The La’s song There She Goes captured the mood perfectly, sparking a mass sing along before the second world war siren kicked in and Everton’s men emerged to the sound of Z-Cars for one last time at Goodison Park. Then the PA system cut out and 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 can not hide the wrinkles? Perhaps, but it can still say goodbye in style.
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 anddeparted with a win. Iliman Ndiaye danced through the Southampton defence twice and etched his name into Goodison folklore as the final goal scorer in the stadium’s Premier League history.
Nottingham Forest’s Horace Pike has the honour of scoring the first league goal here in 1892. Legends, glory, torment, passion, misery, the School of Science, Dogs of War and so much more have filled the years in-between. The history is inescapable and Everton – club, team and fans alike – staged the perfect send-off on a poignant and emotional afternoon.
Ndiaye took the match-ball home after delivering victory for David Moyes’s 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 area around Spellow Lane and Goodison Road, where the statue of Dixie Dean stands, was impassable by 9.30am.
On the quieter Bullens Road and Gwladys Street, families stood outside their usual turnstiles to have their photographs taken. Outside 29 Gwladys Street, bedecked in Everton paraphernalia, the elderly owner sat in a deckchair and held court with passersby.
A few doors along a brave neighbour had decorated their house in Liverpool flags. They were not sat outside to welcome visitors. Once around the corner at St Luke’s Church, 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.
Everton scarfs had been draped over every seat and supporters made their way inside the ground as soon as the gates opened. Just like old times. Moyes broke away from his team’s pre-match warm-up to hug Wayne Rooney as the boyhood Evertonian made his way around the pitch with his son. The Gwladys Street ran through its old songbook as Ndiaye ran amok through theSouthamptondefence. Alan Ball, Super Kevin Campbell, Duncan Ferguson and Tim Cahill all got a mention.
From the current squad, Seamus Coleman and Jordan Pickford were serenaded frequently. Moyes had given Coleman the fitting honour of captaining Everton’s men in their final appearance at Goodison. A lovely touch, although it backfired to a degree when the 36-year-old pulled up injured and had to be replaced in the 18th minute by the soon-to-be-released Ashley Young.
After the final, final whistle there was a 15-minute delay while 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 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 refusal to cede boardroom power to the former director Paul Gregg put pay to that scheme. Then came the awful plan to move to Kirkby as part of a giant Tesco retail development.
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“A glorified cow shed built in a small town outside Liverpool,” as it was described at the time by the former 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 campaign. The debt that present and future Evertonians, plus present and future owners, owe the KEIOC founders Dave Kelly, Colin Fitzpatrick, the late Tony Kelly and the late Anthony AJ Clarke among others is immeasurable.
But that is the past. Everton’s farewell to Goodison could have morphed into a sombre memorial but was pitched perfectly. Goodison would get one last rendition of Z-Cars after all. In the penalty area where Dean scored his record-breaking and still unmatched 60th league goal in 1928, a lone violinist played a heart-wrenching version of the club’s adopted anthem.
A series of goodbye tributes then appeared on the giant TV screens from Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson, Thomas Tuchel, Mikel Arteta, Tim Howard and Roberto Martínez. There were also messages from Dame Judi Dench, an Everton fan and honorary patron of the club’s charity, Jodie Comer, whose dad, Jimmy, had been the club’s masseur for decades, and Sylvester Stallone.
Centre stage was eventually and rightly given to former players, many of whom are responsible for Goodison’s greatest moments. Joe Royle, Bob Latchford and Johnny Morrissey led the first wave. The great 1980s team followed.
The legendary goalkeeper Neville Southall looked resplendent in a floral shirt. Graeme Sharp, who stayed away for two years due to protests against the club’s former board, was welcomed home with a fine reception. Peter Reid took to the mic and apologised for his dreadful sunglasses. “I was on the lash last night,” he said. Next to him stood Andy Gray, who remarked: “We are all leaving Goodison but Goodison will never leave us.”
Bill Ryder-Jones, co-founder of The Coral, closed proceedings with a moving version of In My Life. “There are places I remember, All my life.” Evertonians could not have loved Goodison more.