Watching the Everton Stadium rise out of the Mersey: Battle of the Drones

From the moment that Everton FC broke ground at the Bramley Moore Dock on August 10, 2021 there has been a rising level of excitement and interest in the project from Blues and otherwise too. There has been an eagerness to see the progress and several drone owners started to post their videos on YouTube.

This has continued up to the present time and I believe the popularity of these videos have forced Everton FC to begin providing regular updates of the construction.

Which YouTubers are out there and who is giving us the best coverage?

The most frequent contributor without question is Mister Drone UK. A Youtuber from 2020, Nick Durbin is producing at least two videos per week of the progress and has more than 3.5 million views of his videos which are mainly focusing on the new stadium. Nick started out with a video and music track but has now moved to include a commentary which helps us understand the content. What I love about his videos is his love of the work, his connection to his community and Everton FC.

He is a massive Everton supporter and loves providing the content for fans around the world. We were able to connect with him and provide this exclusive interview.

When did you get started with your drone business?

“I started flying drones as a hobby in 2020 and I decided to use YouTube as a platform to save my videos rather than use up my own storage space. People started watching and subscribing and then asking me to do jobs like roof surveys, etc. I decided to incorporate the drone business early last year.”

You have taken a great interest in the building of the Everton Stadium. What is your motivation to share these videos?

“My motivation is definitely the people that continue to watch and support my videos. I get such nice comments and appreciation from so many people it’s quite overwhelming at times.”

Courtesy of Youtube

With 3.5 million views and counting, how pleased are you with the response to your work?

“I’m very pleased and quite surprised at the response to be honest. As I said above, I only started using YouTube as a platform to store my videos. I did not think for a second that I would get so much interest.”

As an Evertonian, where do you think Everton will finish this year and what are your thoughts on the season so far?

“I think we could manage a mid table finish this season (around 10th) and I’d be very happy with that after the stress of last season. I think Frank Lampard has improved the squad a lot with the signings and most importantly we seem to be alot stronger at the back. So, if we continue being hard to beat and hard to break down then I can only see us improving alot from last season.

I think getting goals will still remain our biggest challenge this season but Maupay got off the mark on Saturday against West Ham so fingers crossed he can keep scoring & hopefully Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back to full fitness soon too. Be nice for Everton to have 2 decent strikers fighting for the place for once.”

Any other things you want our readers to know?

“I’d just like to let everyone know that my drone videos are always shot in line with Civil Aviation rules and regulations. Everton & Laing O Rourke did ask the original 4 drone operators to stick to some requests like Sundays only, stay outside the perimeter & above 85m. I stuck to their requests for as long as I could, but it seems that every Tom, Dick & Harry are getting drones in the air now and making YouTube videos. This started to affect my own channel as I was waiting for each Sunday to get to the site whereas others weee going whenever they wanted. So, I had to make the decision to go when it suits me & my channel, but I still adhere to all Civil Aviation rules as I always will, and I stay outside the site perimeter too.”

Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

Other Frequent Droners on YouTube

Paul Frost on YouTube has been doing videos throughout the process and is strictly recording what he sees. There is no audio commentary or music but the quality of the video is very good. Paul does other recordings around Merseyside.

Barry 1878 on YouTube has been covering the building of the stadium from the groundbreaking. He has 329,000 views and does video with music. Baz has 1,700 subscribers and does good work.

School of Science TV on YouTube is the final channel that is currently covering the construction process. With 230,000 views and about 2,500 followers this is a channel that is strictly about Everton and is using a drone to track the progress. There is commentary before and after the videos.

Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images

Thanks to Nick for providing us with an insight. Which videos do you watch regularly and which do you prefer, if any? Drop your comments below.