Everton fans got a taste of their future on Monday as the team's new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock held it's first test event ahead of it's grand opening at the beginning of next season.
Estimated to have cost close to £800 million (($1.01 billion), the development spells the end of Goodison Park's 133-year run as Everton's home. Squeezed among Victorian terraced housing and situated less than one mile from Liverpool's Anfield, Goodison and its famous Archibald Leitch-designed Gwladys Street Stand is set to be demolished to make way for new development after the end of the season.
Everton's new 52,888-capacity ground will be the seventh-biggest stadium in the Premier League and has already been selected to host matches at Euro 2028. Monday's test event saw Everton's under-18s side face Wigan U18s in front of 10,000 lucky fans who sat in the new south stand and can now say 'I was there' when the first ball was kicked, and the first goal was scored.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Wigan emerged victorious on the night with goals from Harrison Rimmer -- a boyhood Liverpool fan -- and Cole Simms handing the visitors the honour of recording the first win at the ground. A late penalty allowed 16-year-old Ray Robert to enter the history books as the first Everton player to score at the team's new home at the historic Bramley-Moore Dock.
