Everton 1-0 Crystal Palace, FA Cup 3rd Round replay, Goodison Park, att. 37,796With time running out on one of my favourite stadia in England, I’m afforded the opportunity of a trip to Goodison Park. It’s an FA Cup replay, the weather is due to be freezing cold and it’s midweek, all factors which make the availability of tickets in my favour. I keep an eye out for general sale and BANG! I’m in. Twenty quid too. Does that mean they’ll play the reserves?
News came out the other week that Goodison would have a slight reprieve. Although the powers-that-be at Everton promise the new 50,000 stadium at Bramley Moore Dock will be open by December (2024), they’re going to give it one more full season at their spiritual home. The cynic in me suspects there’s more to this than meets the eye. Do they have enough money to fulfil the project? They’ve already been docked points this season for breaking Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
I drive over. I’m on my way to somewhere else anyway, so the train is not an option. (Is it an option to anybody these days?) I’m early and want to have a nose around Goodison, maybe Anfield, maybe even Bramley Moore Dock. Nearby street parking is zilch. Every street is permit holders only, even on a non-matchday. I drive down a main road towards the city centre, past a Wetherspoons and spot a side street seemingly without a signpost telling me I can’t park there. It’s only 50 yards of dead end, but it’s perfect.
I’m near a junction which points to Anfield. I know the pair of grounds aren’t far apart, cos every time they clash the commentator is duty bound to point out they’re only across Stanley Park from each other. Liverpoo have done what Everton have noticeably failed to do; buy up some surrounding terraces, knock ‘em down, and give themselves the chance to expand while remaining in situ. Goodison Park remains hemmed in, while the owners load the club with multi million pound midfielders incapable of taking the club beyond continual relegation fights.
After Anfield, I walk through Stanley Park to Goodison. One advantage of Everton moving will be that Liverpoo fans won’t be able to LITERALLY look down on them from atop Stanley Park. Naturally enough, I arrive at the (car) Park End. Here’s the thing about Goodison: the one stand built within my memory is a single tiered stand of no ambition, with the wasted space of a car park behind. (Well, at least part of it is being utilised as a fanzone this evening.) I always liked the old stand that was here, an upper tier of seats with a terraced paddock below and a high wall at its back which always looked out of perspective. The new stand could’ve been so much bigger.
The outside of Goodison is a picture. They’ve really made an effort to display Everton’s history, including an intriguing ground plan of their initial ground...Anfield! And did Goodison REALLY once hold 78,000? Difficult to imagine now, even if the seats were replaced by terracing. Folk must’ve been a lot skinnier in the old days. With time still on my hands, a comfort break is needed (I knew that Wetherspoons would come in handy) before I pootle on to the new place.
The edifice that is Bramley Dock Moore Stadium (or whatever it’s going to be called) looks grand, as all new stadia of a size are. Set inside an old dock, with the Mersey behind, there’s no other monstrosities to compete with its skyline. I hope it’s worth it for the city losing its UNESCO World Heritage status because of the loss of its historic dock. Personally, I think it’s a bit harsh of the UNESCO judges. Would they rather it was left to rack and ruin? I’m more bothered about the loss of Goodison for yet another ‘world class stadium’ which looks suspiciously like all the other ones. I walk a giant loop via the city centre and head back to Wetherspoons for a pre match pint. (Most other pubs I pass are ex-pubs.) Besides, I need a nibble and I’m not risking stadium grub.
Tonite I’ve bought a ticket in the Bullens Stand, by the side of the pitch, opposite the Main Stand. After several failed attempts online, I’ve inadvertently got myself on the back row of the upper tier. Now I can see why they need a new stadium. The roof is low, I can barely see the rest of the ground, there’s obstacles in my way, from stanchions to camera gantries; the concourse, such as it is, is narrow and easily packed, toilets wedged in, somehow. Having previously been in the Gwladys Street End I wanted a different experience, and I got one.
Course, it didn’t help that by now I was knackered, and the game wasn’t one for the memory. Everton and Palace had fought out a goalless draw in the initial tie and for want of one bit of magic, this would’ve been the same. Typical that I missed said magic, as Andre Gomes settled it with a direct free kick. However, in the time it took for the kick to be taken, I fell asleep. I said I was knackered. I was awoken by the roar in time to see the ball trickle into the net. I think it hit the post first. Oh well, I only came for the ground...and I could barely see that. Will learn for next time…if there’s a next time.
Otherwise, the only other thing of note were the Palace fans chanting ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ at septuagenarian manager Roy Hodgson. But harsh. I know he’d taken off their star man Eze just after the hour…but he’s just back from injury and hasn’t completed 90 mins in yonks. Football fans. What are they like?
The Damage:£20 ent
= £20
...plus about 4 hours’ worth of petrol. £30?
