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Oh man, there’s a lad with eyeballs sweating already, and they’ve not even started Z-Cars yet. Currently, it’s the La’s with There She Goes, crowd singing away. It’s not unlike this:
As per the below, Southampton are in a liminal zone, waiting to go down and waiting for a new manager. I am, though, looking forward to seeing how Tyler Dibling gets on – we know how much potential he has, and I bet he fancies making an impact today. Saints, of course, have moved ground themselves though, if we’re honest, The Dell was not the greatest place to watch football ands St Mary’s came in that early tranche of new grounds – they’re much better at building good ones now.
“It’s quite telling isn’t it, that the last game at Goodison is held, not at 3pm on a Saturday, but at Noon on a Sunday to suit the TV schedulers,” says Richard Morris. “Somehow fitting. The timing itself explaining why Goodison is to be no more...”
Happily, Goodison goes on, though I understand the sentiment. The new gaff looks pretty smart, but.
The definitive Goodison night:
More Goodison fun…
Moyes tells TNT that the plan was always for Coleman to captain today, referencing Phil Neville to Phil Jagielka, conducting the interview, and citing all three as great captains. “The people inside it are the most important people,” he continues; it’s funny how everyone knows that’s true, yet those with power so frequently act like it isn’t.
Oh man, we’re watching vox pops of Everton fans explaining what Goodison means to them. I can’t deny I had a hectic one yesterday, but I’m in absolute bits. Football!
Those odd arched areas behind the goals…
Email! “Good morning from Buenos Aires on a wet, cold and very quaintly British day,” writes Tim Read. “Your point about our taste-founding years is very interesting ... apparently 14 is the key age for this, we are all receptive to impressions and they stick with us ... personally will never forget my Filbert Street days and the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, Lynyrd Skynyrd at the De Montfort Hall. If I leave here tomorrow...
There’s some lovely stuff in here:
Another Goodison belter:
OK, one more:
“The best place in the world with the best people in the world,” says Peter Reid. “I’m a bit emotional if I’m honest … I have had a shandy,” he continues, talking about the camaraderie and heart. He’s one of a phalanx of legends walking around the pitch, but he can’t leave the mic alone – what a lovely man he seems.
The streets around Goodison are rammed. I guess the docks will be nice too, but theuy’ll never be is heimish.
Also going on:
Which is the greatest Goodison goal? This has got to be up there.
Southampton news:
Please do send in your Goodison memories; I’ll start you with one of my dad’s. He went with a Man City-supporting mate to watch the 1969 FA Cup quarter-final, they went in the home end, he noted that Everton weren’t much use, and was threatened with knife was his trouble. He kept his opinions to himself thereafter.
Southampton, meanwhile, bring in Nathan Wood for Jan Bednarek, who’s not in the squad, while Joe Aribo replaces Lesley Ugochukwu.
It’s so fitting David Moyes is managing Everton today, and manages to get Seamus Coleman in for a first start since Boxing Day. He’ll captain the side – another lovely aspect of proceedings – and replaces Ashley Young. Otherwise, Dwight McNeil, Iliman Ndiaye and Jake O’Brien are in for Jack Harrison, Carlos Alcaraz and Michael Keane.
I’ll write these down, then we’ll chat about what they mean the great Goodison.
Let's have some teams...
Everton (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Garner; McNeill, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Beto. Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Calvert-Lewin, Harrison, Chermiti, Young, Alcaraz, Iroegbunam.
Southampton (3-4-2-1): Ramsdale; Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Stephens; Bree, Downes, Aribo, Welington; Fernandes, Dibling; Sulemana. Subs: McCarthy, Manning, Sugawara, Kayi Sanda, Ugochukwu, Smallbone, Robinson, Archer, Stewart.
Preamble
Oh man, what a day this is. Oh man.
It’s easy, especially as we get older, to idealise things which remind us of our youth; perhaps the world’s greatest coincidence is that the greatest music ever recorded came when each and every one of us was aged 12-21. And nothing does nostalgia like football does nostalgia, capturing our family, our friends, our heritage and our home, a sensory overload set to the inexorable march of life: it could not reminds us of ourselves more.
Goodison Park is, without any doubt whatsoever, one of the world’s great football grounds. Local, loud and a personality in its own right, it reminds all who visit that going the game is not about sightlines and sarnies, but proximity and intensity, the stands as much part of the action as the pitch.
Time and money, though, cannot be denied; it was inevitable that this day would come. And though the experience of it will be a lot – I can’t imagine how many will be feeling the presence of those close to them but no longer around, or reliving times at which Goodison was there to support them when they needed it the most – football is about feeling things, about experiencing and embracing a version of ourselves that is unique to it.
So this week’s news – that Goodison will no longer be knocked down, instead serving as the country’s largest women’s ground – is perfect, the past deployed as a key to the future. It’s going to be emotional.
Kick-off: 12pm BST
