Everton cannot escape transfer reality after Hill Dickinson Stadium warning
The Blues started construction of the 52,769 capacity arena that would become Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2021 when they came on site at Bramley-Moore Dock. They first identified the enviable location for their future home in 2016 when architect Dan Meis and then owner Farhad Moshiri – back here today – were both present among a delegation to assess the location.
Then, if we go back to 1892, that's when Everton moved across Stanley Park from Anfield to construct Goodison Park as the first purpose-built football ground in England. Over her existence, 'The Grand Old Lady' as she became known, was for a long time the pre-eminent club ground in the country and by the time she closed for men's senior football, had staged more English top flight fixtures than any other venue.
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However, in the modern era, many of Goodison's rivals overtook her and by the time she finished, she was in the Premier League's bottom three in terms of generating matchday revenue. As David Moyes wrote in his programme notes: 'It will take us some time to get used to our new surroundings but the important thing is we know that we are now in our new home, and we want to enjoy many special times here over the next hundred years. 'I am incredibly privileged and honoured to be the manager who is taking us into this new stadium. I am excited about the future which looks so much brighter for Everton Football Club as we move away from some dark days in the past. 'We are starting from a blank page. We have built the stadium, and we are starting to rebuild the team.'
That was evident here though as the Blues – whose only win in pre-season came in a behind closed doors game here against League One Port Vale – were beaten 1-0 by Roma. Moyes won by the Trent against Nottingham Forest and by the Thames at Fulham last season, but with Everton recording just five Premier League home victories in their final season at Goodison – the joint lowest in the club's history – it's clear that there is still a lot of hard work to do on the pitch.
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