Keith Harris, the influential football financier, has urged Everton and Liverpool to reconsider the possibility of a groundshare. Everton are awaiting the outcome of a government inquiry into their plans to relocate to a new 55,000-seat stadium in Kirkby and Liverpool’s plans to build a new ground have been put on hold indefinitely with George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, the club’s owners, unable to raise the £300 million needed to fund the project in the face of the global economic crisis.

The clubs have dismissed the idea of a shared stadium, but Harris, who is in the process of trying to find a buyer for Everton, believes that the worsening financial climate should at least reignite the debate.

Warren Bradley, the Liverpool City Council leader and an Everton season ticket-holder, has argued in favour of a groundshare and the North West Regional Development Agency supports the idea. Others have pointed to the San Siro, which is home to both Milan clubs, AC and Inter, as an example of how a shared stadium can work.

“The controversial thing to suggest, which no one will do, is the notion that maybe the city of Liverpool could have one stadium,” Harris, the chairman of Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, said. “Why not? Technology can turn a stadium from blue to red in the flick of a switch. Then you take away with one stroke one of the big issues, which is how do you finance £300 million of new stadium build?

“I tell you it is a very, very difficult financial world right now and unless there is someone out there with a much better crystal ball than myself, that isn’t going to be solved at the flick of a switch. I know there are loads of issues about how the revenue is split, but a shared stadium would make the prospect of investment in either club much easier.”

Harris claimed that there is not the “inbuilt hatred” between Everton and Liverpool supporters that would prevent the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City from groundsharing. “I was brought up in Manchester and the notion of groundsharing in Manchester is out of the question,” Harris, a United fan, said. “The mutual antipathy of the fans rules that out, but my impression from going to Liverpool is that the fans there may have a bit of banter, but there isn’t that inbuilt hatred.”