“Historic day for the club” – Wayne Rooney praises new Everton stadium

Wayne Rooney praised the atmosphere at Hill Dickinson Stadium on what was a historic day for Everton in their first official match at their new waterfront stadium. 

After spending 133 years at Goodison Park, the Toffees made the move to Bramley-Moore Dock towards the west this season. Thanks to goals from Iliman Ndiaye and James Garner, Everton beat Brighton 2-0 to secure their first win of the season and send the fans back home happy and jubilant on such a momentous occasion.

Speaking about the historic day on his BBC podcast The Wayne Rooney Show, the former Everton star remarked, "I think the fans really made a conscious effort to make sure that it was a bang straight away... the fans are all there singing and the atmosphere looked great.

“They played a massive part in making it a historic day for the club.”

Rooney, who made 117 appearances for the Blues in two stints after coming up through the youth ranks, was also impressed with the stadium and its unique architectural design.

"It's not like if you look at the Emirates, which is a lovely stadium, it's all just the same the whole way around. It has got a bit more character, one end is a bit different to the other end behind the goal and it just gives you that little bit of quirkiness which makes it a little bit different and stand out."

Rooney also reserved praise for Everton loanee Jack Grealish, brought in on loan from Manchester City this summer. Grealish, who has taken the Number 18 shirt to honour his idol Rooney, registered two assists on his home debut and was a constant thorn in the Brighton defence.

"I really liked that in the first few minutes of the game when there was an opportunity for him to get at the full-back and the full-back tackled him, he came back and he put an aggressive tackle in and won the ball back. And you could see the reaction from the crowd, they were all up on their feet,” Rooney said about Grealish.

"And they're big moments, they create the atmosphere at stadiums. And from there, he obviously worked his way into the game, got his two assists, which I think is good for him because it'll give him lot of confidence.

"He hasn't played a lot of football of late and to get that full game in his belt and two assists, I think that'll only benefit him and obviously Everton moving forward."

 

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