service run in our interests not private shareholders. But instead, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has agreed to actively consider extending the private contract or awarding a new one to a private operator." Rotheram has said he’s open to considering a new operating model.

Half of all billboards in Liverpool promote junk food, a study has found, leading campaigners to call for stricter government restrictions on advertising. Bite Back, which campaigns for changes to the way unhealthy foods are produced, worked in partnership with the University of Liverpool to find that 50% of recent adverts in the city were for products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS). A government spokesperson told the BBC it had taken "bold action to end the targeting of junk food ads", and wanted to reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000. Earlier this year, a ban on junk food adverts being shown on TV before 9pm was approved to kick in starting on 1 October 2025.

Funding is set to be allocated to construct a new primary school in Liverpool to support children with special educational needs (SEN). Liverpool City Council's cabinet will be asked to back the nearly £40m investment into the facility for 250 pupils on long-derelict land off Princess Drive in West Derby, which would include the creation of more than 30 classrooms along with two hydrotherapy pools and rebound and multisensory rooms. The city council said the current options for SEN students were "not suited to the complex needs of the pupils or the growing demand of the service needs to provide sufficient places within the city for pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan". The proposed new site was formerly a primary school but hasn’t been occupied since its demolition in 2006. The cabinet are expected to agree to the funding when they meet on Tuesday. 

The Big Story: Merseyside teams on top

Top line: Liverpool, Everton, and Tranmere Rovers all did well at the weekend. But what does the future hold for Merseyside’s clubs?

Context: For a match that all but confirmed Liverpool as Premier League champions, the response to their 2-1 win over West Ham United this weekend was strangely muted. Perhaps it was because they needed a late header from their captain, Virgil Van Dijk, to overcome the London strugglers. Possibly the recent doubts over contracts have left a sour taste in fans’ mouths. Three players that have come to define this era of the team – Van Dijk, Mo Salah, and Trent Alexander-Arnold – have all flirted with moving away. Before this weekend, the team had lost three of their previous four games, and it could be that the club’s recent dip in form meant beating 17^th-place West Ham was greeted more by relief than jubilation.

Or maybe Liverpool have just got used to winning. They are, after all, 13 points clear at the top, and are set to win this year’s Premier League at a trot, never mind a canter. (If Arsenal lose at Ipswich this weekend, the Reds can seal the title by beating Leicester.)

Contrast the modest Anfield applause for Van Dijk’s goal with the away crowd elation that greeted Everton’s similarly last-minute winner at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. That Abdoulaye Doucouré strike left the Toffees in limbo, only 13^th in the table with no realistic prospect of either European football next season or relegation. And yet the raucous response from the travelling fans said a lot about both teams’ ambitions: the Nottingham club are, incredibly, chasing Champions League football, and Everton were not expected to both outplay and beat the third-placed club on Forest’s home turf. With all respect due to Everton, Liverpool’s standards are currently far higher, and a late winner against a team you’re expected to beat will never generate the same excitement. 

But even Liverpool’s title-tantalising win and Everton’s underdog victory could not match the heroics of Merseyside’s third club. Tranmere Rovers looked dead and buried away to Accrington Stanley, 3-0 down with just 12 minutes to go when Omari Patrick scored what looked like a consolation goal for the visitors. That proved to be the catalyst for a stunning comeback, as further goals by Kieron Morris and then an equaliser from Patrick in the 11th minute of stoppage time earned Rovers a battling 3-3 draw.

Like Everton, Tranmere have benefited from a change in manager this season. When Nigel Adkins left the Birkenhead club by mutual consent in February, Rovers were two points clear of the relegation zone and on a ten-match losing streak. Since interim manager Andy Crosby came in, they have beaten mid-table Bromley, upset promotion-chasing Bradford, and thumped Chesterfield 4-0. The draw with Stanley leaves them seven points clear of relegation out of the Football League altogether, a fate that seemed a genuine danger just six weeks ago.

All three Merseyside clubs having happy weekends is rare enough to trigger premonitions. What could this strange event augur?

For Liverpool, their (almost certainly) triumphant season bears the tiniest of asterisks. Firstly, the way they were dumped out of the Champions League by Paris St Germain suggests they may be dominating a substandard Premier League. This, and the uncertain futures of Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold, have underlined a potential need for recruitment at centre-back, right-back, and up front. Although Van Dijk and Salah have now committed to Liverpool, at 33 and 32 respectively, neither are long-term options. Furthermore, the team’s recent dip in form coincided with Salah’s. With the kind of season the Egyptian is having, it’s completely expected for even a top side to rely on him, but Liverpool must be careful of overreliance. At 25 years old, Newcastle’s Alexander Isak looks like an attractive option for an understudy and long-term replacement, but his potential price tag and injury record may prove stumbling blocks.

With new owners, a new manager, and a new stadium, Everton will go into the ‘25/’26 season with an unfamiliar sense of rejuvenation. Whether that’s accompanied by optimism depends on what the club does over the summer. The bump in form the team has experienced under David Moyes has papered over the cracks – this is still a below-average team in an average Premier League. In addition, fan-favourite Dominic Calvert-Lewin is likely to depart, which will leave the team short up front. To address this, Ipswich forward Liam Delap has been strongly linked to the Blues in recent days and would be the kind of classic #9 that goes over well with Everton fans. But with interest from Manchester United and Chelsea, they may have to look elsewhere. Doucouré, who celebrated his last-gasp winner at Forest with a “sign me up” mime, will also not be at Everton next season as things stand.

Meanwhile, Tranmere Rovers may also approach next season with positive vibes, and not just because Crosby has them playing well. But the club’s finances are an issue; despite a revenue increase on the previous season, Rovers operated at a loss of £700,000 – huge for a provincial club. That will hinder much-needed investment in the squad this summer.

But help may be on the horizon. In recent years, there has been much speculation about the club’s future – including The Post’s sources suggesting that Joe Tacopina, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, was tabling an offer for the Birkenhead club. Those reports now seem to be vindicated, with Tacopina’s consortium on track to purchase Tranmere from Mark and Nicola Palios before the start of next season. If that’s not surreal enough, the consortium also includes American hip-hop star A$AP Rocky. Could Rovers fans see Rocky and his partner Rihanna in the Prenton Park stands next season? Could that lead to the kind of revival of interest in the club that Tranmere rival Wrexham has enjoyed under their celebrity owner, Ryan Reynolds? One of the prerequisites of the takeover was thought to be Tranmere staying in the Football League, so if current form is anything to go buy, don’t bet against it.

Bottom line: With Everton and Tranmere letting the region down in recent years, fans of all three Merseyside teams enjoying their weekends is seldom heard of. Even rarer is all three clubs having optimism for a new campaign. Oddly, considering Liverpool are on the verge of their 20th top-flight league title, there may be more to do at Anfield for that ambition to be fulfilled. After a consultation with some local fans this morning, The Post came away with the impression that, in addition to cover for Salah, Van Dijk, and Alexander Arnold, Liverpool should also be targeting a left-back and a defensive midfielder. This is, of course, the inevitable consequence of high standards and expectations: in addition to defending their league title, Liverpool fans have every right to expect a better Champions League campaign next season. But with Everton fans now hoping their club is unshackled from a previous era of poor decisionmaking and financial management, they will be expecting better, too. It’s now thirty years since the Toffees’ last trophy, and yet more success for Liverpool will only make Blues more impatient for silverware from David Moyes’ team. More than ever, good recruitment is a necessity. 

Photo of the Week 

It could just be because we’ve got Beatles on the brain after Laurence’s weekend read, but we thought this accidentally-snapped photo of a stranger on Grafton Street by Reddit user Ribson-Joe was pretty neat. 

Post Picks 

Tonight at Waterstones, Jonn Elledge discusses his new book, A History of the World in 47 Borders. According to Waterstones: “Eye-opening and entertaining in equal measure, Elledge's geo-political history of the world is filled with fascinating narratives about our ever-abiding pre-occupation with drawing lines and upholding ideas of nationhood.” Tickets from £5 here. 

On Friday, join legendary DJs Graeme Park & John Kelly on Good Friday at the District for an evening of house and disco. Tickets from £16.75 here. 

On Saturday, Camp & Furnace are reviving their popular Rhinestone Rodeo for a night of the biggest country hits. Tickets from £13.45 here. 

For something a little different this Easter Sunday, why not check out Craig Charles, who’ll be bringing his legendary Funk & Soul show to The Dome? Tickets here.