Everton last hurrah at Goodison Park

Image: Everton FC

The La’s (English rock band) song ‘There She Goes’ captured the mood perfectly sparking a mass singalong before the Second World War siren kicked in and the Premier League team Everton F.C.’s men emerged to the sound of the Z-Cars theme (Everton’s theme tune) for one last time at the Goodison Park in England (UK).

‘The Guardian’ stated that then the public address (PA) system cut out and the Z-Cars spluttered to a halt. Not now, please not now. A sign from the stadium Gods? A little reminder that this iconic feature of English football is 133 years old and all the affection in the world cannot hide the wrinkles? Perhaps, but it can still say goodbye in style.

The Everton Football Club is a professional association football club based in Liverpool, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

The 52,888-capacity Everton Stadium, currently known as the Hill Dickinson Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in Vauxhall, Liverpool, England (UK). It became the home ground for the Everton F.C. ahead of the 2025-2026 seasons replacing the Goodison Park.

The Goodison Park is a football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, England (UK) that was the home of the Premier League team Everton F.C. from 1892 until 2025. It will become the home of the Everton Women’s team from 2025. It is two miles North of the City Centre and has an all-seated capacity of 39,414.

‘The Guardian’ further stated that on a beautiful day in L4 4EL, under pale blue skies darkened by plumes of royal blue smoke from the flares outside, Everton delivered as its history demanded and departed with a win. Iliman Ndiaye (attacking midfielder for Everton) danced through their peer team the Southampton F.C. defence twice and etched his name into the Goodison folklore as the final goal scorer in the stadium’s Premier League history.

The Everton F.C. – club, team and fans alike – staged the perfect sendoff on a poignant and emotional afternoon.

Ndiaye took the match ball home after delivering victory for David Moyes’s (Everton Manager) team. He didn’t get a hat-trick but no one cared. It was some achievement by the Everton team to get inside the stadium and perform at all. The call to greet the team coach as it made its way along Walton Lane and Goodison Road was answered by tens of thousands of Evertonians.

The Goodison Road was gridlocked with fans waiting to welcome Moyes’s men. It was so packed that the coach couldn’t get through and had to make a detour to drop the players off in the Bullens Road car park. Hundreds of fans without tickets remained outside for the duration of Everton’s 2-0 win.

Scarves had been draped over every seat and the supporters made their way inside the ground as soon as the gates opened.

After the final, final whistle there was a 15-minute delay while the club staff put seats and stages in place for ‘Operation Farewell Goodison’. It was a moment to reflect on what it has taken for Everton to get to a point where leaving its cherished home for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock is met with excitement more than regret.

Everton’s house move has been more complicated and stressful than most. There was the proposed relocation to a 60,000, £100m super-stadium at an unidentified location under Peter Johnson (former Chairman of the Everton F.C.) in the late 1990s. That one never got off the ground.

Goodison’s final game would have been staged 22 years ago had Everton made the transformative move to a prime waterfront site at King’s Dock. Bill Kenwright’s (former Chairman of Everton) refusal to cede boardroom power to his then fellow Director Paul Gregg put pay to that scheme. Then came the awful plan to move to Kirkby (town in England) as part of a giant Tesco retail development.

“A glorified cow shed built in a small town outside Liverpool,” as it was described at the time by the then Liverpool City Council leader Warren Bradley. That cheap and unambitious project was rejected by the Government after a public inquiry prompted by the Keep Everton In Our City (KEIOC) campaign.

But that is the past. Everton’s farewell to Goodison could have morphed into a somber memorial but was pitched perfectly. Goodison would get one last rendition of Z-Cars after all.

So many supporters flocked to the ground in the hours before the game that a planned team welcome had to be canceled.

Tears were shed in the stands as the final whistle blew and chants broke out with the supporters holding scarves in the air.

Players past and present, including Wayne Rooney, joined Manager David Moyes to soak up the atmosphere on the pitch.

The Goodison Park has been the home of the Everton Men’s side for 133 years.

All 39,000 seats were taken for the game – with tickets reportedly being sold on resale sites for as much as £1,000 each.

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