
Goodison Park - Everton
Saturday 3rd January 2009
V Hull City, Premier League 3pm
B y John Miles
|
1. Why you were looking
forward to going to the ground (or not as the case
may be): The journey to Goodison Park
was easy, straight down the M62 and we parked in
Stanley Park at the designated Park and Walk site,
be prepared to fork out £8 though! We arrived about 2.15, the
local fans seemed friendly enough although we
headed straight for the ground to get some
refreshments. The ground is quite imposing
as you walk down through the Park, with all of the
original structure clad in grey and blue. Upon
arrival the away stand looked okay, however once
negotiating the automatic turnstiles and the
spacious stairs to the concourse it went downhill
fast. The concourse is not up to
the standards of many other Premier League
grounds, it’s narrow and even tighter around the
food and drink outlet. There is about 2.5m between
the counter and the opposite wall which makes
queuing and getting round the queue very difficult
and claustrophobic. The stand is a wooden stand
which really shows its age, although the character
and atmosphere is one of the reasons why I wanted
to visit the ground. It was great however for
helping to create an atmosphere and I was lucky as
I was on the end of a row and had plenty of
legroom. For Hull City it was a poor
match, we could not decide whether to defend our
attack, leading to us being on the back foot for
much of the 1st half and ultimately
conceding 2 goals. The atmosphere is good at
Goodison, the home fans get behind the team and
put pressure on the referee, and for away fans the
old stand meant good acoustics so we could make
plenty of noise. The pies were barely warm
but I was took my chances rather than rejoining
the queue again. Pints of Chang lager are
available for £3.80 as are pints of
Marston’s beer. There is also a choice of hot
dogs, sausage rolls tea, coffee etc. Getting
away from the ground was not too difficult,
although the hardest part was leaving the car park
which took about 45mins. Despite
the result it was good day out, the ground has a
fantastic atmosphere which has a lot to do with
the character of the place. I would recommend a
trip to Goodison Park before they moved to a
sanitised new stadium! Like the nearby Anfield
the writing is on the wall for these old
grounds, see them while you can! |
|
Are
you an away or general football fan who has visited Goodison
Park recently?
If so why not submit your own review of the ground and general
day out?
Find out more about how to
submit a review