Goodison Park Legacy Project

I only just found out it's being demolished. Last time I read anything on it, they were going to preserve it.

I don't understand, why demolish it, what are they going to build on it, a Netto?

I think it's gonna take 20 years for the new stadium to start feeling like a home match, and even then it'll never be Goodison.

It was never planned to preserve Goodison.

Right from the start, the plans were released showing its use as a mixed residential area including some sort of community centre or area.

Whether those plans are still exactly the same, I don't know.

Saving Goodison Park 'It has historical purpose for football and for the city'

I understand this has had formal planning permission granted. It is simply not practical to effectively mothball the old stadium when we move, as it would cost the club a considerable sum of money to carry on maintaining it.

At least it looks like the pitch is going to be turned into a feature rather than just build houses over it like at Maine Road and Roker Park.

That story by the Red Echo no less is all "consider" looking at and maybe's.

The plans for what is/was to happen are widely available and well down the road to becoming reality.

Maybe the new owners could be petitioned to save it if they feel we don't need the money it would generate?

My wish was always that it would be kept as a living museum to house the David France Collection so everyone could visit and view the history of English football.

And the pitch itself could be used for ladies home matches and local and England schoolboy matches like I used to attend back in the late '60s.

Perhaps the Club could sell it to our new owners and generate more funds than letting a developer get a cheap bit of land? Worked for Chelsea.

Maybe in the future we could even rent it to the neighbours when they lose capacity on their next loft extension.

Eric, I like your solution. I think it would be great to have the women playing at a retooled Goodison. I played a couple of games at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, long retired from hosting NFL games. They had lopped off the entire upper deck and opened the place up for local high schools and clubs to use for championship games and special occasions. Way cool.

Beer nuts are $3.95, Deer nuts are just under a buck .

I'll get me coat.

I was so serious about this, I wrote to English Heritage and World Heritage to see what they could do about preserving the first purpose built stadium but they said it's up to the owners of the stadium to approach them as the owners are still responsible for the upkeep but receive their grants to help out.

There was no chance of that happening under Chairman Bill.

Let's face it, while it could be potentially used for Women's Youth, and other local sides it is hard to envisage the potential number of supporters filling more than one stand. The empty stands would still require maintenance.

Unless the new owners would be prepared to fund this, even with a possible grant, I would also imagine from a business perspective, and they are business people, it would make little sense.

As Mike G, has stated this, or rather a similar discontinued venue, has been undertaken in the States, it can't be totally discounted. However, I would be very surprised to see it happen.

https://www.profootballhof.com/blogs/2011/06/blogs-choudhrys-chronicles-remnants-of-kezar-stadium/

The transition of Kezar was hastened by an earthquake, but I see no reason why the same thing couldn't be done with Goodison if the city had the will and the Friedkins provided some of the money.

I saw some footage of Upton Park being bulldozed, it was horrendous. The thought of that happening to Goodison, it's not worth thinking about. And seems so unnecessary.

If you're Arsenal, then yes, Highbury is going to fetch a bomb, but a football pitch in L4? And with the sentimental attachment everyone has for it, I think it would be nuts to demolish it.

When the time is right sell them back to themselves. This will enable us to spend £1B on players, like Chelsea have done, just a thought!

We're getting a state of the art new stadium on the Mersey so it's a dream come true for us.

Let's think of those nowhere near as fortunate as us, the locals and residents.

I just can't see keeping Goodison as it is being viable or sensible.

The proposed plan is, IMO, a brilliant one that I'd just love to see come to reality.

Goodison Legacy Project

Boom, £600M. Win the league in 2026.

The project aims to support the local L4 community so leaving a Goodison Park legacy.

It includes affordable housing, care home, some retail and open green space (I think where the pitch currently is…). Work was planned to start in 2026.

Years from now people would be asking - how could they let this happen? Walton is going to be devastated by this move.

If, it were to remain as a football stadium, then take the Upper Gwladys Stand off, the Upper Bullens off and the Top Balcony and half the Main stand off. Need to keep half of it because the changing rooms etc, are underneath there.

Build a new roof over the lower Gwladys, Lower Bullens and remaining Main Stand. Park end remains untouched.

I still think it will get demolished and whatever the original plans were to replace it go ahead.

Being an ex-pat, I haven't been since the early days of Wayne Rooney but will miss the old girl if she is demolished.

I remember Brian Labone owned a racehorse which he named Goodison and Like many other punters backed it when it first won which I believe was 20-1. I didn't do much after that.

Not many good memories over the last few seasons as it isn't the fortress it used to be, seems like what good results we have had have been away.

Still we must move on and I am sure great things will happen at the new stadium.

They both must both be erected on the concourse of the new Everton Stadium, just like the statue of Law, Best and Charlton is prominently positioned at Old Trafford. They are part of our history and to leave them behind for me would be unthinkable.

They are on a par with the Elgin Marbles although how you're supposed to roll them beats me. Bubbles eh!

I think Kenwright did sell Goodison, but it was bought back by Moshiri. Everton FC certainly own it now. The plan is to demolish the ground and to redeveloped.

In February 2021, Liverpool City Council voted in favour of Everton's £82M plan to redevelop Goodison Park into a mixed-use scheme featuring 173 homes and 51,000sq ft of offices.

As well as the homes and office space, the outline proposals for the Goodison Park site in Walton comprise a 63,000 sq ft, six-storey care home, more than 107,000 sq ft of space for community uses, and 8,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space.

And no, I don't want a Kenwright statue!

As blues we say yes, but if they can do that to them then what chance something more difficult to dismember.

It'd be wonderful if they could turn the whole site into a home for the Women and perhaps U21, etc. Much would still have to be removed and remodeled to provide a much simpler, lower capacity, facility though.

Remember HS2?

Merely expressing a view as to what would be appealing to me, subject to ignoring all other considerations, of course.

We are leaving Goodison and it will be no more. But we are leaving for the right reasons. Something we should have done 30 years ago. We could have even redeveloped Goodison, which there were unofficial proposals for as I understand. It would have meant thinking like Tottenham and even our neighbours.

I've not really followed too much. As James says, we've all been pre-occupied.

If I was architect (I'm not) or running the Goodison Legacy Project, my views haven't changed.

With the demolition of all the stands, there is / could have been potential to build a small single-decker 2-3,000 capacity stadium down at the Gwladys Street end. The Archibald Leitch frontage could be replicated on the front of one of the stands.

Home to U21s, U18s and the female team.

Then there is still room for the community park and affordable housing towards the centre circle and Park End.

There is plenty of land if you imagine Goodison without the existing stands there.

On the new stadium, for the last home game, how about opening it up with the match on the big screens?

My dad did that with some bricks from the old Goodison Road Stand when they demolished it in 1970 to build what to me will always be the “New Stand”.

We're moving to a brand spanking new stadium: sorry to anyone offended but it's "out with the old and in with the new".

I could be wrong but that was an aspect that was topical in the launch reviews.

Iconic and if they're destined to history it's a loss to Everton's ground heritage.

Like someone said, out with the old… in with the fantastic new!

But I've got to say I'll be glad to see the back of the place, it's cursed – I'm convinced.

Don't know why but I've a feeling our fortunes will change when we move to the young girl.

I won't miss Goodison one little bit.

They have been but on a very small scale and to be honest if they weren't pointed out you wouldn't notice them, and when you do you'll probably not like what you see.

Yes I recall very modernised and a linear pattern and as you say, on no grande scale.

Where the only advertising consisted of Joe and his mate carrying a big board round the ground with next week's wrestling at the Stadium on it.

And yes the 55-year-old triple decker is still called 'The New Stand' which is one of the reasons we must move forward and not look back.

If Goodison does get knocked down it will be in good company, given this City's (both Council and Private) record of demolishing old buildings and oft times replacing them with bland concrete shite... BMD excluded.

Goodison Park Legacy Project

and of course, the people of the area are deserving of the facilities that will be made available there, but my question is..."how is it funded and operated?"

Part of that answer is here Everton Stadium Project Funding

"The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has announced plans to invest up to £45m (€52.7m/$62.1m) in work connected to Everton’s new stadium, while the English Premier League football club (i.e. EFC) is reportedly set to raise up to £350m in funding for the project through the private placement market."

So the Club are funding it, and then what?

Who will be the owners?

Do the Club own and operate it?

Or sell it off cheaply to a developer willing to cough up the £350m in funding?

Sell the housing elements off to purchasers or rent them out to make income?

What about the residential care facility? (an old people's home in other words) Is this rented out to a private company or to the Council?

And the community health and medical facilities?

And education centre, a school? or adult education?

And the upkeep of the landscaping and community areas?

To me it sounds a lot like it would be dependent on the Council to be tenants in the majority of the development. So the next question is "where do the Council get the money from?" they don't have enough now to provide for existing community health and public services.

It would be a great shame if 10 years down the line this development has gone to rack and ruin and is left deserted because of government cutbacks or council disinterest in a rundown area of the city it has never cared about before.

Oh, and I hope that blue structure next to St. Lukes is going to be big enough to be seen from BMD, and more importantly, from the other side of Stanley Park.

Edit: while the above article states the development is £395m, this article

https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/evertons-goodison-park-legacy-project-back-in-spotlight/ states only £82m?

Goodison Park Legacy Project

Sorry Danny O'Neill, looks like it's intended that Dixie stays put, and the Holy Trinity.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1742272/2020/04/14/everton-goodison-park-legacy-project-plans-liverpool/

"The redevelopment and maintenance of the Goodison Park site will be overseen by a management group comprising of Everton and other key community stakeholders among others."

This answers part of my questions above.

Sorry, having problems with the edit and url functions on the page.

Their project has been steadily enlarged and is still growing. A small beginning which now has a million visitors a year. Sometimes you have to book to get in at all!

Hamburg and Liverpool have so much in common: both have large dock areas; both were badly bombed in World War 2. No, Liverpool doesn't have a red-light district… but a red football team!

The world's first steam railway ran from Liverpool to Manchester. The Beatles started their careers in St Pauli, and so on.

I speak fluent German and could ask the Hamburg owners if they would be interested in having a model railway/cities branch on the Mersey. Their knowledge, experience and setup would be invaluable.

One of the first models would include Liverpool and an exact replica of Goodison Park. The two cities are too far apart to be direct rivals and both sites would benefit. Food for thought?

That is still there. Preserved. Still looks great. And the old ground on all sides is a sequence of swanky flats. I stayed in one for a couple of months and each one has a balcony that looks down onto the old pitch which is now a rather lovely space with plants and little trees bursting out everywhere.

I have long thought that Arsenal are much the classier operation in North London. I mean, Islington compared to Haringey!

Perhaps after we knock down the Old Lady, we could rebuild in a tasteful style like the dock, and incorporate the iconic Leitch patterns onto the outside of one side of a new construction of flats that has the pitch, as with Highbury, in the middle with similar paths, plants, and trees where the old pitch was that would also, metaphorically, preserve that hallowed space as fertile, re-generating, and productive.

The place for the good doctor's collection might be down by the riverside by Everton Football Stadium in the way that we commemorate the city in the Museum of Liverpool, a short hop away from the water.

Maybe at the new stadium, enough time has passed, so we could put up the “3rd Grace”. A statue or monument to the 80s team?

I too like what Arsenal did with Highbury. When I go past on the train out of Kings Cross, you pass both the Emirates and Highbury. It still looks like Highbury.

As long as we don't do what Sunderland did. A bland housing estate on the site of Roker Park, the only reference being that a few streets are named after parts of the old ground.

I have no idea what Man City did with Maine Road?

Leave the Dixie statue where it is and build a square around it but bring the Holy Trinity to the main entrance of Bramley-Moore Dock.

I'm lucky that I can remember the good times but Boxing Day 1999 will be a date I will never forget. The day the fraud got hold of our football club and changed the narrative, became all so clear when David Moyes came back, because it was the lifeblood (imo) that wanted him.

For the younger Evertonian, times were better under David than they have been ever since… but, for people like me, this was the era when Everton became nothing more than a second-tier football club. The Mersey Millionaires were suddenly controlled by a clever and deceitful conman, at a time when football was moving into Billionaire status, and plucky little Everton was born.

I still drive past Goodison uite often, but it doesn't fill me with any great pride the way it once did. I definitely get a sense of awe, and a sense of hope whenever I drive past the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, so hopefully better days are ahead of us!

Keep those at Goodison, put new ones at outside the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.

I also think what Arsenal have done around their new stadium is very impressive, with countless pictures and little stories about the countless players who have represented their great club, and I hope Everton do something similar at Bramley-Moore Dock.

Talking of Old Trafford, I saw the media reporting yesterday that Manchester United has plans to either re-develop or build a new 100,000 seater stadium.

Goodison has served us well but needs to go and we need to move on. The reality is, she was dated over 30 years ago or more. Two failed projects, that never really got off the ground and talk of developing Goodison never really gained momentum.

The only improvements I’ve seen in my lifetime are the Park End, which is bland and a missed opportunity not to make it two-tier. But then we’d have ended up looking as disjointed as the old Maine Road. And, it still wouldn’t have got rid of the posts and poor visibility at the back of the lower Bullens and lower Gwladys Street.

And then there is the seeming curse.

What you say. Despite my optimism, we have been drip fed unsustained brief periods of success and a few decent teams. But in the main, it’s been steady decline since we last won the league in 1987.

I skimmed through the plans that Eric sent. I like the idea of the Everton Mile. Schalke have the Schalke Mile on the main drag between Gelsenkirchen city centre and the Veltins Arena. You can hop on and off the tram at will on the way for the bars, restaurants and the odd shop to buy Konigsblauen attire. Trams, no there’s an idea.

If we do this, I hope we invest, with the council, and private money, to renovate the eateries and buildings on Goodison Road and County Road. Put transport on to shuttle supporters to the new stadium.

It will be a balance, as I’m sure, as per the Tottenham model, the club will want supporters to go in early and stay behind, spending their money at the stadium. But, the Goodison legacy site can all be part of the Everton experience. For traditionalists, for first-timers and those making the pilgrimage from other parts of the UK, Europe and further afield around the globe.

Goodison is going. She is tired and will be no more. But the site can be part of the future.

But our future now lies with the Everton Stadium. A new blue dawn rising over the Mersey. Get the Liver buildings and those birds lit up in royal blue.

I wonder how much Walton Hall Park is worth to the club? Maybe sell it to the RS for about £50M and let their women and U21’s play there! 😀😀😀

15mins to savour, enjoy..Goodison at its best..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be2wP2JCdQg

I think Finch Farm, is a great location but I think it is used by too many teams, although I’m sure there is enough land, to have separate facilities at the same location.

Changing rack slightly, but there is a link. I’ve given my thoughts on what the Goodison site would have looked like if I was holding the reins.

I’m looking forward to a US tour with our new owners. Texas based, I noted that the purpose built ‘soccer’ stadium played in by FC Dallas and is called / sponsored by Gulf States Toyota Distributors, headquartered in Houston, Texas.

TFG own Gulf States Toyota. TFG is headquartered in Houston. So, the Toyota Stadium at BMD?

A US tour, get the TFG Marketing people on it. Build the brand. It’s not just Texas. I believe football is big in the north east and California?

Thank you for that trip down memory lane. Me, my brother, me dad and me uncles were in the Goodison road that day - How big was that terrace ?

Has there ever been a better game in the history of the old lady with so much talent on show ? Even counting world cup games.
I remember saying to my uncle half way through the first half that George Best ( I was besides myself getting to see him) was getting no change at all from Our Ray. A second later the Belfast boy Dummies and changers direction and sends poor Ray down County Road somewhere.
Brilliance everywhere you looked. A Charlton rocket. The vision making me double-take and marvel at his brilliance. Bally everywhere. World class players making mugs out of world class players. Ray paying Bestie back later in the half with a clever little nutmeg right in front of us. The noise was deafening. The crowd clearly appreciating they were witnessing something special.
By the end of play WE had ran out comprehensive winners against a team which was to be crowned European champions.

Could it be that it was all so simple then. Or has time re-written every line ?

I just think the whole idea is ridiculous, they will look out of place being left were they are, and to leave behind these statues is unforgivable.

Maybe our editors could run a poll to see if the majority of fans feel the way i do.

I've always said I'm torn on that question, but your comments are swaying me. Take them with us. It would be like leaving family behind.

And repeat warning, time for one to acknowledge the 80s side. Sheedy, Southall and Reid, but I'm sure there are views.

I think a poll is a good idea.

The younger supporters haven’t experienced anything to match, so to them, a top seven finish is almost Dreamland. It’s why David Moyes is so easily accepted by the young ones. I maybe misty eyed, but I seem to recall a time when a top six place was considered failure.

Anyway, we are where we are, but I don’t want to stay here. Let’s get back to the past in terms of ambition.

Two things initially stood out. Appreciate there might have been a proper warm up earlier but the mini-warm up just prior to the ground reminded me of the ones I had when I was at school when there was about one or two balls between the 11 players plus sub!

Also, the commentator announces the crowd at something like 65,000. Such a shame that for various reasons Goodidson was reduced to its current state and also a shame that BMD can't at present get us back to those higher levels.

As for statues, I personally would keep them up at Goodison Park and make a feature of them within the current plans. It would also perhaps encourage fans to go back to the site and just be a gentle but constant reminder to Liverpool Football Club and their fans that whilst Everton Football Club has moved, we are still very much part of the area.

However, would it not be possible to erect a replica of the statues somewhere at BMD.

There’s me going on about our US owners sorting out our marketing and brand. There’s me going club has launched an Everton American football collection. I wonder if we’ll see NFL matches played at the new stadium?

Chairman Bill and Moshiri of course!

My legacy of Goodison Park will be the dozens of memories I have of the games I saw there too many to mention but one recent one is of Mason Holgate, who gets a lot of stick on here and maybe deserves some of it, however the Crystal Palace game when we came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and helped us to stay in the premier league, most mention the three goals that were scored that night with Michael Keanes’ excellent goal being recalled, I always recall the way Holgate backpedaling to reach the ball going over his head but him reaching it and heading it back to Keane was a brilliant piece of work enabling Michael to finish the move off in style.

Goodison memories is probably a good idea for a summer thread, when some of us will be on countdown for the new season the last ball is kicked at Goodison whilst others deliberate and pace up and down the living room with Sky Sports permanently on, waiting anxiously for transfer news. Some will turn to Cricket.

Plenty of other clubs have built new grounds. Not seen any that have directly revolutionised the on-pitch success.

Maybe it's just me and the fact I find football increasingly unappealing, the move from Goodison, is not filling me with the hope it is others.

I remember the 4 floodlight towers, the old programs, the little blue season ticket book, when I had no money as a 13 year old, waiting for the gates to open to see the last 20 mins, standing on a beer crate cause I was so small, getting lifted over turnstyles, running home to watch Dr Who, the Football pink, standing on the landing in Portland Gardens and listen to the roar when they scored, listening to the World Service to hear a second half commentary or match report, James Alexander Gordon reading the results, the tears of joy, sorrow.. that Mecca, Goodison Park, even when it's gone I will know where to find it.

Money is ruining the game for me and does not seem to be abating, or imploding either. Players on immoral wages, and equally exorbitant transfer fees, yet are they any more skilful than those of yesteryear ?

I think the game at Premiership level has speeded up a lot, giving rise to more athletic, but not necessarily more skilful participants. Injuries seem to be more prevalent too, which goes in tandem with 100mph collisions and tackles.

The ball has changed dramatically too, with today's one being like a glorified beach ball. Still get sucked in though when it comes down to Everton !

What a difference having time and space makes players just don't carry the ball such distances without challenge these days.

And as we can't increase pitch sizes the authorities need to experiment with a reduction in playing numbers from 11 a side to 10 a side to try and revitalise entertainment levels.

The game in its present guise is dead on it's arse and fans appear to despise rather than support their clubs

Not sure where else to post this but looking at the season ticket availability so far, it's pretty obvious there has been a very slow up take from the longer tenures due to the way to tickets are allocated, lots of people must be waiting for the lower tenures like families and friends etc.

I'm an apathetic, Everton apostate. Maybe it's time to jack it in. Give it one season at BMD and see.

Before Moshiri arrived at Everton, I remember telling my red nose mate to look up, when we were driving along Goodison Rd, and he was shocked at how run down, Bill Kenwright had let a place, that he allegedly loved beyond words, because the outside was absolutely dilapidated.

I’m aware that what happens on the pitch is more important, but I can’t wait to get away from Goodison, and although I have always said, I wouldn’t miss the last league game at Goodison Pk, for anything, the only way I think I will go inside the stadium to watch another game, is if I take my little daughter, who thinks her ten second handstands, help Everton score a goal.

I’m going on the tour soon with my little grandson, but from being a person who once genuinely loved absolutely everything about Goodison Pk, I can’t wait to get away from there now🥲🥲

I have been made happier by the two wins obviously but the last one made less so because of the injuries to Dominic and Mangala.

The two wins still leave me doubting the ability of Moyes to keep us up, the wins were against a very depleted Spurs team who are losing to everyone at the moment and the Brighton win, although more than welcome, was won the same way Dyche won a lot of his victories.

I am, along with every Evertonian, willing Moyes to get those precious points to keep us up but realise, as others have pointed out, that he faces the very same problems that Sean Dyche faced made worse by recent injuries and the difficulty in getting two players to join the squad in the next four days.

Tony (86) Come on mate get your skates on and get down to Goodison on Saturday and watch another win, by the way have a look at that photo of Sonny Boy at six weeks old looking like he’s cheering an Everton goal with his Blue Shirt blazened with up the toffees on, that should urge you on and if I don’t spoil your fun I’ll go with you and pay for that tour of Goodison!