opinion What David Moyes has done to change Everton new stadium talk and end brutal taunts

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What Moyes has done to change Everton new stadium talk and end brutal taunts
Connor O’Neill
5 – 6 minutes

The long goodbye to Goodison Park officially got underway when AS Roma arrived to take on Everton in a pre-season friendly at the start of August. A week later, Brighton & Hove Albion were the visitors as the Blues kicked off their final Premier League campaign at the place they have called home since 1892.

But, in truth, the goodbye really started on Wednesday, January 15. The night when David Moyes took charge of his first game since replacing Sean Dyche.

Ollie Watkins would go on to ruin the Scot’s return that night. His second-half goal was the difference between the two sides.
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However, since then, Everton have been a team transformed. Moyes, in a matter of weeks, has eased relegation fears to the point where supporters are now looking up rather than nervously over their shoulder.

Since the 61-year-old returned to the club, Everton have won two of the three Premier League home games they played. The other saw James Tarkowski score a last-gasp equaliser against Liverpool in the final Merseyside derby to be played at the Old Lady.

What unfolded after the defender’s volley hit the back of the net was nothing short of incredible. Bedlam is the only word to describe the scenes.
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Goodison Park is a cathedral of English football and a Liverpool institution. Tears will be shed when the Blues move to Bramley-Moore Dock in a couple of months.

But it was after that match against Liverpool when reality really dawned on Evertonians that the ‘Grand Old Lady’ will finally be laid to rest in a matter of months.

There aren’t many stadiums in world football that can generate a cauldron of noise like Goodison can. And those in attendance last week are convinced that it shook to its very core when Tarkowski fired past Alisson Becker.

But the mood towards Goodison has changed since Moyes returned. All of sudden there is a sadness in the air that the place supporters have been coming to all their lives will soon be no more.

The last few years have not been easy for Everton supporters. On and off the pitch, issues have resulted in the club battling to avoid relegation to the Sky Bet Championship.

This season was meant to be different. But it was turning out like the last few campaigns until Moyes arrived in the middle of January.

A 3-0 defeat to Brighton on the opening day was a sign of things to come. Everton’s home form under Dyche was nothing short of shocking.

The place was certainly no longer the fortress it used to be. In fact, you could go as far as to say going to the match in recent months had become a chore for Blues supporters.

Towards the end of Dyche’s tenure, everything had become so predictable. And those looking to be entertained left most weeks bitterly disappointed by what had been served up.

However, that has all changed since Moyes returned. Everton all of a sudden look like a team that are prepared to take the game to the opposition.

They are scoring goals, playing on the front foot, and above all else, making Goodison into the fortress it once was. Fans have been watching a team reborn.

Supporters would be forgiven, under Dyche, for craving a change of scene, more in the hope that it might bring an upturn in fortunes.

A crowd of 10,000, including representatives of new owners The Friedkin Group, saw a glimpse of a bright, new future as the club’s new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium opened its doors for the first time on Monday night.

The verdicts of those in attendance were unanimous: the development is everything and more a supporter wants. The countdown to the move is well and truly on.

But the fact supporters are also sitting back and reminiscing about the old days at Goodison and opening up on just how heartbroken they are going to be when they leave for the final time in May shows just how much Moyes has changed the mindset and tone of the conversation at the club in the short space of time he has been there.

These conversations were not being held in the same way they are now under Dyche. Instead, supporters were having to put up with remarks like, “It will be the best stadium in the Championship” and “You could be relegated at the last game at Goodison.”

Both of those scenarios now almost certainly look like they won’t be occurring. Instead, so many incredible memories are ready to be made.