Written in the Stars: A First Trip to Goodison Park
By Chris King
It was never easy to watch the Premier League from America when I was growing up. I watched the few games a week on TV, and loved the league, but never had an affinity for any particular team. That changed in 2005 when I was living in Melbourne, Australia on a study-abroad trip. Tim Cahill was a massive star and now arguably the greatest Australian footballer of all time. He had joined Everton the season before I arrived and as I became a fan of Cahill that involved watching a lot of Everton matches. The entire Cahill experience was enthralling, he seemed fearless, throwing himself at every ball in the box. He was a tenacious scorer, and always seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve. I enjoyed his passion and toughness, and my affection for Cahill led me to Everton Football Club.
Watching Everton, it was easy to see an identity under David Moyes, and you could feel the Goodison crowd through the TV. The club drew me in. I spent as much time as I could immersing myself learning all about the club’s history, and I couldn’t get enough. That 2005-2006 season was an underwhelming mid-table finish, but I got to see the tail-end of Big Dunc’s career, and some great moments from Arteta, McFadden, and Beattie. When I returned back to the States, my attraction to the club continued. As it became easier to watch the matches on US TV, and as American players like Tim Howard and Landon Donovan spent time at Goodison, it just added to the appeal and solidified for me that Everton was my club. I’ve watched nearly every match since.
Some moments that will be seared into my brain forever: the 3-0 derby win at Goodison in 2006, stealing a point in 2010 against United with stoppage time goals from Arteta and Cahill, Lukaku’s comeback brace in 2015 at the Hawthorn’s, the derby win at Anfield in 2021, and the Palace win to secure safety last season (obviously).
I’ve passed the support of Everton onto my family. My dad, mom, and sister all watch the matches every weekend. We text/talk about the club on the phone each week. My whole family lives on the east coast, thousands of miles away from me, and Everton has given us even more reason to talk regularly. Living in California, the matches are sometimes on very early, and my wife has been extremely supportive, especially as I’m yelling expletives at my TV at 4:30am. While she isn’t a diehard supporter, she knows how much it means to me. She got me my first Everton home shirt, a 2010 Le Coq Sportif #17 Cahill, as a birthday gift.
My three- and one-year-old sons are true born Blues. We had Everton onesies for them in their earliest days. My oldest is just starting to have the attention span to watch the matches with me. They both love listening to Spirit of the Blues, Grand Old Team, and Z Cars, which we listen to on repeat on drives home from school. Maybe one of my proudest moments as a parent was when my wife tried to put my oldest in a red shirt on a Saturday, and he told her “Mama we don’t wear red on the weekends”.
The last two seasons have been emotionally draining as we continue to fight to remain in the Premier League. I’d always planned to make a trip to Goodison, and with the new stadium opening soon, and our perilous league position in January, I wanted to ensure I got to see them play at Goodison in the top-flight. We decided on February 3rd that we were going to the Leeds match on President’s Day weekend. Getting tickets was a challenge, as we wanted to have them purchased before we booked travel. I tried getting them through the club’s official resale site. When I couldn’t get two together, I tried getting seats in hospitality which were also sold out. We ultimately decided we’d just buy two tickets as close together as we could and if it meant sitting separately, we would. I went to the Everton resale site 30-40 times a day for the next three days, and by a stroke of luck two appeared together in the Top Balcony. With tickets secured, we booked flights the next day.
It was an exclusively Everton trip. We did a stadium tour on the Friday before the match, which was outstanding. I’d highly recommend anyone going to Goodison for the first time do the tour. You could tell the tour guides, who both could recount where they were at pivotal moments through the club’s history, were getting paid to do a job they’d have done for free. We explored the area and walked across Stanley Park to see our old ground. I tweeted a picture my first trip to Goodison from the tour, and through all of you incredible Blues out there, I got many DMs from people welcoming us to the city, and suggestions on where to go and things to do. I also got a message from a Blue who told me I had to get my oldest son to Goodison next season before we move to Bramley Moore. He said he’d hate for my oldest to grow up having never been to the place we both love and cherish. He offered me his season tickets whenever I could make it work. I hope to take him up on it next year. I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of welcoming we received while in Liverpool. Truly the People’s Club.
Since we had tickets already, it was worth a shot to email the hospitality department to see if they had any last-minute cancellations. Again, it seemed like fate, Beth from Everton called me within 20 minutes of my email letting me know they had a table open up. If you haven’t sat in hospitality before, we were emailed with a dress code the day before the match, which primarily said no team shirts and no sneakers. My dad and I had only sneakers, so we spent two hours running around to buy shoes. When we showed up 80% of the place was in sneakers!
Pre-match we made our way over to the Winslow at the advice of many. We had a few pints and some great conversations with the locals. Everyone was friendly and couldn’t believe we’d travelled so far for the weekend just to see the match. We shared stories of some of our favorite players through the years and commiserated about our place in the table. We all believed Sean Dyche would keep us up. After the Winslow, the hospitality opened at 12pm for the 3pm kickoff. We were served a three-course meal and unlimited drinks. It was an overall fantastic experience. Our seats were in the Executive Main Stand just above Everton’s dugout, great seats.
You could feel the nervous energy inside Goodison at kick-off. It was eerily quiet for the first 10-15 minutes as we were all dealing with the gravity of a six-point relegation battle. Then in the second half Seamus Coleman delivered a true bit of magic, and Goodison exploded. It was deafeningly loud, and we delighted in singing “60 grand” at the top of our lungs. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Everton score a goal from open play before that one went in. When we held on for all three points, we returned to the hospitality for another hour of free drinks before departing to Goodison Road and mingling with the crowd.
The jet lag, the four hours of open bar, and the emotional energy spent helping the club get over the line, prevented us from going to the pubs after the match. While we were waiting for our Uber in front of Goodison, Seamus drove out and stopped to sign autographs for the handful of fans standing with us. He made sure every kid got an autograph or a picture, a real top man. Someone asked him if he meant to shoot, and before the guy could even finish the question he responded, “Of course I did!”. We got in our Uber and returned to the hotel.
Everything about the trip felt like it was written in the stars. Last minute planning, finding two tickets together (we eventually sold them), getting into hospitality at the last minute, seeing Everton win in our first trip to Goodison on a magical strike from Seamus. It was an unbelievable experience, one that my dad and I will remember for the rest of our lives.
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