IT will be a sentimental day for the blue half of Merseyside on Sunday when Evertonians say goodbye to Goodison Park after 133 years.
And there will be one big Brummie shedding a little tear too because Everton’s home is very special to me.
You never forget your first time and, a decade ago, Goodison was the place where I made my debut for Watford. What a wonderful, historic, atmospheric place to do so.
I had played in the lower leagues and the and I had waited so long to play in the top flight.
So when I walked down that tight players’ tunnel and then rose up the steps to the pitch to the tune of the Z Cars theme — walk-in music which share with Watford — I was hit with a wall of noise and I knew that I had arrived.
My debut was almost cut short after a matter of seconds, when I smashed into .
It was my “Paul Gascoigne in the 1991 Cup final moment”;;, a rush of blood, a case of severe impatience.
And I was lucky to escape with a booking and a “calm down”;; from the ref. In the VAR age, it would have been a straight red.
Having got away with that, we led twice but had to settle for a 2-2. Still it was one of the highlights of my career.
I love proper old-school football stadiums, I love it when the fans are so close to the pitch, when the crowd bears down on you — and Goodison Park is one of the absolute best, I’d certainly name it in the top five I’ve played in.
From the moment the team bus heads down those narrow residential streets close to the ground, with those passionate supporters lining the pavement and the Winslow Hotel pub on the corner, you know you are heading for something special.
They call Everton the “People’s Club”;; and Goodison is a salt-of-the-Earth ground, with great architecture.
It is a reminder that football was — and should still be — the working man’s game.
So I will miss Goodison Park. Even the press box, where I sat recently, with posts obstructing my view and with barely enough legroom to seat a dwarf.
I was talking to some club staff who have worked at the old place for years and they said, “We will miss it but it will be nice to go somewhere everything works.”;;
It’s obvious why Everton are leaving Goodison for their new ultra-modern home at Bramley-Moore Dock — their capacity will increase by more than 13,000, the facilities for supporters will be in a different league and matchday revenues will increase markedly.
Everton’s players might suffer from leaving Goodison too. The atmosphere can be so intense — as we saw when equalised in injury-time in the old ground’s final Merseyside derby — that it probably earns them several points per season.
But the timing feels right — with new owners and with 15 players out of contract — it feels like a brand new era for the club.
A new stadium doesn’t often bring instant success. When moved to the Emirates, plenty of Gunners fans were expecting another title. Nineteen years later, they are still waiting to win the league at their not-so-new home.
I was surprised was handed a two-and-a-half-year contract when he returned to Everton in January. While I have huge respect for Moyes, it didn’t feel like the exciting appointment needed to lead the club into its brave new world.
There will be expectations and demands for Everton to change their style of football now that they are moving home — and I don’t know whether Moyes is the ideal man to lead such an overhaul.
They will give the old place a proper send-off and, with rock-bottom Southampton the visitors for the final men’s match at the ground, they will expect to see it off with a resounding win.
And to me, it feels rather messy that the . People will still be there to watch football so it is only a partial goodbye.
But most Evertonians recognise that their new home represents progress and that Goodison Park simply needed too much TLC to make it viable in this day and age.
Still, another little piece of English football’s soul will disappear when Everton’s men take their leave of the place.
And I, for one, will always treasure my memories of a very special football ground.
