Everton fans lined the streets to greet the coach before Sunday's clash with Southampton in the Premier League
Everton fans are in good spirits
Everton fans are in good spirits (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
A cloud of Royal Blue smoke hung in the air and blotted out the sun as Everton supporters gathered in huge numbers to mark the end of an era at Goodison Park.
Flares, firecrackers and chants dedicated to heroes past and present assaulted the senses as the streets surrounding the Old Lady thronged with fans.
Children were hoisted onto shoulders and teenagers climbed the walls of the club car park for a better view of the beautiful blue carnage beneath.
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The pubs around the ground were full hours before kick-off and the fan zone was a sea of families taking in this monument of football heritage before the men’s team bring down the curtain on 133 years of history and move to the club’s stunning new waterfront home.
Ahead of their final game, against Southampton, the spectacle was on the pitch not off it as Goodison Road attracted so many Blues determined to make the most of the occasion that the team coach had to be re-routed.
The emotions only heightened upon the release of the team news at 10.45am. The news Seamus Coleman, an icon of the Premier League era and an inspiration through recent years of turmoil, would captain the last ever senior men’s team at Goodison was greeted with a roar of approval inside the stands.
It will be his first start since the return of David Moyes, the manager who so famously signed him for a bargain £60,000 and, while he is set to stay on beyond the summer, his selection resonated with a fanbase riding an emotional rollercoaster.