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Goodison Park Everton v Carlisle United Saturday 2nd January 2010, 3pm FA Cup 3rd Round By Glenn Aylett (Carlisle United fan) |
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Went down to watch
Carlisle play Everton in the third round of the FA
Cup and must admit for all the stewards were
helpful and the fans were friendly enough, I must
admit the facilities for away fans are like
something out of the eighties.
I would advise any away fan who is entering
Goodison Park that for all the ground looks
reasonably modern from the outside, if they are
paying their £ 34- luckily we only had to
pay the Carlisle ticket price of £ 20- that
they will be very disappointed.
Firstly, the catering is abysmal. After
standing in a very long queue and faced with the
meager choice of three pies and overhearing
someone saying their meat pie was awful, I decided
to play safe with a cheese and onion pie which for
£ 2.50 was barely warm and the pastry was
awful. Also the beer isn't served on draught and
comes out of cans, which means the beer is warm
(the bitter is awful) and works out at £
3.60 a pint as cans are a bit less than a pint. If
you don't like Banks bitter or Chang lager forget
it, and the choice of food is limited to three
pies, all awful , and a large hot dog for
£ 3.70. No burgers, chips or pasties here
and even a club the size of Carlisle puts Goodison
to shame as the beer and food is a lot better.
Secondly, health and safety is like a
throwback 30 years and this is where the away end
is showing its age and Everton need to get a new
ground. The toilets were overflowing and filthy-
thank goodness I didn't get a dodgy pie- the
women's toilets were totally inadequate and had
huge queues, but more importantly the away end is
like a narrow passageway with inadequate safety
exits which could prove disastrous in an emergency
as there were 6,000 fans in the Bullen End who
couldn't be evacuated quickly. Also there were a
heap of broken chairs lying around on a gantry
which could prove a fire hazard and wooden seats
and flooring in the stand I thought had been
banned years ago.
On the other hand parking was good enough in
Stanley Park, you don't mind paying your £8
if your car is going to be safe and access from
the M58 was quite easy, just follow the signs for
the city centre and also you get to see Aintree if
you come in from the north. We also had a bit of
time to kill so had a look at Anfield, only half a
mile away, and a walk round Stanley Park.
As for stewards and the fans, very friendly
and seemed welcoming. We didn't experience any
trouble or aggressive behaviour and the reputation
for Everton being a friendly club was well
deserved. Also it was nice they applauded us at
the end of the match.
With regard to the match itself, the game
was quite good and the Blue Army made itself
heard, especially when we equalised with Everton
and it looked as if we could hold on for a draw.
Also we came very close to a second goal, but this
Murphy's law hit the post and then Everton scored
a second and a penalty in injury time sealed
Carlisle's fate. However, it was an excellent day
out and we all enjoyed it and Carlisle certainly
weren't disgraced and played bravely against a
team that's 48 places higher than us and in
Europe. Yet we still now have the consolation of
facing Leeds, this season's giant killers, in the
regional final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
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