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Everton fans' coach welcome on Goodison Road

It was a very modern way to bid farewell to one of football’s most-historic fixtures but the passion that greeted Everton’s team bus ahead of Goodison Park’s last-ever Merseyside Derby has existed in this city for generations.

Back when David Moyes was first appointed Blues boss in 2002, these kind of coach welcomes were the kind of spectacle you might expect to see in places like southern Europe, Turkey or Latin America but just three months on from when ‘The Grand Old Lady’ closes her turnstiles for the final time, they’ve become de riguer on big nights in L4.

Fan groups at both Everton and Liverpool have been organising such events ahead of prominent clashes for several years with the smell of pyrotechnics now part of the matchday sensory experience, alongside the more traditional aromas of liniment, pies, Bovril, tobacco (once upon a time) and manure from police horses!

Too often in recent seasons, loyal but long-suffering Blues – calling upon their team to “fight for us” – have had to go the extra mile to get their team over the line in relegation battles.

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After picking up just 17 points in the first half of this season under Sean Dyche, the current side certainly aren’t out of the woods yet, but a hat-trick of consecutive Premier League wins under Moyes for a team who previously hadn’t picked up back-to-back successes through Goodison’s final campaign, have at least bought them some breathing space above the drop zone ahead of hosting their neighbours for the last time at their home since 1892.

Not that there was much of that on Goodison Road as the bus containing Everton’s squad ambled its way towards the players’ entrance in the Main Stand.

Thousands of home fans went through the full repertoire of the royal blue song book to roar their heroes into the ground and this correspondent was stood among them to soak up the atmosphere.

Fans welcome Everton to Goodison Park, photo by Iain WattsFans welcome Everton to Goodison Park, photo by Iain Watts

With Everton relocating two miles west to Vauxhall on the Mersey waterfront at Bramley-Moore Dock next season, this will be the last time that Liverpool cross Stanley Park from their Anfield base which was of course the ground where their neighbours lifted their first league title before the Reds even existed.

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It looks highly likely that Arne Slot’s men will finish top of the tree this term but however this night turns out, they won’t experience anything else quite like this on their travels throughout 2024/25 as despite being less than a mile from their own ground, they were shown early on there will be no home comforts provided to them by Everton here.


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