Everton bade an emotional farewell to Goodison Park, its home of 133 years, with a 2-0 win over Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday in front of dozens of the club’s greatest players and a tearful, scarf-waving crowd.
Iliman Ndiaye will go down as Everton’s final scorer in its atmospheric, long-time ground, with the Senegal forward grabbing both goals in the first half and walking off with the match ball on an occasion that turned into a party for the team’s fans.
“Very special,” Ndiaye said. “I wanted to give them something today.”
Everton will move from one of English soccer’s classic stadiums to a 53,000-seat waterfront arena at nearby Bramley-Moore Dock for the start of next season. Goodison Park was going to be demolished but, after a feasibility study, will continue to operate instead in the women’s game as the new home of Everton Women from next season.
Plumes of blue smoke filled the air around the streets outside Goodison as fans gathered before kickoff. Inside, Wayne Rooney and Tim Cahill were among about 80 former Everton players invited to attend the game at the ground some refer to as the “Grand Old Lady.”
Some supporters were in tears and many swung their scarves above the heads as the club’s adopted pre-match anthem — the theme from Z-Cars, a British TV series from across the 1960s and 1970s — played around Goodison to greet the teams emerging from the tunnel to a sea of blue.
The party really got going in the 2,791st Everton game at Goodison when Ndiaye curled a left-foot shot into the bottom corner in the sixth minute. He rounded Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the second minute of first-half stoppage time for his second and what Everton said was the 5,372nd goal at the ground.
Veteran right back Seamus Coleman, the club captain, had led Everton out for the game but he picked up a thigh injury and was substituted off in the 18th minute to applause.
Fans hugged each other and choked back tears after the final whistle.
“We’ll go down in history as the last team to win at Goodison,” Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said. “That’s what the manager asked of us today.
“We’ve got a challenge ahead of us but let’s enjoy this moment.”
And Everton did, holding an “End of an Era” show after the game featuring, among other things, video messages on the big screen from the likes of former manager Carlo Ancelotti and former player Mikel Arteta.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
