Everton have played at Goodison Park since 1892, but now have one Premier League game left at their famous old home.
A move to a new stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront will follow. So, to mark the final few weeks, The Athletic has produced a series of articles — and now this special podcast — to mark it all.
This podcast aims to take you inside what makes Goodison so different from modern football grounds.
You can read the other pieces in the series here.
Goodison Park has been Everton’s cherished home for 133 years.
As the first purpose-built football stadium in England, it has witnessed league title wins, great escapes from relegation and hosted more top-flight matches than any other ground. Legends of the game, such as Dixie Dean, Eusebio and Pele, have all set foot on its hallowed turf.
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On Sunday, Goodison hosts its final Premier League game before the Everton men’s team move to a new, state-of-the-art home for next season. The match against already-relegated Southampton promises to be a poignant moment for generations of supporters; the bittersweet end of one era and the hope-filled start of another.
In this special episode, allow yourself to be transported into the heart of Goodison Park, as The Athletic FC captures the essence of what makes this storied stadium so special using a technique called binaural audio.
You will hear from fans about their memories of the ground, what it will mean to move on from the arena they have called home for so long, and a surprising amount of love for its restricted-view seats.
Then there are the familiar sights, sounds and smells of a regular Goodison matchday. The persistent call of matchday programme sellers on the walk to the ground between tightly packed rows of terraced houses, the clatter of wooden seats as fans stand up in anticipation when Everton are on the attack, the deep intake of breath before a wall of noise greets a goal. And, in typical Goodison fashion, the occasional irate shout or boo for good measure.
We go to the Church of St Luke the Evangelist, situated in the north-west corner of Goodison, between two stands, and a bustling hub for supporters before each game; to the nearby Holy Trinity statue of club legends Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey, and, of course, to the Gwladys Street End, home to Everton’s most vocal and vociferous support.
We chronicle the club’s bid to sign off from the Old Lady in style, and rewind the clock to remember some of Goodison’s most famous moments, from the 3-1 second-leg win over Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup to James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute equaliser in this season’s Merseyside derby.
This is Goodbye Goodison for The Athletic FC.
(Top photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
