LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - APRIL 24: Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Liverpool FC at Goodison Park on April 24, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Dominic Calvert-Lewin celebrates his goal during Everton's 2-0 Merseyside derby win over Liverpool at Goodison Park last season
The Merseyside derby has always inspired a range of emotions but few will have been so poignant as this. The final Goodison Park derby - unless there is a remarkable FA Cup draw - will be a momentous occasion and one laced in hope, sadness and perhaps a bit of trepidation ahead of one last battle for bragging rights at the Grand Old Lady.
Two wins should make this slightly easier for Everton supporters as they brave Storm Darragh on the way to the match. The historic 2-0 win over Liverpool in April ended the 14-year nightmare inflicted on the home faithful and the memories of that dramatic night will live long whatever happens this afternoon.
The midweek victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers has also offered some respite from the intense pressure felt in and around the club as a disappointing start to the season threatened to turn into a catastrophe. Issues still remain but the relief of that victory and the five-point buffer it created to the bottom three mean there is slightly less on the line in this game.
Related Articles
Everton and Liverpool issue joint Merseyside derby statement as Storm Darragh set to arrive
Merseyside derby result is bigger than you think as Everton and Liverpool face 130 year decider
As we head into a match that will be a privilege to attend, I have decided to open out this column to my colleagues as we all discuss our memories of Goodison Merseyside derbies and what they mean to us...
DAN HAYGARTH
I tend to dread the derby, but when it goes your way there is simply nothing better. A poster of the celebrations after Lee Carlsey's 2004 winner was on my bedroom wall for years and Dan Gosling's late winner in 2009 is a cherished moment.
I've never seen us win a derby in person, but I still have fond memories of some of them. The first I went to at Goodison was a 2-2 draw in 2012 and, though we didn't hold onto the lead, the celebrations when Romelu Lukaku made it 3-2 in the 2013 fixture were as loud as I've ever heard Goodison.
The final league derby at the Grand Old Lady will be emotional. The fact the city's two grounds will no longer be separated by Stanley Park is a sad development. Progress comes at a price, but I can't help but feel that proximity is a huge part of what makes the fixture so special.
IAN CROLL
Like a large portion of Merseyside households, my family is divided between Reds and Blues. My dad, a Red, my grandad a Red. However, I followed a different path. I’m often asked why? How did I end up a Blue, with such staunch Liverpool fans as father figures?
The truth is, I’m not entirely sure. Going to Goodison Park at such a young age in the early 90s thanks to a raving mad Evertonian auntie certainly swayed things.
However, I’ll never forget my early Goodison Park derby day memories. The first major memory I had was the 1994 2-0 win, with goals from Duncan Ferguson and Paul Rideout in Joe Royle’s first game in charge as manager.
I wasn’t in attendance at Goodison that night, but I remember watching it on the tele, alongside my dad and grandad, celebrating in front of them as Rideout scored the winner.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long for my first in-person Goodison Park derby day win. That came in 1997 when Danny Cadamarteri stole the show and victory away from Liverpool in a 2-0 win. I’ve been hooked on the Blues ever since and hoping for much of the same in Saturday’s encounter. A game in which emotions across the divide (and my family) will be running high.
CHRIS BEESLEY
My earliest Merseyside Derby memory at Goodison Park is extremely poignant given that it was Liverpool’s first competitive fixture after Hillsborough on May 3, 1989, a game that took place with intertwined blue and red scarves tied around the perimeter of the pitch.
The match finished goalless but was still ultra-competitive, epitomising the city’s footballing ethos of its two professional clubs being fierce rivals but not enemies.
For various reasons, as detailed in a first-person piece at the time, Everton’s 2-0 win last time out was, incredibly, the first time I’d witness them beat Liverpool in the flesh, at the age of 44! Sean Dyche’s men will be underdogs again but the thought of the Reds finishing with more derby victories at Goodison than them would be ignominious for Evertonians, so there can be no bigger incentive than that for the Blues players to leave absolutely everything out on the pitch on Saturday.
JOE THOMAS
The Merseyside derby always stood out for me when I grew up, even though I did so outside of the area. It was a game steeped in history and folklore and a ‘must-watch’ and I loved my first taste of it, even if it ended in a 2-0 win for the away side with Tim Cahill shown red in September 2008. The game was drab and disappointing but on my way to Goodison and as I took my seat I remember feeling in awe at the sense of occasion.
When I began covering Everton two and half years ago the game filled me with anxiety - not because of the fear of the Blues losing but actually at the prospect of them winning. There was never any doubt that it would be an historic result and a win of huge magnitude and I was terrified I would be unable to do it justice in words. I tried to do that in April and being in that ground, on that night, writing history, felt so special - this job is a privilege.
Now I have written about my first Everton derby win I do, of course, have a taste for it - hopefully I will get the chance today, not just because it would be amazing to be there for it, but for my many friends and family who live for the club, who I desperately want to have as many incredible memories as possible from this poignant season.
CONNOR O’NEILL
It is a game that will live long in the memory for a lot of Everton supporters - myself included - for a variety of different reasons.
The date was Saturday, December 11, the year was 2004, and the Blues won 1-0 thanks to Lee Carsley's second-half strike. It was Everton's first win over Liverpool for five years and, at the time, put them 12 points clear of their arch-rivals.
The Blues would go on to finish fourth that season and in the process secure a place in the following season’s Champions League. The win over Liverpool was a big one, just like the victory over Manchester United was that same season.
But for me that win over the Reds will stay with me forever, as it was the first time I had attended a Merseyside derby. I had long been a season-ticket holder by the time the game came about, but my mum had always felt it wasn’t right for me to attend the previous fixtures between the two sides.
She felt, and understandably so, that there was far too much animosity in the air and it would be best if I sat them out. My dad, without having a choice, agreed, so for the first four years as a season-ticket holder, I would watch the action unfold at home.
However, being inside Goodison on that December afternoon was special. I had never experienced anything like the roar that greeted Carsley’s winner or when referee Steve Bennett blew his whistle for full-time. I'm convinced to this day that the Old Lady shook like she did against ACF Fiorentina.
Since that December afternoon, I have experienced plenty of highs and lows watching Merseyside derby games at Goodison. I expect it to stay that way when the Blues move to Bramley-Moore Dock next year because in this part of the world, it is the most important game in the world and a fixture that always has a little bit of everything.