Everton great Derek Temple expecting emotional farewell to ‘fortress' Goodison

Powys County Times

16-05-2025

Everton great Derek Temple scored his only hat-trick for the club at Goodison Park but joked he never received the match ball because the club could not afford to give it away.
The 1966 FA Cup match-winner will be present this weekend for the visit of Southampton as the ground bids farewell to 133 years of men's football.
Everton's women will give Goodison a new lease of life, but Sunday is the final farewell for the men and the occasion has been marked by two lifelong Evertonians, Andy Garner and Dave Morgan, creating a poem featuring voices of ex-players, cult heroes and fans of all ages.
And ahead of the big day, Temple reminisced about his time playing at the ground for the Toffees.
'I only ever scored one hat-trick – against Ipswich when they won the championship in 1962 and Alf Ramsey was manager,' the 86-year-old told the PA news agency.
'That was my favourite game – not that I remember getting the ball though. They were probably short of money!'
Temple, one of Everton's oldest surviving players, has one other memorable match – against the Manchester United pre-Munich air disaster team of 1957-58.
'It was a sellout. The crowd was spilling over onto the track,' he added.
2,791 – Final total of senior men's club matches hosted
376 – Most appearances, by former goalkeeper Neville Southall
88,000,000* – Number of spectators for Everton games, with an average attendance of 32,000 (* approximate in all competitions)
78,299 – Record attendance (against Liverpool, September 1948)
'That United side was superb. At half-time we were 3-1 down – I'd scored the one – and one of the lads said to me, 'we're going to get hammered here' and I said, 'it looks like it'.
'We came back – Jimmy Harris made it 3-2 and then I scored after playing a one-two with Hicko (Dave Hickson) and putting the ball into the Gwladys Street net.
'Goodison was like a fortress for us. Once they got behind you they roared you on and you couldn't help but put that effort in.'
Former midfielder Peter Reid played in arguably the greatest Everton team of all time under Howard Kendall in the 1980s and admits leaving the ground will be tough.
Almost 59 years since his famous goal at Wembley fired us to FA Cup glory, Everton Giant Derek Temple is the 2025 winner of the Dixie Dean Memorial Award. 💙
— Everton (@Everton) May 13, 2025
'It will be not like anything else. It will be emotional,' he said.
'When you see some of the players who played here: Pele, Eusebio, Dixie Dean, Dave Hickson, Alan Ball – it's a unique stadium.
'The atmosphere in the stadium is great. It holds memories which will never be forgotten and no one can take them away from you.
'Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the European Cup Winners' Cup against a very good side, the atmosphere that night was second-to-none.
'That season we beat Manchester United here on the way to winning the title 5-0 and those two really hold special memories.
'They were good team performances but the atmosphere within the stadium was absolutely brilliant.'
Reid is confident the atmosphere can be recreated at Bramley-Moore Dock.
'The way the club have done it architecturally wise it is going to be incredible,' he added.
'We will miss the Grand Old Lady but we are going to another absolutely marvellous stadium which will enhance atmosphere. It is brilliant.'
Even current manager David Moyes, in his second spell at the club, is getting emotional.
'I'm hoping it's only age but I am, actually. I am only just back but it has played a huge part in my life,' he said.
The Scot arrived at Goodison as a 38-year-old after four seasons at Preston and admits he had jitters.
'I felt unbelievably nervous. The nervousness going into Goodison on the first occasion was wild,' he added.
'I didn't know if they knew who I was. We had David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Big Duncan (Ferguson), Tommy Gravesen in the dressing room and I was thinking, 'they will be thinking – who is this coming to talk to us?'.'
When the first stint is so nice, you just have to do it twice…
David Moyes will be looking for more success upon his return to Goodison Park 👏 pic.twitter.com/hGhW87Ucqt
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 11, 2025
Asked to pick his favourite moments, he said: 'The year we qualified for the Champions League (2005).
'We finished fourth, Liverpool finished fifth but unfortunately they went on to win the European Cup that year (meaning Everton went into a qualifier which they lost against Villarreal).
'We've had disappointing moments as well – we lost the (UEFA Cup) last 16 against Fiorentina; we were 2-0 down and came back and then went out on penalty kicks.'