Goodison Park - Everton

Everton - Goodison Park

Everton Football Club
Goodison Park
Goodison Road
Liverpool
Merseyside
L4 4EL



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Everton Official Website

Last match I went to see: Everton 1-2 Leicester City, Saturday 7th January 2017, FA Cup 3rd Round.

HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT THE TOFFEES:

• Everton Football Club were formed in 1878 as St Domingo Football Club. They were formed so that members of the congregation at the Chapel in Breckfield Road North, Everton could play Sport all year round, particularly Cricket in the Summer.
• The club's first ever game was a 1-0 victory over Everton Sports Club.
• The club were renamed as Everton a year later in 1879.
• Everton won their 1st FA Cup in 1906, a 1-0 win over Newcastle United, goal coming from Alex "Sandy" Young.
• Goodison Park has been the home of Everton since 1892. They did groundshare with fellow neighbours Liverpool for 8 years in 1884-1892 but later moved to Goodison Park after a row over rent.
• Everton did win the 1985 European Cup Winners Cup Final, a 3-1 win against Austrian side Rapid Wien, goals coming from Andy Gray, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy.
• The club's most recent success is the FA Cup win in 1995, a 1-0 win against Manchester United, the winner coming from Paul Rideout.
• Everton's main rivals are of course the Merseyside derby with Liverpool. They have played each other in pretty much every season, their 1st derby game coming in 1894, a 3-0 home win against The Reds.

Z-Cars, the song when the players come out at Goodison Park.

MY VISITS:

VISIT 1: Everton 1-2 Leicester City (FA Cup 3rd Round) 7/1/17







FIRST VISIT TO GOODISON;

Everton 1-2 Leicester City
Saturday 7th January 2017
FA Cup 3rd Round





I set a target at the start of the season, 2 of the grounds I wanted to visit in the 16/17 season, Newcastle's St James's Park and of course Goodison Park, Everton. And luckily so far I've managed to do Everton. With this one it was quite a lucky one anyway as on the same day Gillingham was meant to be playing AFC Wimbledon at home, but due to Wimbledon still being in the FA Cup at Sutton United, this of course postponed our game with the Dons and gave me a free Saturday for some Groundhopping. So after looking at the fixtures and noticing Liverpool's game with Plymouth in the Cup got moved to the Sunday and Everton's game with Leicester stayed on the Saturday, it was a no brainer. So I ordered my train tickets from London to Liverpool return which cost just over £30 which wasn't too bad. I could have got it cheaper had I ordered it earlier but was my fault but I wasn't too fussed on paying a bit extra. So then of course I ordered my ticket online which was £25, would have been £20 had I have been a member but £25 to go to a Premier League ground is fairly reasonable I'd say. Anyway after finishing work Friday night, I was up again in a few hours to go to Liverpool as I had planned on doing some sightseeing which I was quite excited about. I left home just before 6am and got to London just before 7. A quick tube ride on the Northern line from Charing Cross to Euston and I left Euston shortly after 8 and arrived into Liverpool Lime Street around 10.20am. Once I got to Liverpool, I got myself into a taxi and took a trip down Memory Lane, a trip to Brookside Close, the former TV Soap that ran for 21 years until the Soap was axed in 2003, some pictures below.

So after visiting Brookside Close which did bring back quite a fair amount of memories, Brookside has always been a street I've wanted to visit for years and I'm glad now to have done so. It certainly wasn't what I expected, I expected the Close to be a lot bigger as seen on TV, but it's actually fairly small. But anyway, after spending a bit of time at Brookside, I walked to the nearest bus stop and didn't wait there for too long and got the bus back to Lime Street station which took around half an hour and a single which was £2.20 which was quite good. The taxi there cost me £11.60 which I thought was quite good considering most taxis are normally ridiculous and probably would have been around £20 but I didn't mind. Like I said, it's something I've always wanted to do, and I'm glad to have done it. Anyway I got back to Lime Street around half 12 and grabbed a bite to eat at McDonalds and then got the train to Kirkdale from Liverpool Central which took around 10 minutes. I got to the ground by half 1 which was fairly early but took some pictures around the ground and bought a programme but I didn't mind too much getting there early. I got into my seat and fairly impressed, certainly a ground I'm glad to have done. A good old fashioned ground which didn't disappoint. The game itself I thought was a fairly good game, both Everton and Leicester 2 even sides in the 1st half and had a lot of the possession but neither tested either keeper in goal. 2nd half Everton started the brighter and took their goal well from a good cross from Gerard Deulofeu and a easy tap in for Romelu Lukaku. But Leicester scored twice in 5 minutes from substitute Ahmed Musa who replaced Leonardo Ulloa earlier on, neither goal was outstanding goals but both teams took their goals well. I was surprised to see Everton get dumped out of the FA Cup as usually it's the competition they do fairly well in but Leicester progress into the next round. Overall it's been a really good day and another ground closer to completing the 92.





THE GROUND:

Goodison Park has been the home of Everton Football Club since 1892, with the club originally playing on the South East Corner of Stanley Park. Also, Goodison Park is the first major football stadium to be built in England in 1892. Before moving into Goodison Park in 1892, the club previously played at Anfield for 8 years between 1884 and 1892, which of course is the home of their neighbours Liverpool FC. Goodison Park has a total capacity of 39,572, of which away supporters are allocated in the Bullens Road Stand which is one corner of the two-tiered stand on the side of the pitch. Away supporters can be allocated up to 3,000 tickets. Kirkdale railway station is the closest to the ground, around a 20 minute walk. Although when I went, I went to Kirkdale on the way up, and then walked to Sandhills station on the way back which was around a 30 minute walk, so save all the congestion at Kirkdale on the way back.







GROUND PHOTOS: