If it was the day Evertonians feared would never come, it was an afternoon that may be seared into memories for years. Not merely those of Jack Grealish, either, though his first start for his latest employers reinforced the sense of new beginnings. Goodison Park was Everton’s home for 133 years, the new Hill Dickinson Stadium for one game, but first impressions were uniformly positive.
Everton have exchanged a 19th-century ground for a 21st-century stadium, a gleaming dockside monument, of red brick and shining steel, with steep-sided stands rising into the Merseyside skyline, blue smoke rising above the river. Wide-eyed fans looked at it with a sense of disbelief; for all the mishaps of Farhad Moshiri’s ownership, he ended their long quest to get a ground for fitting for the times. This looks a lovely legacy. Some £802m may have been well spent.
