Everton warned over stadium move by Sky Sports pundit
Everton are looking forward to a new era when they move into the currently under-construction Bramley-Moore Docks Stadium.
The 52,000 capacity stadium is due to be ready for action for the 2024-25 Premier League season, providing the club are still in the top tier, to signal a new beginning for the Toffees.
Goodison Park has been the home of Everton since 1892 and despite many great memories there, the club is in need of a fresh start elsewhere and they are set to do that very soon.
Sky Sports pundit Richard Dunne though has warned supporters that things might not be all rosy once they are moved into their new home.
“The atmosphere at Goodison Park is unique. I remember playing in Merseyside Derbies there and you couldn’t replicate that anywhere else, it was amazing,” he said to the Liverpool Echo.
“The fear is that you lose that moving into a new, modern stadium but for Everton to move forward that’s a necessity now.
“Once you get over the fact that Goodison is going to be gone, there is an excitement over moving to the new stadium and hopefully attracting bigger and better players and looking forward to a new era for Everton where they’re hopefully qualifying for Europe on a regular basis and challenging for trophies.
“If the stadium brings that for them then it will be a huge success.”
Has to be done
As nostalgic as a 19th-century football ground may be, it can’t last forever and the club have done the right thing in moving now.
Yes, Goodison Park is a menacing place to play for travelling teams but that is down to the fans, not the ground.
Those loyal Evertonians will be just as vocal at Bramley Moore Docks as they are at Goodison and it will still be an intimidating game for any travelling team.
Gone are the days of European success and domestic trophies because other clubs have modernised sooner than the Toffees and they are now playing catch up.
This is the first step to becoming a European regular again just like it was for West Ham a few years ago when they moved to the London Stadium from Upton Park.
As sad as it will be the day Everton leave Goodison Park, the time has come to move on.
In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell has predicted a cull of the Everton squad in his exclusive Goodison News column