Travel Guide for Everton and Goodison Park

GOODISON PARK HISTORY

Goodison Park proved to be a successful location for Everton straight away – in their first six seasons there Everton had the highest average attendance in the league.

It hosted the FA Cup final in 1894. Bolton Wanderers, who were beaten two years earlier in the first ever game at the ground, lost once again: this time 4-1 against Notts County.

In 1910 it hosted another FA Cup final, this time a replay between Newcastle and Barnsley. A 69,000 crowd turned up to witness the Geordies take the trophy back to Newcastle after a 2-0 victory.

The capacity was extended little by little during the first decades of the 20th Century. Everton then employed the famous architect and developer stadium Archibald Leitch. As a result Goodison Park was the first ground in Britain to have an upper and a lower tier on all four stands around the ground. Amazingly, St Luke the Evangelist Church is squeezed in between two of the stands.

On Boxing Day 1920, Goodison Park hosted a women’s game. A huge crowd of 67,000 turned up and an astonishing 14,000 were locked outside. Everton’s average crowd that season was 29,050…

The record attendance at Goodison Park is 78,299, set on September 18, 1948 in a Merseyside derby against Liverpool.The first international game to be played there was on April 6, 1895 when England defeated Scotland 3-0. Fifty odd years later, on September 21, 1949, the ground became historic for another reason. It was the venue of England’s first ever defeat on home soil to a non-UK team, when losing 0-2 to the Republic of Ireland.

World Cup venue

Five games were played at Goodison Park during the 1966 World Cup. For the Portuguese top scorer of the tournament, Eusebio, it was his lucky ground. He scored nine goals in the tournament, six of them at Goodison.

For another star player, the ground did not offer quite as happy memories. Out of his 49 caps for Brazil, Garrincha lost his only internationally game here, against Portugal. It hosted one of the tournament’s semi finals, West Germany v Soviet Union, and the Germans won the game 2-1 and Franz Beckenbauer managed to get on the scoresheet.

The last time spectators stood on the terraces at Everton was on January 19, 1994 – the stadium was then turned into an all-seater.

Goodison is much-loved but it does have many limitations and the club has considering relocating since 1996. A number of sites have been proposed but the current favourite option is for a 50,000 + capacity stadium at Bramley Moore Dock, part of the Port of Liverpool and north of the city centre.

 

GOODISON PARK DIRECTIONS

Train:
Kirkdale Station (Northern Line) is 1 mile from Goodison Park.

Bus:
Queen Square Bus Station: 19, 20, 21, 310, 345
Liverpool ONE: 26
St John’s Lane/ Lime Street Station (matchdays): 919

Soccer Bus:
Shuttle buses from Sandhills Station (Merseyrail Northern Line) run to Goodison Park for two hours before the match (last bus leaves 15 minutes before kickoff) and for 50 minutes after the final whistle.

The price for a single journey is £3.50. If this service is purchased along with a train ticket, a round-trip ticket costs only £3.

Check out Mersey Travel: www.merseytravel.gov.uk

 

EVERTON BARS

The Royal Oak (272 Walton Road) is where the Everton fans usually create a great atmosphere. The Thomas Frost (177-187 Walton Road) is usually preferred by away fans.

Other alternatives for a pint are Winslow Hotel (31 Goodison Road), The Spellow (79 Goodison Road), The Leigh Arms (25 Barlow Lane), The Red Brick (44 County Road) and The Chepstow Castle (109 County Road).

 

EVERTON STADIUM TOUR

Due to on-going work at Goodison Park there are currently no Everton stadium tours available.

 

EVERTON STORES OPENING TIMES

Everton One

Goodison Park
183 – 189 Walton Lane
Liverpool
L4 4HH
Monday – Friday: 9.30 -18.00
Saturday: 9.00 -18.00
Sunday: 10.00 -16.00
Opening hours may be extended on matchdays.

Everton Two

Liverpool One
11 South John Street
Liverpool
L1 8BU
Monday – Friday: 9.30 -20.00
Saturday: 9.00 -19.00
Sunday: 11.00 -17.00

 

EVERTON TRAINING GROUND

After training for 41 years at Bellefield, in 2007 Everton moved to a new training ground at Finch Farm, Halewood. The club has invested around £9.5 million and it is now one of the best training complexes in the country.

It has 10 football pitches, used by the Everton first team and the youth academy. Inside the complex there is a gym, swimming pools, treatment rooms, spa, sauna and an indoor training pitch.

 

EVERTON CLUB HISTORY

Back in the 1800s the church had a big influence on the lives of working class people and their families. A good Christian was supposed to keep fit and healthy by doing sports. In 1870 St Domingo Methodist Parish and Sunday School was formed, where children as well as adults could play cricket, baseball, etc. Rugby was the main sport during the winter but it soon started to lose out to another sport that became increasingly popular, football.

St Domingo’s Football Club was formed in 1878. The club played their first games on a public football pitch on the southeast corner of Stanley Park. A year later the club renamed themselves Everton FC. The historic name change was agreed at a meeting in the Queen’s Head Hotel, on Village Street. Close by was ‘Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House’ that was run by the ‘The Toffee Lady’ Old Ma Bushell, the creator of Everton toffees.

Wearing blue and white striped shirts, Everton played their first game on December 20, 1879 and won 6-0 against St Peter’s. After a while the league committee (Lancashire Association) demanded Everton move from Stanley Park to a more modern stadium and they relocated into Priory Road. The first season at the new ground was a huge success and Everton won their first title by winning the Liverpool Cup. They defeated Earlestown in the final.

John Houlding and The Sandon

In 1884, the brewery owner John Houlding, a big lover of football and very involved with Everton, arranged a meeting at his pub The Sandon. A decision was taken to move their home ground from Priory Road to a pitch at Anfield Road owned by John Houlding’s fellow brewer, John Orrell.

When The Football League was founded in 1888 Everton were one of the 12 clubs involved. The first ever league game was played at Anfield on September 8, 1888, in front of 10,000 spectators, a record attendance for the new league, and Everton won 2-1 against Accrington Stanley.

Everton finished in 8th place in the first ever league season. The following year the club finished in second and in the third season, 1890/1891, they won the title. Everton grew quickly and the club’s financer John Houlding enjoyed the success.

Everton’s King John

However, as time went by more and more problems seemed to occur and differences within the club became apparent. Members of the board and players started to feel “King John” was running his own show. Among other things he demanded that the players would get changed at his pub and he would have sole rights for selling ale at Anfield.

In September 1891 King John put forward a proposal that Everton FC should buy Anfield and some land he owned adjoining the ground. He went on a mission to convince the 279 members of the club. However they voted against his proposal and Everton had to leave.

After a few months of hard work Everton had built a new ground, Goodison Park on the north side of Stanley Park. This was the first purpose-built football stadium in the world. The opening ceremony took place on August 24, 1892 in front of 12,000 people.

Everton won their first FA Cup title in 1906, beating Newcastle 1-0 in the final. The following year they reached the final again, but lost 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday.

In 1914/1915, the last season before the league was suspended for the duration of the First World War, Everton won the title for the second time. This meant that Everton stayed champions for four years.

Dixie Dean – goal machine

During the twenties William Ralph Dean, popularly known as Dixie Dean, wrote a new chapter in football history. He was signed from local rivals Tranmere and scored 32 goals in 38 games during his first season.

Two years later, during the 1927/1928 season, Dixie notched up a sequence of success not matched since: 60 goals in 39 games. With such a goal machine in their frontline Everton were able to win their third League title.

A few rollercoaster years followed when Everton went up and down in the divisions. Only two years after winning the League Everton were relegated, for the first time ever. But Dixie Dean ran riot in the Second Division and scored 39 goals in 37 games. Everton bounced straight back up and won the League title during their first season back. Dixie Dean contributed with another 45 goals.

Player numbers

The following season Everton won the FA Cup with a 3-0 thumping of Manchester City in the final. This was the first game ever where players wore numbers on the back of the shirts, Everton wearing numbers 1-11 and Manchester City wearing 12-22. Dixie Dean became the first player for Everton – and England – ever to wear a number nine shirt. In other words, the standard for future number nines was set pretty high from the start.

Dixie Dean left Everton in 1937, but the club found a worthy replacement straight away. Everton signed Tommy Lawton and Dixie left the same year. In the 1938/1939 season Lawton scored 34 goals in 38 games, an important contribution to Everton’s fifth League title. The following season started, but with the outbreak of the Second World War all league football was suspended once again.

The fifties started badly for Everton. The club was relegated at the end of the 1950/1951 season and the supporters had to suffer for three years while Everton stayed in the Second Division.

The School of Science

The glory days returned to Goodison Park the following decade. With Harry Catterick as manager Everton won the League title in 1962/63 and The Toffees got an additional nickname, ‘the School of Science’.

The FA Cup final in 1966 has gone down in history as one of the greatest ever. Sheffield Wednesday went 2-0 up when Mike Trebilcock stepped into action. The fact he was not even mentioned in the matchday programme might have helped to fire him up. From being an unknown Trebilcock stepped into the limelight with two goals in five minutes. Derek Temple then scored Everton’s third and winning goal.

Everton finished off the sixties in style with another League title, nine points ahead of Leeds in second place. However, the successful sixties turned into the dull seventies, when Everton did not win a single trophy.

December 1983 was a dark period for Everton Football Club. Only 13,659 came to witness Everton’s goalless draw against Coventry and those attending were so unhappy that they booed their own team. But this was a turning point. The team pulled themselves together and by the end of the season they had reached both the FA and League Cup final.

In the League Cup final Everton lost to their arch rivals, Liverpool after a replay but in the FA Cup things went much better, as they won 2-0 against Watford. The manager, Howard Kendall and his team had now answered their critics.

The following season was a huge success. Everton set a new record by winning the League, amassing a total of 90 points, 13 points ahead of Liverpool, who finished second.

Everton win Cup Winners’ Cup

On top of that Everton won the Cup Winners Cup, after first beating Bayern Munich 3-1 at Goodison Park in the semi-final and in the final recorded the same scoreline against Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam.

Everton were close to a third title, but lost the FA Cup final 1-0 to Manchester United in extra time.

The following season was nearly as successful as the last one, but they could not beat their local rivals representing the red side of the city (Liverpool FC), who won both the FA Cup and the League title. Everton did not get a chance to compete in the European Cup either, due to the Heysel Stadium disaster – all English clubs were banned from European competition.

After a magnificent finish to the season, where they won 10 out of their last 12 games, Everton reclaimed the league title in 1986/1987.

In 1995 Everton made it all the way to the FA Cup final, conceding only one goal, a penalty in a 4-1 victory over Tottenham in the semi final, and played the final against Manchester United. A header from Everton’s Paul Rideout 30 minutes into the game settled the match and Everton were crowned cup winners in 1995. The team included Everton heroes Duncan Ferguson, Neville Southall and Anders Limpar.

Everton’s supporters have not had much to cheer in the past two decades. A defeat in the 2009 FA Cup final against Chelsea (2-1, despite an early goal) is the closest the club have come to a title. And in the Premier League a fourth place season 2004/05 is the best achievement.

But with a new arena in sight and bigger player transfers than ever, maybe success is round the corner?

 

EVERTON FACTS

Everton hold the record for the most amount of time a club has spent in the English top division, 110 seasons. It backs up the club’s motto: Nil satis Nisi optimum, meaning ‘Nothing but the best is good enough’.

The goalkeeper Neville Southall holds the record for the most Everton appearances, having played 751 matches. On top of that he has 92 caps for his country, Wales.

Another legendary Everton goalkeeper is Ted Sagar, who played from 1930 to 1952. The fact that he ‘only’ made 497 appearances was more down to the Second World War than anything else.

Dixie Dean was every goalkeeper’s worst nightmare. In 433 appearances he scored 383 goals, which makes him Everton’s greatest goalscorer of all time.

Everton have been wearing their blue shirts and white shorts since 1901/1902. Up until then the club had tried various colours, one of the early ones being an all black kit. Later a red line diagonally across the kit was added, to brighten it up
No other Premier League fixture has seen more red cards dished out than the Merseyside derby against Liverpool.

 

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