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| Contents | |
| What's Goodison Park Like? Future Developments Looking Towards The Gwladys Stand (photo) What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? Main Stand (photo) Where To Drink? Bullens Road Stand (photo) How To Get There And Where To Park Park Stand (photo) By Train Dixie Dean Statue (photo) Local Rivals Admission Prices Programme & Fanzines Ground Layout Fixtures 2011-2012 Disabled Facilities Stadium Tours Record & Average Attendance Fans Ground Reviews Hotel Accommodation Location Map Of Goodison Park |
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| What's Goodison Park Like? | |
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Looking from the outside, Goodison, with its tall stands
seems huge. The
crowds filling the narrow streets around the
ground on matchday, make
you feel that you are going back in time, to
when the outside of every football ground appeared like this.
However, that's Goodison's problem.
Apart from the newish
Park Stand (which has an electric scoreboard on
its roof), the rest of the
ground looks tired. Yes the ground is
still large, but it needs modernising. For
example there are lots of supporting
pillars and the ground just looks as if it
has seen better days. Nevertheless unlike some
new grounds, Goodison oozes character and the
three tiered Main Stand is still an impressive
sight. There are two large video screens at
opposite corners of the ground. If you are a home/neutral fan who
is not scared of heights then try and get a
ticket for the top balcony of the Main Stand.
Not only do you get a 'birds eye' view of the
game, but also views across Stanley Park, with
Anfield in the distance. Now thinking about it
if you were an Everton fan you probably
wouldn't want to see Anfield during the game,
so this advice is for neutrals! |
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The Club were hoping to move to a new 55,000 all seated stadium at Kirkby. However, planning permission for this has been refused, following a public enquiry. It remains to be seen whether the Club will appeal against the decision. However, some fans will be pleased with the news, as some had objected to the proposed move as the stadium would be located outside Liverpool. Kirkby lies beyond the city boundary. |
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| Looking Towards The Gwladys Street Stand | |
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| What Is It Like For Visiting Supporters? | |
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Away fans are located in one
corner of the two tiered, Bullens Road Stand,
which is at the side of the pitch, where just over 3,000 away fans can be
accommodated. If a small following is expected,
then only the lower tier is allocated, which holds
1,700. For larger followings the upper tier is
also made available. If you can, try to avoid
getting get tickets for the rear sections of both
the the upper and lower
tiers, as the view can
be quite poor. For example, in the rear of the
lower tier there are a number of supporting
pillars that can hinder your view, the seating is
of the old wooden type and the gap between rows is
tight. The front of the lower tier is a lot
better having newer seats and no supporting
pillars to contend with. The rear of the
upper tier also has problems as Neil Theasby a
visiting Hull City supporter informs me; 'Our
seats were on the very back Row S and the
view was awful! There were two obscuring pillars
but worse than that the angle of the
roof meant that you couldn't see the video
screen and the view of the opposite touchline
was also partly obscured'. I have
enjoyed a number
of good days
out at Goodison. The atmosphere was relaxed and
friendly, with both sets of fans mixing freely
before the game. Neil
Thompson a visiting Preston supporter adds; 'The stewards inside
the ground were superb and the best I have
seen at any ground. they just ran things
with a sensible head and communicated with
people, first class. There are lot
of grounds that can learn from the Everton
stewarding'. |
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| Where To Drink? | |
|
About a 15 minute walk away
from the visiting supporters entrance, is
the Thomas Frost pub on Walton Road. This
Wetherspoon outlet, is a fair sized pub,
that had a good mixture of home and away
supporters, when I last visited. Rob
Elmour adds; 'We found the Thomas Frost on
Walton Road packed out, so we tried
the Bradleys Wine Bar, which
is just further down and across the
road. It was very good. not a wine bar at
all but a proper family run local with a
good selection of beers including some
real ales. Good mix of fans all very
friendly.' More information can be found
on the Bradleys
Wine Bar website. |
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| How To Get There And Where To Park | |
|
Follow the M62 until
you reach the end of the motorway (beware of a 50mph speed camera
about a 1/4 of a mile from the end of the
motorway). Then follow the A5058 towards
Liverpool. After three miles turn left at the
traffic lights into Utting Avenue (there is a
McDonalds on the corner of this junction). Proceed
for one mile and then turn right at the corner of
Stanley Park into Priory Road. Goodison is at the
end of this road. |
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| By Train | |
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Kirkdale station is the closest to the ground (just under a mile away). However, it may be more advisable to go to Sandhills Station as this has the benefit of a bus service to the ground, which runs for a couple of hours before the game and around 50 minutes after the final whistle. The bus drops you off within easy walking distance of Goodison. Gary
Beaumont adds; 'The best route for
away fans from the city centre if they want to
use public transport is definitely the
Merseyrail Northern Line to Sandhills where they
alight and catch the special Soccerbuses; trains
can be caught from Liverpool Central. If
fans are buying their train tickets in
Liverpool, ask for a return to Goodison Park as opposed
to Sandhills even though that's where you're
getting off. The advantage of doing
this is that the train ticket is valid also for
the Soccerbus and the
additional fare is only £1 return as
opposed to £1.50
that you'd have to pay on the bus if you only
bought your ticket to Sandhills. Both Sandhills & Kirkdale
stations and can be reached by
first getting a train from Liverpool Lime Street
to Liverpool Central and then changing there for
Kirkdale. Patrick Burke adds; 'Although I would
recommend using the Soccerbus to get to the
ground, afterwards you may wish to look at
alternatives, such as grabbing a
taxi into Liverpool, or walking to Kirkdale
railway station. This is because the Soccerbus
is normally very cramped after the game, plus
you may have to wait sometime to get on a bus
(up to half an hour if there is a big queue) and
it can then take 20 minutes or so for the bus to
make its way from the ground'. |
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The statue plinth reads; William
Ralph 'Dixie' Dean |
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| Local Rivals | |
|
Liverpool |
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| Admission Prices | |
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Everton operate a category
system of ticket pricing, whereby the most
popular games cost more to watch. To confuse
matters the Club have a staggering five
different categories! (A,B,C,D,E). Category E
games are against Stoke and Blackburn and for
these games all areas of the stadium cost
£25 Adults, Over 65's £18.75 and
Under 16's £12.50. Category D prices are
listed below: Home Fans*: Away Fans*: |
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| Programme & Fanzine | |
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Official Programme £3 |
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| Fixtures 2011-2012 | |
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Everton FC fixture list (to take you to the BBC Sports Website) |
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| Disabled Facilities | |
| For details of disabled facilities and club contact at the ground please visit the relevant page on the Level Playing Field website. | |
| Stadium Tours | |
|
Tours of the ground are available at a cost of; Adults £8.50, Under 16's £5, or there is a family ticket available (2 adults + 2 children) at £20. Tours take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, except when these days coincide with a matchday (or on the afternoon before matchday). Call the Club on 0871 663 1878 to book. |
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| Record & Average Attendance | |
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Record Attendance: |
|
| Fans Reviews Of Goodison Park | |
|
Dean
Williamson (Doing The 92) 4/1/12 |
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| Hotel Accommodation | |
| If you require hotel
accommodation in the area then first try a hotel
booking service provided by Late Rooms. They offer
all types of accommodation to suit all tastes and
pockets from; Budget Hotels, Traditional Bed &
Breakfast establishments to Five Star Hotels and
Serviced Apartments. Plus their booking system is
straightforward and easy to use. Yes this site
will earn a small commission if you book through
them, but it will go to help with the running
costs of keeping the Guide going. The Hotels
listing also includes details of how far away the
accommodation is located from the football ground.
Access
their Liverpool Hotels and Guest
Houses page. Remember that you can use the above link or panel below to book any other hotels that you may need for business or leisure, either in the UK or abroad. |
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| Map showing the location of the Goodison Park football ground, railway stations and listed pubs | |
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Instructions for using the map:
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| Feedback | |
| If
anything is incorrect or you have something to add,
please e-mail me duncan@footballgrounds.net
and I'll update the guide. |
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