Goodison Park is a legendary stadium in the game, for everyone, not just us. There have been some of the greatest figures to have ever graced the game, play on the hallowed turf. It was the first major, purpose-built stadium to house Football in England. It’s been here for generations, and its legacy has been passed down from our great-grandparents.
We all inherit a bit of magic, just by hearing the name as if it is some sort of spell being cast on us; one that we can never fully break. Many may try to move on from Goodison, and Everton, but there’s always a rope, pulling us back in, a noose around our neck that will never tighten, for it knows we will never fully take the leap away from Goodison. We can’t. The cross hatch design on the Bullens Road has stood across nearly 3 centuries, and it has seen some mystical nights.
It’s been here for generations, and its legacy has been passed down from our great-grandparents. We all inherit a bit of magic, just by hearing the name as if it is some sort of spell being cast on us; one that we can never fully break.
Many may try to move on from Goodison, and Everton, but there’s always a rope, pulling us back in, a noose around our neck that will never tighten, for it knows we will never fully take the leap away from Goodison. We can’t. The cross hatch design on the Bullens Road has stood across nearly 3 centuries, and it has seen some mystical nights.
We ended up at Goodison thanks to a disagreement and I’m sure you know the story. However, this argument truly ended in our favour. We ended up with our correlated steel patchwork, our wooden blocks (Otherwise known as seats) and our tunnel which some cats would struggle to squeeze through and our church which leaks onto the pitch.
We ended up with a TV theme tune as our song, our calling, Z-Cars. It’s a tune which seems to start a fire among us Evertonians. It can also enthral those who may not even wear our colours, as I’ve seen firsthand. It’s a comforting, primitive mentality that sets in before every game, knowing that every Saturday, in those seats, in that ground, we’re all the same.
Now, as we’re preparing to move on from Goodison to greener pastures, we should never forget our roots. The new stadium will provide us with some more memorable moments, but I think I speak for many when I say that Goodison will never be equalled, for what is once was, and what it still is. It’s ignorant to see it as a rundown stadium.
Goodison is a rustic, homely ground. A proper English stadium. Where fans are so close to the pitch that if we wanted to storm the turf, the stewards would simply be bumps in the road, as so wonderfully demonstrated by Tony Hibbert, under the lights, on that memorable night.
The ignorance of not remembering what a bastion of world football Goodison Park once was, always ahead of its time as the pioneer of many modern necessities of football, the home of ‘firsts’. Some of the teams that have played there down the years have really lived up to the ‘firsts’ ideology.
And that’s just the Everton teams.
The likes have Pelé, Garrincha, Eusébio, Beckenbauer and the late, great Dixie Dean have all sat in the dressing room where players still sit, preparing to play on the same pitch, under the same pressure. Never has the ‘Beautiful Game’ been more appropriate to relate to a football ground.
Goodison Park is a beautiful, beautiful football ground. Wise beyond its years and still standing sentinel today. The Old Lady creaks and cracks, but it will never, ever shatter.
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