Secrets of Goodison Park revealed as Everton prepare to say farewell
Cherished memories and 10 facts about much-loved stadium which, after 133 years, will play host to its final senior men’s game
Everton win the league
Everton enjoyed their greatest season in 1985, winning the league and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985, with Goodison Park hosting some memorable games – including the semi-final against Bayern Munich Credit: Getty Images/Bob Thomas
18 May 2025 6:22am BST
Chris Bascombe
Football clubs love to position themselves as the heart and soul of their community. For some, it is a dubious claim soaked in superficiality.
There is no such artifice at Goodison Park.
For passers-by native and new, there is an idyllic wonder at the quaintness of a Premier League venue set among the narrow streets and terraced houses that could have been a set design for Z-Cars, and where the local pub, The Winslow, is literally a hop – or on the most celebrated nights, possibly a stagger – to and from turnstile seven.
Everton’s great cathedral stands between the 310 yards of Goodison Road separating the Salop Chapel Free Presbyterian Church and that of St Luke the Evangelist, theologians left to ponder which of the three is the more sacred place of worship.
Turn the corner, the budding footballers from Gwladys Street Primary and Nursery are a free-kick’s distance from the Bullens Road Stand, while the modern upgrades of the Premier League era feel oddly out of sync with the homely, retro feel of an arena that has been a source of inspiration and sanctuary for its congregation since 1892.
“If you know your history,” they chant before each match. Through triumphs and traumas, this place has marinated in nostalgia.
On Sunday, Goodison will host its 2,791st and final senior men’s league game, an event of such immense consequence for the city that the Museum of Liverpool dedicated a photographic exhibition inviting supporters to capture visual testimony of the farewell season.
The images are reassuringly familiar; the scarf sellers maintaining a close but deferential distance to Dixie Dean’s statue, and the supporter staring as lovingly at her chippy tea as predecessors in the Park End once did Andy Gray’s diving headers.
“One of my favourites is of a fella who is busy painting his house while thousands of fans are walking past on a match day,” says Chris Wardle, who curated the “Goodbye to Goodison” exhibition.
“That sums up what Goodison is. Life just goes on all around amid this crazy scene of passion.”
General view of Everton flags inside Goodison Park during the Premier League match against Arsenal on April 5, 2025
Goodison Park, first opened in 1892, will host its 2,791st and final senior men’s game on Sunday Credit: Copa/Getty Images
Wardle had a two-fold ambition when conceiving the presentation; what in 2025 is a contemporary celebration of the match-going experience will for future generations will be a social history of an era which may soon come under that wistful category known as “bygone”.
“We wanted to tell a story about fan culture,” says Wardle, a season-ticket holder of 17 years. “The bricks and mortar is what makes Goodison beautiful, but supporters are not just saying goodbye to a stadium. The way we all go to the game will change significantly – the meeting places which have become part of the routine of so many lives every home game.
“There is an essence of Goodison that will be left behind. There are not many other football grounds of such size that are so ingrained into the community. It is one of the last of a special era of football, a 40,000 stadium that is perfect and right in its environment.”
Tourists leaving the museum and heading for Liverpool’s renowned Central Library can locate a Goodison treasure trove unrivalled at any major football club in the world. The artefacts of the Everton Collection, numbering in excess of 10,000 and continuously expanded, were described by Sotheby’s and Christie’s as “the finest and most complete collection of memorabilia relating to one club”. There is renewed hope that the club’s new owners, the Friedkin Group, will find the hidden gems the permanent home for public viewing they deserve.
A postcard advertising Goodison Park and Everton circa 1900
Dr David France, the 77-year-old driving force behind the archive and life president of the Everton Shareholders’ Association, became the first individual since Bill Shankly to receive Liverpool’s Citizen of Honour for services to Merseyside football when he rejected mega-million-pound bids for his collection and effectively gifted it to the city.
Among the crown jewels are the minutes of the board meeting in which the stadium name was decided. Leeds-born civil engineer George Goodison, who is credited with improving housing conditions in the Walton area of Liverpool to repel the Victorian scourges of typhus and cholera, was afforded the ultimate honour having already had one of the neighbouring streets named after him.
France, whose labour of love began when his mother found a box of Everton souvenirs in her attic in Widnes in 1985, located the 1895 contract that purchased the previously rented Goodison Park land for £8,090, and an 1896 set of published rules for the players who trained at the ground. “The player shall, if required by the trainer, indulge in the practice of football,” it charmingly asserts.
Sketch of George Goodison by Liverpool-born artist Peter King
A sketch of George Goodison, a civil engineer who is credited with improving local housing conditions in the mid-1800s. The stadium was named after him Credit: Peter King
Goodison lays claim to being the oldest purpose-built football stadium in the world (before 1892, other stadia were considered multi-use venues).
It was the first Football League Ground to host an FA Cup final in 1894, the first to use goal nets, and pioneered the use of floodlights, while the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox tried in vain to convince Scousers of the merits of baseball in a 1924 exhibition match.
Four years earlier, Goodison played a significant, but unfortunate role in exposing the institutionalised discrimination against women’s football.
After 40,000 fans attended a charity match between the women of the Dick, Kerr Ladies and St Helens Ladies, the Football Association declared “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged”.
The ban remained for 51 years, adding weighty symbolism to Everton Women’s imminent Goodison residency.
Far beyond the city, the legend behind the most cherished games and charismatic players and managers will reverberate through the ages.
But so much more is being left behind than memories of the Holy Trinity of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey, of Pelé and Eusébio extolling Goodison’s virtues after playing there in the 1966 World Cup (the semi-final between West Germany and the Soviet Union was also at Goodison), or of the players who won the league and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985.
Describing Goodison merely as a football stadium is rather like referring to Stonehenge as a mildly distinctive rockery, or Downing Street as an appealing London terrace.
Generations of Evertonians have had their loved ones’ remains laid on the hallowed ground, none more poignantly than the most prolific of all strikers.
Dixie Dean passed away after attending a Goodison derby in 1980, the stadium ever thus a shrine to his peerless contribution to English football.
Training rules at Goodison from 1896
Rules, published in 1896, for players who trained at Goodison. ‘The player shall, if required by the trainer, indulge in the practice of football,” they say
“My grandad’s ashes were scattered at Goodison. Many family members were, so for many it is a place of commemoration,” says Melanie Prentice, Dixie’s granddaughter, who recalls Goodison as her “playground” whenever the iconic striker returned.
“Goodison is so much more than a football stadium. We’ll miss every little bit; the Archibald Leitch design patterns, the wooden seats and even the rickety old bits around the stands.
“People love it because it has a character of its own. But maybe more importantly, Goodison has looked after all of us, players and supporters, for such a long time. Whenever she has been needed most, especially recently, she has been there. It will be hard at the end on Sunday. Very emotional.
“But that sadness is not what it might have been because it means a lot that Goodison is staying part of the club, with it now becoming the home of the women’s team. It means it will still always be there for everyone.”
The countdown has been long and, for a time, debilitating, to such an extent mixed emotions have quietly snuck into the consciousness of supporters.
There is a universal craving for the spectacular new build at Bramley-Moore Dock, but the ache for a futuristic, modern stadium is accompanied by foreboding as former majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s final promise proved to be not as false as so many of his others.
Dave Kelly, chair of the Everton Fan Advisory Board (EFAB) and a season-ticket holder for 50 years, was among those who led the campaign to ensure the club relocated to a fitting Goodison successor, most notably resisting the move to what resembled a dreary, flatpack of a stadium partnering a Tesco superstore in Kirkby 16 years ago.
“The Keep Everton in Our City [KEOIC] chapter has almost been forgotten,” Kelly reflects. “I seriously believe if the fans did not do what they did, we would be into our seventh year at Kirkby. I’m immensely proud we won the day with the public inquiry to prevent that.
“That was never about Goodison forever. We’d seen how other clubs were moving into new grounds and increased their match-day revenues and needed to move with the times. But I will still be devastated to leave. It’s a romantic notion of being part of this big, vast blue family every time we come to Goodison, but it’s true.
“I think of Goodison Park in terms of births, deaths and marriage. There is a spiritual connection.”
Contract to purchase freehold (previously rented) land for Goodison Park from Christopher Leyland, a wealthy banker, in August 1895 – 5.97 acres for a total of £8,090
The contract to purchase freehold land for Goodison Park from Christopher Leyland, a wealthy banker, in August 1895 – 5.97 acres for a total of £8,090
For anyone emotionally attached to Everton, that final whistle is exciting and terrifying. “When the whistle goes, I fear for the steward asking me to leave for the last time,” says Kelly, who is also the co-founder of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks campaign that has featured prominently at Goodison since 2015.
“A party to begin with and then… I’m not sure if ‘wake’ is the right word, but it will feel like a bereavement,” says Wardle.
“Not a really sad one because of a tragic loss, but one where you are all happy to be together for the special someone who has had a good run and been a massive part of your life and that of all your mates. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience being there for the final league game, so everyone will savour it.”
There is a final space in the museum exhibition, reserved for the most striking image of Sunday’s farewell. Tears will be shed on an afternoon of joyous melancholy.
It was once said of Everton that they play in a museum. It was meant as withering criticism of an institution that too often felt like it was in the waiting room as others entered the 21st Century. From Monday morning, describing Goodison as such is a heartfelt compliment.
Club secretary William Sawyer (left) welcomes Everton great Dixie Dean to Goodison for the first time in 1925
“Goodison oozes character and, like every other cathedral, has God in her corner,” says Dr France, a resident of Houston, Texas, since the early 1980s who still regularly crosses the Atlantic for home games.
“For 66 match-going seasons, she [Goodison Park] has provided an uncommon sense of belonging. Evertonians radiate collective warmth that puts more conventional families to shame. While I’m saddened to leave, we are at the threshold of an exciting era at the waterfront. That said, the Grand Old Lady will live forever in my heart.”
Everton’s matriarch will adjust to a new purpose, standing proud as a monument to English football at its most authentic.
“We love Goodison but all know we need to move,” says Prentice. “The new stadium is fantastic but whether it can replicate the atmosphere and feel of Goodison… I hope so.”
With that, Everton’s beating hearts will relocate to the new ground on Liverpool’s docks, as hopeful about the prospect of renewal as those pioneers who laid the first bricks in Walton 133 years ago.
The club’s soul, however, will reside forever in and around the majesty of Goodison Park.
10 Goodison facts
1. Lays claim to being world’s first purpose-built football stadium
It’s a slightly controversial declaration as there are older grounds than Goodison, many in England around long before 1892. Guinness World Records suggests Sandygate in Sheffield led the way as early as 1804. The key difference is that Goodison was conceived, designed and built first and foremost for a football team, while its predecessors were originally intended to be cricket, cycling or athletics venues as well as hosting football.
2. First league stadium to host an FA Cup Final
Long before Wembley’s original Twin Towers were erected in 1923, the FA Cup final had no permanent home. Everton hosted the flagship event twice. In 1894, when Second Division side Notts County beat Bolton Wanderers 4-1, and then in 1910 when, after a replay, Newcastle United beat Barnsley in front of 69,000 to win the Cup for the first time.
3. A royal love affair
With the Prince of Wales jumping up and down like a superfan at Villa Park this season, the presence of a high-profile Royal at a Premier League stadium is not so rare. But Goodison can boast it started the trend as the first league ground to welcome a reigning monarch. Such was Goodison’s reputation, King George V and Queen Mary decided to pay a visit after the grand opening of Liverpool’s Gladstone Dock in July 1913. Then King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, attended in 1938 attracting a crowd of nearly 80,000 for a presentation ceremony to present new colours to Liverpool-based 5th Battalion King’s Regiment and Liverpool Scottish (Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders).
4. How it changed the laws of football
In the meticulously chronicled Farewell to Goodison book published last year, its author David Prentice unearthed how a 1924 fixture between Everton and Arsenal caused a crisis at the Football Association when, having been awarded a corner in the first minute, winger Sam Chedgzoy started dribbling from the flag. The baffled referee, Henry Griffiths, was informed that the recently updated rules of the game, which were designed to allow goals direct from corners, did not prevent Chedgzoy from passing to himself. The club colluded with the Liverpool Echo, who paid the player to expose the loophole, and the news of the incident was swiftly wired across the country to become national news. The FA recognised the flaw in the rulebook and promptly acted. Since then, corner-takers are prevented from kicking the ball more than once.
Dixie Dean (right) playing for Everton against Blackburn Rovers
Dixie Dean (right), the greatest goalscorer in the history of English football, struck 241 times at Goodison, a whopping 227 of them in the league
5. The ground’s most prolific goalscorer
No surprises for identifying William Ralph “Dixie” Dean. The greatest goalscorer in the history of English football struck 241 times at Goodison, a whopping 227 of them in the league. His 63-goal season is unlikely to be bettered, the landmark 60th goal scored on May 5, 1928, in a hat-trick against Arsenal. Dean’s final Goodison appearance could not have been more poignant as he passed away in March 1980, having been a spectator at the Merseyside derby.
6. Greatest game
There will be a split between the generations on this one. For some, the day Dean secured the goal record for a single season can never be eclipsed. For others, the visit of Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup was Goodison at its most glorious and vibrant, the 3-1 win on April 24, 1985, for Howard Kendall’s side a peak performance by a magnificent, title-winning side. “I would swap everything I ever achieved in football for that one,” said goalkeeper Neville Southall.
Everton’s Gary Stevens is surrounded by Bayern Munich players during the European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final, second leg at Goodison Park in April 1985 Credit: Bob Thomas/Getty Images
7. Most successful manager
In the shoot-out between Harry Catterick and Kendall, the longevity of the former from 1961 to 1973 edges out his student, who would build on the legacy in the 1980s. Catterick celebrated victory 186 times at Goodison, which includes 153 league matches and 20 FA Cup ties. He won the league title twice, and the FA Cup in 1966.
Like Everton legend Dean, Catterick passed away at Goodison having taken his seat in the directors’ box to watch his beloved club, collapsing at the climax of an FA Cup tie against Ipswich Town in March 1985.
8. Most defeated opposition
Should Sunderland win the championship play-off final, there will be an additional reason for their fans to celebrate beyond the obvious one. Goodison Park is the North East club’s kryptonite. Of their 95 Goodison matches, Sunderland have been beaten 61 times, more than any other club.
Aston Villa supporters may miss Goodison trips more than most, however. No side have visited the venue more times, Villa recording 115 Goodison fixtures and boasting a fine record, losing just 53 times.
9. Greatest nemesis
With apologies to Evertonians, no Goodison history can ignore the significance of Merseyside derbies and the records show that no visitors won more games than Liverpool, with 41 victories, and no opposition player scored more than Ian Rush. He registered 14 goals at Goodison, his last in a Newcastle United shirt.
“They should name part of the stadium after me,” Rush joked to Telegraph Sport before the last Goodison derby this season.
That said, some of Everton’s finest moments were on derby day, the 4-4 draw in the 1991 FA Cup replay in folklore as the most dramatic of all the neighbours’ meetings.
10. How it all began
On Wednesday, August 24, 1892, the Goodison turnstiles opened for the first time, but not with a football match. Players were invited to show off their athletic prowess in a series of events including three-legged racing and the high jump. The first football game was a friendly on September 1 against Bolton Wanderers, who were paid £35 for the privilege, with the visitors’ Jim Cassidy scoring the first Goodison goal before Everton won 4-1.
Now, 2,790 games later, Goodison prepares for its final and most emotional fixture of all.
