Well, we'll have to disagree there. It's a moniker I've been aware of for far longer than 3-4 years Dave.
I can't remember anybody saying to me they're 'going down to the grand old lady' either Dave. Why would they? We just don't speak like that, but I've defo heard people use it in a more descriptive or emotive manner.
For what it's worth Dave, a quick use of the search functions concludes that Grand Old Lady was first used to describe Goodison by a member of the GOT community in 2008.
www.grandoldteam.com