Stags fans at the Carabao Cup second round tie, Everton v Mansfield Town FC at the brand-new Hill Dickinson Stadium, 27 August 2025 Photo credit Chris & Jeanette Holloway / The Bigger Picture.mediaplaceholder image
Stags fans at the Carabao Cup second round tie, Everton v Mansfield Town FC at the brand-new Hill Dickinson Stadium, 27 August 2025 Photo credit Chris & Jeanette Holloway / The Bigger Picture.media
Merseyrail was able to get the tens of thousands of fans visiting Everton’s new stadium away from Sandhills in an average of just 15 minutes, according to Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram.
Last weekend, Hill Dickinson Stadium hosted its first official fixture as the Toffees’ new home with more than 50,000 supporters in position at the dock-side ground. Sandhills is the nearest Merseyrail station to the arena at Bramley-Moore Dock and has been the subject of much scrutiny since work on the ground began in 2021.
After three test events and multiple upgrades at the stop on the edge of the city centre, Sunday’s Premier League game was the first official event in which fans used the station. Mr Rotheram told the LDRS last week how the double header of the Brighton and Hove Albion game, coupled with Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup fixture with Mansfield Town, would prove to be the “real test” for Sandhills.
Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside, the Metro Mayor said performance had been “remarkable” last weekend. Everton’s first home league game came on the same weekend as Creamfields in Daresbury and the Liverpool Celebrates music event at the Pier Head. Mr Rotheram said public transport had “stood up to those pressures” presented by the three events.
A series of changes had been made at Sandhills ahead of the match, with the introduction of the much debated fan management zone outside as well as the expedited installation of a new pedestrian footbridge to allow supporters to access the platform from two ends.
Players walk out onto the pitch ahead of the English Premier League football match between Everton and Brighton and Hove Albion at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool on August 24, 2025. (Photo by Darren Staples).placeholder image
Players walk out onto the pitch ahead of the English Premier League football match between Everton and Brighton and Hove Albion at Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool on August 24, 2025. (Photo by Darren Staples).
Discussing how the station had held up, Mr Rotheram said: “Feedback was decent, it was never going to be overwhelmingly brilliant because that’s not how public transport works, so at best, if it’s the status quo, people are just getting on with their lives and they’re not worrying about public transport, I’m quite happy with that.”
The Metro Mayor, who unveiled the new Tap and Go scheme for the Merseyrail network in the days leading up to the game, said the majority of fans were away from the station within an hour of full time.
He added: “To get people away from the stadium in an hour with an average of a 15 minute wait is remarkable from where we first started because the test events have been pivotal in the way we’ve been able to organise and design things.”
David Moyes’ side played their second competitive fixture at their new home on Wednesday night when they welcomed the Stags in the League Cup second round and Mr Rotheram said over time, fan behaviour and patterns will change, making it simpler for services to be planned.
He said: “What we’ve done is to demonstrate we’ve got the maximum capacity out of a system that we possibly could. Sunday are normally half an hour services and we put on in the hours before and after the match, additional services.” Mr Rotheram added: “All the stops were pulled out and we’ll continue that.
“What I’d love to see is just a game of football at Hill Dickinson becomes business as usual. We’re having to put a lot of resource in at the moment and that can’t continue ad infinitum because we don’t get any extra from the football club or anybody else so we need to get people into those patterns and we can predict on the modelling when the pinch points will happen.”
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