2 days Ago By [email protected] (Chris Beesley)
A round-up of how the national media reported on the historic first game at the new Everton Stadium History was made on Monday evening as the new Everton Stadium hosted its first game. In the first of three test events before the Mersey waterfront venue can be used at its full 52,888 capacity, the Blues’ Under-18s team were beaten 2-1 by their Wigan Athletic counterparts in front of 10,000 spectators. Here is a round-up of how the national media reported on the event.
The most striking, ambitious addition to the Liverpool waterfront since the Three Graces were built in the early 1900s Andy Hunter, Guardian The clue is in the name, yet it is hard to imagine now that Bramley‐Moore Dock was an abandoned, neglected body of water 1,303 days ago. Twelve unexploded anti-aircraft shells from the Second World War still lurked in the depths, waiting to be removed by the Royal Navy, when Everton took possession of the site on 26 July 2021. Less than four years later a magnificent, imposing, futuristic stadium has opened on the banks of the River Mersey .
A torturous journey, decades in the making has been worth every step. Everyone present was sat in the South Stand, a steep bank of 14,000 seats that will function as the home end when Everton relocate here next season. In all likelihood as a Premier League club, something that could not have been said with great certainty before David Moyes returned last month as manager.
The views are superb, no obstructions here, and also impressive when looking out from the back of the South Stand at a panorama of the city skyline. The facilities are excellent, too. The concourses have vast amounts of space, refreshment kiosks and toilets.
The upper Gwladys Street at the 133-year-old Goodison Park this is not. Wigan’s visit was the first of three test events required for Everton to obtain the licence and safety certificate to operate at 52,888 capacity next season. All four stands will be open for the second and third events, albeit at a reduced 25,000 capacity and near capacity respectively.
It is estimated the stadium will attract 1.4 million visitors to the city annually, create 15,000 jobs and contribute £1.3bn to the UK economy over its lifetime.
What a quest it has been to get here. Everton went through two failed stadium projects at King’s Dock and Kirkby , plus a proposal that never really got off the ground at Walton Hall Park, before settling on this site in the early years of Farhad Moshiri’s ownership. Moshiri’s one positive legacy should be celebrated, even though the £750m-£800m project came close to sinking Everton at times: £55m of that sum was spent preserving and restoring heritage works at Bramley-Moore, including the original dock walls that remain under the stadium, the railway tracks that carried coal to steamships on the Mersey and the Grade II-listed hydraulic tower that forms a symbolic part of a 17,000-capacity outdoor plaza.
The infill of the dock took three months and 480,000 cubic metres of sand dredged from the Irish Sea. Two porpoises had to be guided out of the dock before it was sealed for good. Architecturally, Everton Stadium is the most striking, ambitious addition to the Liverpool waterfront since the Three Graces were built in the early 1900s.
They were also built on an infilled dock, St George’s. Everton have played their part in ushering in a new era, for the city and for themselves. The sadness of leaving Goodison is offset by a glimpse of Everton Stadium.
A world away from Goodison Park Chris McKenna, Mirror The walk towards the stadium takes us past the restored hydraulic tower of the old dock and the sense of history mixes with the dawn of a new era. Welcome to Everton’s new home. Everton Stadium for now but, one day, it will have a sponsor’s name attached to it.
It sits on the filled in Bramley Moore Dock. This is where the Toffees will play their football from the start of the 2025-26 season. The grand old Goodison Park will be vacated.
Memories left behind but new ones to now make. The walls of the old, derelict dock have been superbly retained so it doesn’t feel like you’re walking towards a stadium plonked in the middle of nowhere like so many are. There’s an American stadium feel to the outside.
It may be the red-brick exterior lower down or the cast-iron surrounds of the entrances with the number of each gate above, but it similar to new, modern baseball grounds in the US. Inside is a world away from Goodison Park. It is only the South Stand open for this test event and 10,000 fans on the impressive, 14-000-seater tier and as steep as was allowed by regulations.
One fan who spoke to Mirror Football admitted he was almost teary eyed to be there. “It is sad to leave Goodison Park but this is something special,” he said. “My grandad brought me to Goodison for the first time and now I’ll get to bring my grandchild here next season for the first time.
” Feels like a football ground, rather than the soulless bowl Paul Joyce, The Times Two flights of escalators, turn on to the vast concourse and then walk further along and into the stand that will house Everton’s “Blue Wall”. Once inside, the sense of size and scale is laid bare. This was the night Everton’s future became a reality.
There have been countless times in recent years when the £800million project to build a 52,888-seat stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock was dismissed as nothing but a pipe dream. Yet Monday, February 17 represented a landmark day in the club’s history and a new beginning. The sound of the Z-Cars theme tune over the Tannoy, and a throaty roar from 10,000 supporters, signalled the first of three test events before the arena officially opens next season as the Everton under-18 side tackled Wigan Athletic’s under-18s.
The first thing to say is that the smart, slick stadium reassuringly feels like a football ground, rather than the soulless bowl of, say, the London Stadium. With its steep stands, which were a recurring demand in feedback from supporters who want the venue to be as intimidating as possible, the leading American architect Dan Meis has overseen a design that should ensure the fans will feel at the heart of the action on the pitch. To behold Goodison Park last Wednesday, when the famous old arena was left shaken to its very foundations after James Tarkowski’s last-minute equaliser in the final Merseyside Derby to be played there, was to wonder how that tumult could ever be replicated elsewhere.
That will, of course, be difficult but the acoustics here are supposed to accentuate any din and, even on Monday night, there was an initial buzz under the lights that made one wonder what sort of febrile atmosphere will be whipped up inside when David Moyes’ side finally runs out here. The enormity of it when compared to its predecessor is instantly jaw-dropping Chris Bascombe, Telegraph Everton’s new £750 million stadium does not look like it was built. Every visitor who marvels at the extraordinary vision can be forgiven for thinking it just landed on Liverpool’s waterfront.
Watching the 10,000 pioneers heading to the new home for the first time on Monday evening put one in mind of seeing an army of extras in a Steven Spielberg movie. There is an otherworldliness to the arena as it sits on what was once – and in neighbouring surroundings still is – a desolate industrial wasteland on the docks. Everton are not just leaving the Victorian grandeur of Goodison Park for a plush residence.
The club are effectively relocating by jumping from the 19th into the 21st century. The concept of this brilliant, shiny megastructure at the heart of a heritage site is an emblem of the modern retro vibe which embodies the design The enormity of it when compared to its predecessor is instantly jaw-dropping. Visible from the fringes of Liverpool city centre , the walk along the connecting Regent Road to Bramley-Moore Dock offers the first hint of a regeneration which, the club claim, will be worth an estimated £1.
3 billion to the UK economy during the stadium’s lifespan. The players will feel as close to the stands as they do at Goodison, maximising the full potential of a hostile environment for visiting teams. Naturally, the true atmosphere cannot be measured until the capacity is full with 52,888 spectators.
The opening under-18 friendly between Everton and Wigan Athletic felt a little like those in lockdown, although the pre-match roar and the playing of Z-Cars caused enough goosebumps to signal what will come with the first Premier League game in August, and even more so during the most intense evening fixtures. By full time, Everton’s prolonged relocation felt more real than ever. It is absolutely enormous Tom Mallows, BBC Sport It may have been a dark, freezing Monday evening on the banks of the Mersey, but Evertonians hope this day signifies the start of a bright new future.
Everton’s magnificent new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock opened its doors for the first time to 10,000 lucky Toffees fans successful in a ballot for an under-18s friendly against Wigan. Four years in the making and at an estimated cost of more than £750m, the club will move in fully over the summer in time for the start of the 2025-26 season. The first thing that strikes you on approach to the stadium along Liverpool's dock road is its sheer size.
It is absolutely enormous. Goodison Park, flanked on three sides by rows of Victorian terraced housing, can sneak up on you. But there is no missing this place.
A gigantic, futuristic mesh of steel and red brick, combining the old and the new. There are two huge TV screens at each end of the ground, accompanied by an incredibly loud PA system - you could probably hear it across the Mersey on the Wirral . "It is breathtaking," said Dave, another Goodison season-ticket holder who will be heading to Bramley-Moore next season.
“Goodison has been our spiritual home, but you cannot fault this. It brings us right up to date with the best.” Amazing food and emotional scenes before Everton supporters stopped in astonishment at what they saw next Joe Thomas, ECHO Jaws dropped and voices cracked.
Eyes watered. A supporter with a walking stick defied injury to climb to the 63rd row and the very top of the enormous South Stand, where dads posed with daughters and grandmothers with grandsons for pictures that will line hallways and fireplaces for decades to come. In the summer, when Everton's new stadium becomes the club's new home, 36,000 personalised bricks will pave the walkway outside the biggest stand.
They will carry the tributes, names and special occasions of Blues from around the world, supporters past and present. On Monday night, under the blue skies and beneath the pale watercolour glow of the winter sun, the first new memories were made at this stunning venue on the banks of the River Mersey. This was historic, and everyone lucky enough to be part of it knew it.
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