Everything you want as a fan – 10,000 attend test event at Everton’s new stadium

A select band of Evertonians saw a glimpse of a bright, new future as the £800million project at Bramley-Moore Dock opened its doors for the first time and they went home happy – even after a defeat.

More than two decades after the club pulled the plug on plans to relocate to the nearby King’s Dock, now the site of the M&S Bank Arena, Toffees fans finally got the waterside venue they have been craving.

A crowd of 10,000, including representatives of new owners The Friedkin Group, watched the under-18s take on their Wigan counterparts in the first of three test events.

It took just 12 minutes for Harrison Rimmer, who last Wednesday scored in a 4-0 win at Fleetwood’s Poolfoot Farm training ground in front of a handful of spectators, to get the first goal at the new ground.

He could not resist milking his moment in the limelight and held up six fingers in reference to Liverpool’s six Champions League titles.

Cole Simms doubled the visitors’ lead shortly after and that proved decisive, despite Ray Roberts’ late penalty. But most in attendance were happy just to be there despite the 2-1 loss.

“The stadium is superb. The views are amazing. It’s everything you want, as a fan. Everton are back,” said Steve Davis, a season ticket holder since 1974.

Bill Friday, a fan since 1961, added: “This will be iconic. It’s everything any football supporter can imagine – I just hope to live to see a trophy in there because it deserves it.”

Rob Halligan was even bolder, saying: “I’ve had a season ticket since 1995, when we won the FA Cup, and we have won nothing since, so the first season in here we are going to win the FA Cup!”

Fans streamed towards the futuristic-looking stadium past the Bramley Moore pub, which has sat just over the road from the historic old dock wall since 1758 and has seen a marked increase in the number of day-trippers on the long-deserted Regent Road since construction started.

It was doing a roaring trade before kick-off and, come August, will be a potential goldmine, being within a Jordan Pickford goal-kick of the stadium, and the expectation is the regeneration will spread across a largely-derelict area.

There have been a number of false dawns and missed opportunities since the idea of leaving Goodison Park, their home since 1892, was first seriously mooted in the mid-1990s.

Plans to build on a site by the River Mersey, a 45-minute walk to the south, were abandoned in 2003 as the club could not raise the £30m investment for a share of the £125m stadium project, although they argued a large factor in the decision was that they would not own the ground.

In 2009 the government rejected controversial plans to construct a 50,000-seat stadium in Kirkby and a few years later a site in Walton Hall Park was identified but the idea was shelved after opposition in 2016.

But work on the current site finally began in the summer of 2021 and the build was completed in December.

And next season – providing Everton maintain their current position well above the relegation zone – the 52,888-capacity ground will become the Premier League’s seventh biggest. The venue will also host matches at Euro 2028.

The project, the cost of which incorporates some regeneration of the immediate area, will contribute an estimated £1.3bn to the UK economy and create 15,000 jobs.