Everton's Goodison Park could have a future as a football stadium after all.
Everton will move to a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock at the end of the season. Test events have been a success and Toffees fans are gradually saying their goodbyes to Goodison.
But The Friedkin Group, Everton’s new owners, are reportedly considering the redevelopment of the famous old stadium as a home for Everton Women.
Everton are reviewing the Goodison Legacy Project
While the new stadium is the focus of much attention, it’s equally important what Everton leave behind.
Through the Goodison Legacy Project, Everton’s owners have committed to putting the historic site to community use.
According to Paul Joyce of The Times, The Friedkin Group has “commissioned a feasibility study that will investigate the possibility of Goodison Park becoming the new home for the women’s team.”
Everton Women’s Walton Hall Park facility “will soon be too small for [Women’s Super League] requirements” and executive chairman Marc Watts reportedly pledged to give the team “the best home possible” in a message to club staff.
That includes the possibility of combining the Goodison Legacy Project with a suitable facility for Everton Women, an outcome that would continue the ground’s football use.
“Watts is understood to have said that detailed exploratory work into moving the women’s team [to Goodison] was underway,” reported Joyce.
“Everton had previously planned a legacy project for Goodison Park which includes redevelopment into a mixed-use scheme, including housing, offices and community facilities,” according to the Mirror.
“That could still be part of any plan to keep Goodison Park as a football stadium.”
Everton have played at Goodison Park since 1892 and a continuation of that history would surely be an attractive prospect after the club moves the men’s team and its headquarters to the new 52,888-capacity stadium.
Goodison will need significant development either way but it’s understood that the potential to push Everton Women to the next level is a motivating factor behind the feasibility study.
The spectacular last men’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park has already taken place and the reverse fixture will be played this evening as this week’s long-awaited Premier league action continues.
David Moyes’ Toffees visit Premier League leaders Liverpool knowing a surprise win would take them above Manchester United and potentially set up a push for a top-half finish.
