Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas shares his thoughts after the Blues take their first step into a new future
Joe Thomas is the Everton FC correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO. He follows the Blues home and away, providing match reports, analysis and insight into events at Goodison Park, Finch Farm and beyond. Joe spent more than a decade covering news on Merseyside, working on award-winning investigations and extensively covering matters related to the Hillsborough tragedy - including the recent criminal prosecutions. Always grateful for tips and feedback, he can be contacted at joe.thomas@reachplc.com and on Twitter via @joe_thomas18
Everton supporters show their support as the team walks out prior to the pre-season friendly match between Everton and AS Roma at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Everton supporters show their support as the team walks out prior to the pre-season friendly match between Everton and AS Roma at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images
It was hard not to be feel emotional when the sound system at Everton’s new stadium played There She Goes just before kick-off. Three months ago it was the soundtrack to the Goodison Park farewell, The La’s' greatest hit tugging on heartstrings as the Grand Old Lady had one last dance in the Premier League.
Yet it struck a fitting chord again as Everton began life in a new home, one that everyone associated with the club hopes will represent the start of an exciting future.
Those supporters who stood in awe as they took in the pitch from their seats in a fully furnished Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday deserve the promise of better days ahead. In the hours before the Roma friendly, footage of the away end at Leicester City after the monumental win there under Frank Lampard started spreading on social media.
In three and a half years of writing about Everton I have covered every up and down of a dizzying, chaotic and, at times, miserable period in the club’s history. However terrifying the outlook was - and it was bleak after nights like the away defeat at Burnley, my first game in this role, and those home losses to Brighton and Newcastle the following season - the supporters never stopped showing up when they were needed.
That win at Leicester came seven days after the victory at Chelsea that kickstarted the survival march that April - the first of the pyro-fuelled coach welcomes helping to create an atmosphere that dragged the team over the line.
The away end at Brighton in the heat of the relegation battle the following season, and the party that erupted in the comeback win at Fulham in May, were special. Those scenes at the King Power were something else though.
I watched footage of that as I travelled to the Liverpool waterfront on Saturday morning and it resonated as I walked from Sandhills on what will be the new matchday route for thousands.
It was impossible to ignore the excitement for the future even when I was making that journey almost four hours before kick-off.
There was the lady draped in Blue scarves singing outside the Sandhills Cafe and the buzz of anticipation as the crowds I walked among took in the simple new features that right now feel so special - the street signage, the Everton paraphernalia that already dots it, the sight of the glistening rooftop of the stadium disappearing then reappearing between its industrial neighbours.
The bars and pubs on Regent Road were filling well before kick-off and the crowds waiting to be among the first onto the stadium site when the gates opened at midday were bigger than I expected. I was able to squeeze through them to get to the media accreditation hub but not before taking in so many lovely sights.
Stadium architect Dan Meis was present for the big day and, among the images he shared on his social media, there was one of a dad and daughter holding hands as they walked into his latest creation. That made him emotional, he wrote, and it was those little moments shared between families and friends that stuck out to me too.
For me, there was the dad and lad - in his fresh Iliman Ndiaye number 10 shirt - walking to the new stadium with excitement.
That and the friends taking pictures under the signage of a dock wall that holds new significance not just for Everton supporters but for the city of Liverpool and the wider region. Everyone in this part of the world has a stake in this move going well, whoever they support.
Once the gates did open I watched as supporters walked in, many for the first time. Even for those who had attended one of the test events in the cold of spring, the ground is now vastly different.
Again, there was the obligatory stop by almost every group to take a photo with loved ones in front of the new stadium.
The following hours saw 50,000 take the first steps into their new world, enjoying the process of getting lost in a place that will soon be so familiar that little will come as a surprise.
There was, admittedly, no shock over the most popular feature of the new stadium. Thirty-six thousand stones, most bearing tributes and reflections from Blues past and present make up Everton Way. My social media is filled with people sharing images alongside their bricks and each and every one of them is a special, heartfelt, slice of history.
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The Royal Blue podcast logo
I am fortunate enough to have been to the Hill Dickinson footprint more than most, watching it grow from a building site to the Premier League’s newest stadium. The little details still catch me off-guard - check out the Archibald Leitch patterns on the bike racks next time you are down there.
I happened to be first in line when the media suite opened - and so became the first reporter to enter what will become my new second office. Like in other parts of the stadium, the finishing touches are still to be applied but they soon will be.
There will no doubt have been teething issues for supporters, players and the club, but it must be understood that Saturday was still a test event - part of its purpose was to identify final issues that need to be addressed.
Goodison was wonderful but on so many levels it was no longer fit for purpose - something that was abundantly clear in the claustrophobic press benches where pillars blocked views, the Wi-Fi creaked and plug sockets became impossible to access as the seats filled.
Now, Everton lead the way off the pitch. The challenge is to match that progress on it.
When I took my seat on the back row of the West Stand just in time for There She Goes, I needed a moment to catch my breath. For so long the new stadium felt like a mirage on the horizon for Everton, a trick on the eyes amid the turmoil of boardroom, relegation and regulatory trouble.
My mind tracked back to Leicester on that emphatic, important day just over three years ago. This all seemed a distant dream back then. It still would have been, had it not been for those supporters and the many others that rallied when the club hit rock bottom.