Everton said they are working with affected fans to relocate them to other areas of the new stadium
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Everton fan Colin Hadwin (left) with his son Kai (right).
Everton fan Colin Hadwin (left) with his son Kai (right) at Goodison Park
(Image: Supplied)
A number of Everton supporters say they went from the top of the priority list to panic buying after being forced to move seats at the club's new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium. The Toffees will move from Goodison Park to the new 52,888-capacity waterfront stadium for the start of next season and the ticketing process is well underway.
The process has seen season ticket holders given the chance to choose their seats, with priority sorted in order of their tenure. Supporters with a tenure of 23 years or more were able to buy a season ticket for the new stadium from January 13, 2025, with this opening to those with lower tenures in a number of waves.
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However, a number of fans who contacted the ECHO this week said they had to change seats from those they had already bought. These fans claimed they purchased tickets in a section of the West Stand at the new ground but were later contacted by the club to be told this was the family enclosure and you could only buy tickets there if you had a child in your party.
The fans claimed this was not clearly communicated to them before buying their tickets, which they were able to purchase online without a child in their group. An Everton FC spokesperson told the ECHO the club are "working closely" with fans to relocate them.
The club added: "The purchasing criteria for the Family Stand was communicated to supporters in November last year and within our FAQs available to fan prior to purchase, that information has now been further reinforced at the point of sale."
Among the fans whose seats have been moved are Colin Hadwin, 50, originally from Bootle, his son Kai, 18, and Colin's brother, Alan Hadwin, 57, who attend Everton home matches together. Alan told the ECHO: "We bought the tickets when they came available to us on February 12. We were on Microsoft Teams and we tried to buy tickets at the same time so we sat together."
He added: "It was all dealt with, I thought. But two weeks later, I got a call from the club out of the blue. They said I’d have to choose new seats - I asked why.
"They said it was a family enclosure, I said they never said anything about it at the time. They said we’d all have to move. I was totally perplexed. There was nothing stopping us buying them at the time."
About the process, Colin added: "We were all there on the laptops in the morning at our window, we saw those seats there. We buy three adult tickets - it allows us to buy three adult tickets in what it turns out now is the family enclosure.
"What kind of system allowed that? It didn’t mention the family enclosure on the confirmation booking email. It doesn’t name the section, only the block."
"When I was challenging them about this, they mentioned the FAQs on the website. FAQs are there to refer to for people who aren’t sure, we were sure what we were doing."
Colin said he has had to pay £210 more for his changed season ticket in the South Stand, compared with the price he paid for one in the West Stand.. For Kai, who classes as a young adult in the price bands, it was £157 more for the new ticket, according to Colin.
Colin said: "We had to go to another part of the ground for quite a lot more money. We had to do it in the end, because it was open for more people. We agreed to move, we’re not happy about it."
'We went from being top of the priority list to panic buying the leftovers'
Mike Platt, 45, from Crosby, has been an Everton season ticket holder for close to 40 years. He sits in the Main Stand at Goodison Park with his sister and they bought tickets in the West Stand before being told to move.
Mike told the ECHO: "With moving stadium, there’s been trepidation, you want to get a good seat. We’re a real community where we sit, we couldn’t sit with them, people had to apply a different time, we want to sit in similar areas, so we can have a matchday pint.
"With the running order, we were in the first wave of tickets, which was 23 years plus. My sister and I were in that bracket, so they then put us in the first wave.
"We went on and looked at all different areas. We wanted to get something similar, didn’t want to be too high up or too low down. I wanted to get a similar feel, side on but not in the corner.
"I wanted to be in the West Stand, sun on my back, sitting behind the dugouts. We settled on these seats, nearer the back of the lower tier, as close as we could to a side-on view.
FEBRUARY 17: In this aerial view fans watch the first ever game at Bramley Moore Dock, the new home of Everton Football Club on February 17, 2025 in Liverpool, England
An aerial view of Everton's new stadium
(Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
"We put these two tickets in our basket, no issue, no suggestion there that we couldn’t have them. They confirmed the seats with us. We made two payments towards them, so for two months we thought we had those tickets."
Mike said he and his sister were contacted this week to be told they had to move. He said: "But this week my sister got a call from the club and said we couldn’t have those seats.
"This is two months on and several rounds of tickets have gone by. They said that’s the family enclosure - we said we weren’t aware of that, we said we weren’t told.
"We went from being top of the priority list to panic buying the leftovers. It’s not a one-off game, this is my future viewing experience of Everton potentially for a very long time.
"Those other seats will not become available very easily. My matchday experience has been potentially changed for the worse.”
Mike has now moved seats to the opposite side of the ground and has his season ticket secured for the next season. He was pleased with the service of the representative who helped him but added: "It's not what we would have chosen. It was this or right at the back, so we didn't have much choice."
An Everton FC spokesperson said: "We are working closely with the small number of supporters who have purchased season tickets in the Family Stand but who do not have a child in their party to relocate them to suitable areas of the stadium that meet their requirements.
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"With the increase in capacity at our new home, seats across a range of price points remain available, providing choice and the enhanced matchday experience fans would expect from a state-of-the-art new venue, it is important we are able to maintain the integrity of the Family Stand. This will help to ensure the atmosphere and experience meets our objective of providing an appropriate environment for supporters attending with young fans.
"The purchasing criteria for the Family Stand was communicated to supporters in November last year and within our FAQs available to fan prior to purchase, that information has now been further reinforced at the point of sale on our online ticket sales platform."