Goodison Park was left with an unknown future with a likely possibility of being knocked down at the end of the season with Everton’s men’s team moving to a new stadium in the 2025/26 campaign.
But it has been saved as it is now the home stadium for the club’s women’s side.
Keeping the historic stadium in the club for fans is great and moving the women’s team there is astute as fan number may grow with supporters wanting to continue to visit the ground. But is the move completely fool proof? No.
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When I first heard the news, all I could think is what a great move it was. There were fans saying they would attend more women’s matches and it is a huge improvement of the women’s side’s current ground capacity of 2,200.
It will give them opportunity to build crowds, just as other clubs have been doing such as Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Thoughts also came of a new avenue of supporter. Fans will want to continue to experience a Goodison matchday and to do so they will have to go to a women’s game.
That will entice people to watch and they then may get hooked on women’s football and become regular fans.
Goodison’s capacity is 39,572 and so this move means it is now the largest ground dedicated to women’s football in England. It’s a huge landmark moment and it shows the backing the club are giving the team.
They could have sold the land off for profit but instead have chosen to give their women’s team the opportunity to have bigger crowds and to build their supporters.
The Toffees have hosted women’s games at Goodison before but the 2025/26 season will see the most-ever hosted at the historic stadium. Goodison has been a part of the club since 1892.
However, my only stifle point when it comes to this matter is if Goodison is not good enough for the men to play there anymore because it needs renovating, why is it good enough for the women?
The club have announced they will be making “enhancements” to the stadium over time and add they “will ensure adequate facilities are in place before the start of the season”. But if they could make these improvements, why have they built a new £800m stadium for the men?
Those are the only negative questions I have and hopefully ones that are answered with positive actions by the club really investing in the stadium improvements. Other than it is an incredibly positive move.
Slow progression in the sport is sustainable and this is another step in the right direction for Everton women.
