Everton's future has suffered a major blow with the news that their plans for a new stadium in Kirkby have been 'called in' by the British government.

The decision is a major blow to the club's plans to compete with the top sides in the Barclays Premier League in terms of matchday attendances.

The government has decided to look at the whole scheme that is bitterly opposed by Kirkby residents and many of the club's fans.

The decision will be welcomed by the section of Everton support that is opposed to the move from Goodison Park to beyond the city boundaries.

Everton already have planning permission for the €480million joint venture with Tesco, but they have also faced fierce opposition in Kirkby to the scheme that is likely to change the face of the town's centre.

Former chief executive Keith Wyness, who quit last week, had gone on record as saying that any 'call in' would kill-off the whole plan to move from Goodison Park.

The club have consistently distanced themselves from that view, but this is still a real body blow during a summer that has seen them hit by continued discontent.

And that has included doubts about chairman Bill Kenwright's own future involvement and speculation over the long-term future of manager David Moyes.

It had also been suggested that the club would be more interesting to outside investors if they did get the approval for a new 50,000 seater stadium.

Everton reacted to the decision saying in a club statement: "We are disappointed by the decision. Having spent more than two years working diligently on a project which would not only provide Everton Football Club with a new home but also regenerate Kirkby, we had hoped to avoid a Government call-in.

"Indeed, it was only in June that Knowsley Borough Council's Planning Committee voted by a majority of 20-1 to grant planning permission.

"We shall now engage in detailed discussions with our development partners, KBC and Tesco, to assess what options are open to us.

"It is important to stress that this decision does not spell the end of the Destination Kirkby project - but it will, self-evidently, precipitate a period of reflection, assessment and re-evaluation."

But the call-in could delay the plans for more than a year. By then the scheme will have been hit by escalating building cost, particularly the price of steel.

The call-in decision will again open the debate over whether Goodison can be re-developed, or whether Liverpool Council - a long-term objector to the move - can come up with a new home for the club.

Kenwright said recently: "A ground move is certainly crucial to the economic future of Everton, I have said it a million times that I love Goodison Park but we have to move for economic and financial reasons.

"We have to get more income into the club to begin to compete with those clubs I have been talking about.

"That is the reason we have been contemplating it and the truth is we have had enormous support from Knowsley(Council), from Tesco, and we have not had that from Liverpool(Council). That is the bottom line of it."