An azure sky for a blue, blue day and amid the flares, the fireworks and the fervour, there was an unmistakeable sense of loss for many, as Goodison Park drew down its blinds.
‘Goodbye. Thankyou for your custom over the years’, stated the banner above the tea hut on Gwladys Street run by Eddie and Elaine, for whom life will not be quite the same. The bustling upstairs room at St Luke’s Church, where the matchday programme and memorabilia sale has become its own community, will fall quiet now.
The prevailing mood for the stadium’s last competitive men’s game was triumphal, though, because for a very long time it seemed that this stadium might be needed for a yet another Premier League survival support act, when Southampton’s visit came round.
David Moyes has delivered, so it was without jeopardy that they could hang up the blue and white bunting on redbrick Oxton Road, remember beloved fans who had never lived to see this day and, 15 minutes before kick-off, deliver a rendition of ‘The Spirit of the Blues’ anthem, the likes of which we have never heard. ‘We never shone so brightly’ runs one of its lyrics. And some.
They squeezed into Goodison Road, where the blue mist flares drifted on the faintest early morning breeze, which was so unpassable that the team coach deposited the players on Bullens Road instead.
How very ‘Everton’ it would be, to lose to the Premier League’s bottom team, a few among the masses reflected. Southampton had already beaten them this season, in the league and Carabao Cup.
But there was no meaningful opposition to send clouds across Everton’s peerless sky. Southampton brought such an aimless passing game that their own fans were chanting ‘olay’ to every pointless ball by half-time.
Moyes was made a far greater contribution, by giving 36-year-old Seamus Coleman, the heartbeat of the club and its longest-serving player, the nominal captaincy. The Irishman ran out to the biggest reception of all and left, injured, after 18 minutes to equally huge acclaim. Moyes has shrewdly asked him to stay on.
You didn’t need to be playing here to be remembered, though. There were reprises of age-old chants about Kevin Ratcliffe, Kevin Campbell, Tony Hibbert, Barry Horne and Yakubu Aiyegbeni: ‘Feed the Yak.’
It was gratifying to see Graeme Sharp, restored to the club after exile, in the stands. So, too, Wayne Rooney, forgiven now for leaving.
Everton were two goals to the good by the interval, courtesy of the beautiful talent of Iliman Ndiaye, who took on Jarrad Branthwaite’s low pass to despatch the first after barely five minutes. His rapid reaction time took him around Aaron Ramsdale for the second.
It meant that Goodison had to find its own way of manufacturing the raw and partisan spirit which has helped this team through huge challenges down the years. Departing players were cheered to the rafters as Moyes made his substitutions. Random renditions of Z Cars and ‘It’s a Grand Old Team’ broke out of temporary moments of silence.
The onlookers included supporters who had not even imagined they would be here. In one of the day’s random acts of kindness, an American pressed an envelope into the hands of Dave Kelly, who for years has helped run the foodbank at the top of Goodison Road. Two precious tickets for this game were tucked inside.
It was Kelly who led the fight against Everton’s move to Kirkby a decade back. Without him, the long-anticipated move to a stadium by the banks of the Mersey would not be happening.
After the sentiment, comes the hard part. Building Everton into a force befitting their new stadium, who don’t just survive but thrive. Moyes says it could take three transfer windows to rebuild. Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson may come into the calculation.
Chelsea’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Burnley’s Maxime Estève would meet a wish to bring the squad age down.
The lyrics of ‘Spirit of the Blues’ , being belted out again at the end, tell: ‘We’re on the move, we’ve got something to prove. So get your coat on and get moving., We don’t know the meaning of losing.’ The world beyond Goodison won’t be easy, but, as so often before, Everton have given themselves a chance.
Unfortunately few supporters seemed to be aware of the fact, which led to more congestion problems – former world cruiserweight champion and Evertonian Tony Bellew had to beat a path through the crowd to escort one supporter in a wheelchair – and concerns from some they would not get to their seat in time.
But everyone did make it and the volume at kick-off, which had been preceded by a parade around half the pitch by several club greats, was possibly the loudest it had ever been.
Everton’s club colours flew at half-mast above the Bullens Road Stand but inside the ground it was party time.
The game was almost secondary to soaking up the historic surroundings and atmosphere for one last time but the action on the pitch did not disappoint.
Beto was denied early on by Aaron Ramsdale, who was beaten after just six minutes when Ndiaye became only the second player to reach double figures this season with a casually-stroked shot from 20 yards beating the goalkeeper’s right hand.
Captain Seamus Coleman, the club’s longest-serving player, started his first match since Boxing Day after injury but lasted just 18 minutes.
He turns 37 in October and is one of 14 players out of contract but has been reassured by boss David Moyes that he will stay on next season.
The same cannot be said for his replacement Ashley Young, three years his senior, who is not being retained.
Beto had two goals disallowed for offside, the second from a header which came from a brilliant passage of one-touch football around the penalty area, before in added time Ndiaye sidestepped Ramsdale from Dwight McNeil’s through-ball for his 11th of the season.
The out-of-contract Abdoulaye Doucoure’s wave to the crowd when he was replaced by the on-loan Charly Alcaraz in the second half suggested he knows his future lies elsewhere, while in-demand centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite could also have made his last appearance for the club after limping off with a hamstring injury.
In the closing stages all the old songs were belted out at full volume but there was no fairytale final goal in front of the Gwladys Street End.
