For well over a century, an Everton matchday meant terraced streets, corner shops with their shutters half down, and a ground squeezed into the fabric of L4 so tightly you could almost touch the houses from the stands. Now the club plays by the river. A season into life on the waterfront, it is worth asking honestly: what did the move give Everton, and what did it take away?
What the old ground gave us
Goodison Park was never the most comfortable place to watch football. The pillars, the tight concourses, the queues for everything. But it had something modern grounds struggle to manufacture: closeness. The crowd sat right on top of the pitch, the noise bounced off low roofs, and visiting teams genuinely felt it.
It was also a place where memories were tied to physical details. A particular seat behind a particular pillar. A particular chippy on the way in. Generations of fans measured their lives by the walk up County Road, and that is not something you can pack into a removal van.
Why the move had to happen
None of that changes the fact that the old ground had reached its limits. Modern football runs on matchday revenue, hospitality and facilities, and an ageing stadium with restricted views and limited capacity was holding the club back. Plans to redevelop on the same site or move elsewhere had come and gone for years, and every false start left supporters more sceptical.
Bramley-Moore Dock was a bold choice. Building on a historic dock brought planning headaches and engineering challenges, but it also put Everton right on the city’s most famous stretch of water. Whatever you think of the move, it is hard to argue the club lacked ambition in where it chose to go.
The new ground, one season on
The early verdict from fans we have spoken to is broadly positive, with a few honest reservations. The steep home end has been designed to keep noise in, and on big nights it works. Sightlines are clean, the concourses are far easier to move around, and the setting by the river gives the whole day a sense of occasion.
The reservations are about atmosphere on quieter days, the price of food and drink inside, and the inevitable feeling of being a visitor in a new home. These things take time. Old grounds are loud partly because of habit: people know where to stand, who to sing with and when. A new stadium has to grow those habits from scratch.
A stadium can be built in a few years. A home end takes a generation.
What happens to the north end?
The bigger worry for many locals is not the new ground but the old neighbourhood. Matchdays brought money and footfall to pubs, cafes and small shops around Goodison, and those businesses do not move with the club. The plans for the old site, including continued football use and community projects, will matter enormously to the people who live there.
There is an opportunity here as well. The area between the two old grounds has long needed investment, and a well-run regeneration could leave L4 better off. But that depends on promises being kept and on residents being listened to, not just consulted for the sake of a press release.
Carrying the old ground with us
The best thing Evertonians can do is take the spirit of the old place with them: turn up early, sing from the first minute, and make the waterfront as intimidating as Goodison was on its best nights. Nostalgia is fine, but a club that only looks backwards gets left behind.
And for those who still feel the pull of the old streets, nobody is stopping you walking past on a Saturday, ideally the long way round through Stanley Park. The ground may have changed, but the memories have not gone anywhere.