In the age of the Premier League's international, global business marketplace, new generations may not understand the importance or historical significance of Everton FC. Instead, many will be more aware of their Merseyside rivals Liverpool, who play just across Stanley Park at Anfield. The blue half of Merseyside was one of the founding members of the English Football League in the 19th Century, and they played at Anfield before a dispute over rent resulted in the emergence of Liverpool FC.

You may be shocked to hear that Anfield is older than Goodison Park, Goodison Park was constructed in 1982, and Anfield 8 years earlier. Not only does Anfield have a much higher capacity, but it's structurally magnificent and has few obstructed views as Goodison Park does. Everton FC's ground looks like it pre-dates Anfield by about 50 years, and its wooden stands, although reminiscent of a golden age in football where money didn't matter as much and the players weren't as detached from reality. 

There has been an expected move away from Goodison Park for quite some time, and although it will be sad to see one of the great English football grounds disappear from the league, it also feels like it's time for a fresh start for the Merseyside club. They have moved with the times in every other area of their team; they have a billionaire owner, the England captain in goal, and have got on board with some of the biggest gambling sponsors in the league. 

© Paolo Pupillo

In the United Kingdom, gambling is an enormous industry. In addition, many sportsbooks that operate in the United Kingdom have a lot of other strings to their bow; you can bet on hundreds of different sports markets and casino games, as well as explore a host of video poker casino games and other markets. As Everton enters the 2023/24 season, they will be one of the sports betting favorites for relegation, given how disastrous they have looked in the last two years. 

However, switching to the new stadium could galvanize them, and the gamble could pay off very well.

The Heritage Of Goodison Park

Everton's ground has hosted a World Cup semi-final and played host to some of the finest European teams there, which includes the iconic European Cup Winners Cup semi-final victory against Bayern Munich. 

It goes much deeper than that, though. Everton is entrenched into the community; walking through the old cobbled streets, which have barely changed since the stadium was first erected, you get a feeling that this is the sort of football being forced out and replaced with shiny new corporate fantasy football.

Only Arsenal have spent more years in the top flight than Everton, and with nine league titles and five FA Cups, they are an English footballing dynasty, despite how pathetic they have been for the vast majority of the last thirty years. 

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A New Stadium Beckons

The board room at Everton has taken some considerable slack over the last decade, and not without good reason. However, one promise that they have stayed true to and have reneged on was the construction of their Bramley Moore, Everton's owner Farhad Moshiri has stuck his neck on the line and obtained hundreds of millions of pounds worth of loans to ensure the project is finalized to its completion. 

The new 52,000 seater, which will be on the banks of the River Mersey, hopes to mix old traditions with a brighter future. Tottenham Hotspurs' new ground is an excellent example of combining world-class architecture while maintaining the club's spine and its traditions, and the architects behind Everton's ground hope to do the same.

To Sum Up

A more pressing matter for Everton is the disjointed and lost shape they take out on the pitch. It's all good having a fantastic state-of-the-art stadium to look forward to, but they need a team that mirrors that aspiration and ambition off the pitch. 

Although Sean Dyche has done a marvelous job of grabbing the players by the scruff of the neck and squeezing out some vital results against Brighton and Bournemouth to keep them in the Premier League, Everton fans are in unanimous agreement that this isn't where the club should be at the moment. 

© Everton FC, Pattern Design

For everything the board has got wrong off the pitch, including disastrous recruitment on the rise and in the dugout, Moshiri, and the executive committee will be hoping this is a fresh chapter with a solid manager who can fire them into pastures new.

However, regardless of how it pans out on the pitch, there will be a lot of sadness saying goodbye to Goodison Park; it's all that a lot of Everton fans have ever known, taking generation after generation to their first game, the magical floodlights, the walk through the streets as the tip of the stadium eclipses everything in its sight, if Bramley Moore has a tenth of this magic, the architects will have done an excellent job.