End of an era at Goodison marked with cheers and tears

Everton fans and legends came together to pay tribute to the club’s home of 133 years. Emotions were raw as love shone for a grand old stadium

19 May 2025 - The Guardian

Andy Hunter  - Goodison Park

The La’s song There She Goes captured the mood perfectly, sparking a mass sing-along before the second world war siren kicked in and Everton’s men emerged to the sound of the Z-Cars theme for one last time at Goodison Park. Then the PA system cut out and Z-Cars spluttered to a halt. Not now, please not now. A sign from the stadium gods? A little reminder that this iconic feature of English football is 133 years old and all the affection in the world can not hide the wrinkles? Perhaps, but it can still say goodbye in style.TOM JENKINS/THE GUARDIANFans show their colours before Everton’s men’s team play their last ever match at Goodison Park

On a beautiful day in L4 4EL, under pale blue skies darkened by plumes of royal blue smoke from the flares outside, Everton delivered as its history demanded and departed with a win. Iliman Ndiaye danced through the Southampton defence twice and etched his name into Goodison folklore as the final goalscorer in the stadium’s Premier League history.

Nottingham Forest’s Horace Pike had the honour of scoring the first league goal here, in 1892. Legends, glory, torment, passion, misery, the School of Science, Dogs of War and so much more have filled the years in between. The history is inescapable and Everton – club, team and fans alike – staged the perfect sendoff on a poignant and emotional afternoon.

Ndiaye took the match ball home after delivering victory for David Moyes’s team. He didn’t get a hat-trick but no one cared. It was some achievement by the Everton team to get inside the stadium and perform at all. The call to greet the team coach as it made its way along Walton Lane and Goodison Road was answered by tens of thousands of Evertonians. The area around Spellow Lane and Goodison Road, where the statue of Dixie Dean stands, was impassable by 9.30am.

On the quieter Bullens Road and Gwladys Street, families stood outside their usual turnstiles to have their photographs taken. Outside 29 Gwladys Street, bedecked in Everton paraphernalia, the elderly owner sat in a deckchair and held court with passersby.

TOM JENKINS/ THE GUARDIAN - A supporter struggles to contain his 

emotions during the closing ceremony Tearful farewell to an old friend

A few doors along a brave neighbour had decorated their house in Liverpool flags. They were not sat outside to welcome visitors. Once around the corner at St Luke’s Church, Goodison Road was gridlocked with fans waiting to welcome Moyes’s men. It was so packed that the coach couldn’t get through and had to make a detour to drop the players off in the Bullens Road car park. Hundreds of fans without tickets remained outside for the duration of Everton’s 2-0 win.

Scarfs had been draped over every seat and supporters made their way inside the ground as soon as the gates opened. Just like old times. Moyes broke away from his team’s pre-match warm-up to hug Wayne Rooney as the boyhood Evertonian made his way around the pitch with his son. The Gwladys Street ran through its old songbook as Ndiaye ran amok through the Southampton defence. Alan Ball, Super Kevin Campbell, Duncan Ferguson and Tim Cahill all got a mention.

From the current squad, Séamus Coleman and Jordan Pickford were serenaded frequently. Moyes had given Coleman the fitting honour of captaining Everton’s men in their final appearance at Goodison. A lovely touch, although it backfired to a degree when the 36-year-old pulled up injured and had to be replaced in the 18th minute by the soon-to-be-released Ashley Young.

After the final, final whistle there was a 15-minute delay while club staff put seats and stages in place for “Operation Farewell Goodison”. It was a moment to reflect on what it has taken for Everton to get to a point where leaving its cherished home for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock is met with excitement more than regret.

Everton’s house move has been more complicated and stressful than most. There was the proposed relocation to a 60,000, £100m super-stadium at an unidentified location under Peter Johnson in the late 1990s. That one never got off the ground. Goodison’s final game would have been staged 22 years ago had Everton made the transformative move to a prime waterfront site at King’s Dock. Bill Kenwright’s refusal to cede boardroom power to his then fellow director Paul Gregg put pay to that scheme. Then came the awful plan to move to Kirkby as part of a giant Tesco retail development.

“A glorified cow shed built in a small town outside Liverpool,” as it was described at the time by the then Liverpool city council leader, Warren Bradley. That cheap and unambitious project was rejected by the government after a public inquiry prompted by the Keep Everton In Our City (KEIOC) campaign. The debt that present and future Evertonians, plus present and future owners, owe the KEIOC founders Dave Kelly, Colin Fitzpatrick, the late Tony Kelly and the late Anthony AJ Clarke among others is immeasurable.

But that is the past. Everton’s farewell to Goodison could have morphed into a sombre memorial but was pitched perfectly. Goodison would get one last rendition of Z-Cars after all. In the penalty area where Dean scored his record-breaking and still unmatched 60th league goal in 1928, a lone violinist played a heart-wrenching version of the club’s adopted anthem.

A series of goodbye tributes then appeared on the giant TV screens from Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson, Thomas Tuchel, Mikel Arteta, Tim Howard and Roberto Martínez. There were also messages from Dame Judi Dench, an Everton fan and honorary patron of the club’s charity, Jodie Comer, whose dad, Jimmy, was the club’s masseur for decades, and Sylvester Stallone.

Centre stage was eventually and rightly given to former players, many of whom are responsible for Goodison’s greatest moments. Joe Royle, Bob Latchford and Johnny Morrissey led the first wave. The great 1980s team followed.

The legendary goalkeeper Neville Southall looked resplendent in a floral shirt. Graeme Sharp, who stayed away for two years due to protests against the club’s former board, was welcomed home with a fine reception. Peter Reid took to the mic and apologised for his dreadful sunglasses. “I was on the lash last night,” he said. Next to him stood Andy Gray, who remarked: “We are all leaving Goodison but Goodison will never leave us.”

Bill Ryder-Jones, co-founder of the Coral, closed proceedings with a moving version of In My Life. “There are places I remember, All my life ...” Evertonians could not have loved Goodison more.

***

Will Unwin - Goodison Park

Ndiaye double eases Everton to victory in fitting home finale

Everton 2

Southampton 0

Ndiaye 6 45+2

When the Goodison Park history books are printed, they will show Iliman Ndiaye scored the final two Premier League goals at the grand old stadium. It was not an afternoon about the actual football as Goodison said goodbye to men’s football, mercifully, for the home support, with a simple win for Everton against Southampton.

No one cared about the quality on show, which was a relief as the match felt like a sideshow. Ndiaye lit it up, however, and walked off with the match ball despite falling one short of a hat-trick. The forward was the difference, ensuring the final memories for those who stayed faithful to Everton through the thick and often thin in recent years were rewarded with a fitting end.

After the first game of David Moyes’s second reign, Everton were a point above the relegation zone with three wins from 20 games. At that time this match looked like a potential six-pointer. It instead was a party in radiant sunshine to celebrate 132 years of Everton’s home.

No one inside Goodison Park required anything to improve the atmosphere but a stunning solo goal from Ndiaye in the sixth minute shook the foundations. The 25-year-old drifted through fluorescent shirts and calmly slotted into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Cue a new wave of blue flares.

Southampton were very polite guests, allowing the hosts to enjoy themselves, after the draw at Manchester City last week ensured they would not go down as the worst team in Premier League history.

The Saints are a team in limbo, desperately waiting for their holidays to begin and to find out who their new permanent head coach will be. Talks have been held with Tom Cleverley and Will Still over the vacancy, and whoever gets the role will need to re-energise a team whose morale is at rock bottom. They lacked energy, ideas and overall quality, ensuring Everton had the leaving party they wanted.

The fixture settled into a rhythm of an end-of-season dead rubber. Everton were on top and were the only side threatening to score. They should have had a second when James Garner countered down the right, sliding the ball across for Beto in the area to slot into the corner. Unfortunately the striker decided he needed to be half a yard offside and his effort was ruled out.

There was further pain for Beto when he rose highest to head home an Ashley Young cross after he had been brought on in the 18th minute for a final hurrah. It was a superb move but Beto was again offside, as the video assistant referee confirmed.

Ndiaye will be part of the new era at the club’s new home at Bramley-Moore dock, which it was announced on Friday will be called the Hill Dickinson Stadium. He is a player Everton have rarely seen in recent times; a skilful performer capable of producing moments of magic, offering a final one to Goodison Park as he latched on to a Dwight McNeil through ball, showed the quickest of feet to bamboozle Aaron Ramsdale before tapping into the empty net in first-half injury time. VAR threatened to dampen the mood for a third time but, thankfully, Ndiaye was onside.

The result was not in doubt after that, leaving the second half to feel like an inconvenience for those who had lined the streets around the ground since 9am. Somewhat tired and emotional, they were waiting for the post-match events to bring down the final curtain, as the football on offer was increasingly pedestrian, played in front of a subdued audience who might not have noticed if the match was played with a beach ball.

Another farewell took place in the 65th minute when Abdoulaye Doucouré was withdrawn. The midfielder is one of 13 Everton players out of contract in the coming weeks and fresh terms are yet to be offered. Michael Keane was another afforded a chance to bow out in front of the Toffees faithful, coming on for the injured Jarrad Branthwaite.

The women’s team will play here next season, keeping Goodison alive. The men are moving into their next stage in a better position than many envisaged at the turn of the year, with Ndiaye the on-field poster boy of positivity.

A new home awaits and it was a glorious end for the old one.