It was 65 years ago today…

31 October 1959 — the date of my first ever trip to Goodison Park.

Growing up in Ellesmere Port in the 1950s, the name on every kid’s lips was Dave Hickson, who lived in the town. My dad said we’d go and see him play and arranged to go to the game against Leicester City.

We didn’t have a car then and planning it seemed for a 9-year-old like we were going on safari. Unfortunately, in the week before we went, as everyone on here knows, he was transferred to Liverpool, but my dad said we’d still go.

My memories of the trip? The ferry, the 44d from the Pier Head, turning the corner at the top of Everton Valley and seeing the giant floodlights, fans on the pitch before the game with placards saying, ‘If Dave goes, we all go’, us leaving before the final whistle (in case we missed the bus) when the score was 5-0, only to find that by the time we got home reading the Echo and seeing the final score was 6-1! It didn’t matter, I was hooked. 

Over the years, there have been many memories of games at Goodison Park. The stand-out ones for me?  

• Leading Man Utd 5-0 at half-time in 1961; 
• Inter Milan in 1963; 
• Fred Pickering's hat-trick on his debut against Nottm Forest; 
• Alan Ball’s goal in the FA Cup against Liverpool in 1967; 
• Harvey’s goal to clinch the League in 1970;
• Andy Rankin's penalty save against Monchengladbach….
• And many more.

A poignant one for me was against Aston Villa on this day in 2009 — my 50th ‘anniversary‘ — not for the game but for the fact that Dave Hickson was introduced at half-time to commemorate (I think) his 80th birthday. It had only taken 50 years but at last I’d seen him on the pitch!

Rereading this, it’s noticeable how long ago were the memorable games, explained by the fact that I moved away in the early '70s so visits to the Old Lady became less frequent… and also, in the last 20 years or so, there’s been precious little worth remembering!

But will I miss Goodison? Of course I will—  and I desperately hope to get there sometime this final season. But I also hope that some starry-eyed youngsters will start their Everton journey in the new stadium and have similar memories to pass on to the next generation of Blues.

Happy Anniversary to me… and UTFT  

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