Goodison Park is a famous football stadium. Located in the UK, namely in Liverpool. It is the scene of the Everton football team. Built in 1892. It is considered one of the oldest stadiums in the UK. Before Goodison Park appeared, Everton played at Anfield. Only after moving “Everton” was the famous “Liverpool” founded. By the way, a year before the move, “butterscotch” won the championship at Anfield.
Background
Initially, Everton was called St. Domingo and was founded in 1878. The games were held at Stanley Park Stadium. Now it is located between Goodison Park and Anfield Road. For four years, attendance of confrontations involving "butterscotch", according to some information, exceeded two thousand people. As a result, it was decided to enclose the field where the fights take place. In the spring of 1882, Everton received a new fenced field. Already in the next season, the football team moved to a new place. However, at that time the club was experiencing financial problems, and there was only enough money to build locker rooms and a small platform. Soon there was a serious drop in attendance by fans who were unhappy with the current location of the home stadium. The debut meeting in the new arena made a profit of only thirteen shillings.
Moving to Anfield
Goodison Park and Anfield are some of the most famous and popular stadiums in Europe. It was to the second arena that the Everton moved in 1884. Immediately after the “move in” the team from Liverpool began to receive substantial income from each meeting. By 1885, the team’s revenue increased to two hundred pounds in all fights. Nevertheless, in 1888 there was a conflict with the owner of the field. Until this year, the owner received from Everton one hundred pounds of annually. After the team took second place in the championship, the owner demanded an amount of two hundred pounds. In 1889, the leadership of the team began searching for a new field for meetings.
Goodison Park
Soon, a company was created that took up the collection of funds for the acquisition of a new stadium. A small area of ​​land for the construction of the arena was acquired for 8,090 pounds. Soon enough, “butterscotch” moved to a new place, and the owner of “Anfield” proceeded to the founding of a personal football club, which was to be called “Everton”. Nevertheless, the Football League did not allow the use of the already used name, and the team created today is famous under the name “Liverpool”.
The new butterscotch arena was named Goodison Park. It is he who is the primary pure football stadium in the UK. At that time only teams from Scotland had superior fields.
Opening and first games
The opening ceremony of Goodison Park was held on August 24, 1892. Many fans of the butterscotch, namely twelve thousand, were expecting the opening match. For all that, a track and field program was carried out instead, and a firework was also arranged. Goodison Park - the stadium where the debut match took place five days after the opening, began its history with a victory. “Butterscotch” in the first game in the new arena convincingly beat “Bolton”. Just two years later, at the Goodison Park, whose photo can be seen in the article, the final game of the FA Cup was held. Thirty-seven thousand fans came to see this match, which is an impressive figure for those years.
First reconstruction and development
Goodison Park, with a capacity of 40,157 people, underwent its first major repairs in 1895. A new grandstand appeared at the stadium, and a roof was built over the old one. Over the next twelve years, Goodison Park underwent only minor changes. As early as 1907, the Everton home stadium began to take on the look familiar to today's football fans. To begin with, a new two-level tribune was erected. Soon the main platform appeared, in which there were offices, locker rooms and so on. By the way, it (tribune) lasted until 1971.
The Second World War
During World War II, the army used the stadium for training exercises. By the way, the Everton Stadium was seriously damaged due to prolonged bombing. After the war, Goodison Park received compensation in the amount of five thousand pounds. All funds were spent on restoration. The stadium quickly recovered from the devastation, and already in 1948 a record attendance of the match “Everton” - “Liverpool” (77,299 people) was noted.
In the fall of 1957, lighting appeared on the Goodison Park arena, which added convenience in the conduct of fights. A year later, the management of Everton made an original decision - to place electric wires under the field. To implement this idea required quite a lot of money, namely sixteen thousand pounds. However, as it turned out later, the money was not wasted. This system helped to successfully combat field freezing.
World Championship
The World Championship of 1966 was held in Great Britain. To prepare for the championship, Everton’s leadership bought nearby buildings. All of them were subject to demolition. Thanks to this, a more spacious approach was opened to the stadium. The largest number of matches of the World Cup took the legendary Wembley, as well as Goodison Park. At the Everton Arena, they played five World Cup matches.
1971 reconstruction
A large construction site at Goodison Park was completed in 1971. It was during this period that the main old tribune was removed, and in its place a new three-level appeared, which cost the owners of Everton one million pounds. This building was the largest in the UK at that time. Only the Stamford Bridge in 1974 was able to overtake the Goodison Park, erecting a new giant podium. Also, an obsolete roof was removed over one of the stands, and a more modern one appeared in its place.
In 1977, a new rule was introduced, according to which the management of Goodison Park was to reduce the number of seats in the stadium (from 56,000 to 35,000). Nevertheless, Everton, having spent a huge amount of money, increased its capacity to 52,800.
Today
Increasingly, rumors appear that Everton may soon acquire a new arena, as the current one is obsolete. Increasingly, management is faced with the fact that it cannot accept all the fans at the stadium. Quite often there is an overflow of Goodison Park. Nevertheless, the legendary stadium, most likely, will again be subject to serious restoration, which will significantly increase its capacity, as well as bring a number of innovations. As many toffee fans note, nothing can replace the good old Goodison Park. This stadium is the most famous in Liverpool, and not the last in all of Europe.
Interesting Facts
- Many urns with the ashes of Everton fans have been buried under the stadium.
- Goodison Park was the first stadium to be visited by the ruling monarch (George V and Queen Mary attended the schoolchildren’s game).