Thanks for sharing your pilgrimage experience, Alan!

My first ever pilgrimage to Goodison was in April last year (watching the nightmare that was Soucek scoring against us again!) and I hope one day my Mrs would finally be able to make the trip to Merseyside with me.

Safe travel and enjoy BMD!

Reading between the lines & the early medical references my very best wishes are and will remain with you Alan; you deserve a crack at many more memory making visits to see the Club which you hold so dear.
Many of us will relate to your very honest accounts of the vicissitudes which are part and parcel of being a Blue.
You bring them to life.
I earnestly hope you have a wonderful day; it will be my first proper visit to BM as well!
All the best to you & your lovely wife.

Nearly

Yes, Alan, the Fiorentina game was special. The atmosphere was comparable to the Bayern classic of '85, even if it didn't quite hit that peak.
Though if we had gone through,it would be talked about endlessly. But because we went out, I think we buried it in our collective consciousness.

Your positive spirit in the face of such adversity is both hugely impressive and inspiring. A pity you couldn't give the team talk. But after a pre-match session, well, perhaps not...

I hope you and your mate enjoy the day. I would be interested to read about it.

I really enjoyed reading this, Alan.

You say your diagnosis is grim but really hoping this isn't the case and you get to enjoy our fabulous new stadium many more times in the future, hopefully enjoying some winning football.

It always fascinates me how fans experience our great club, especially when they don't live in the city itself.

My first shirt was the silver Le Coq Sportif away shirt. My twin brother and me got them that Christmas. One of the few freezing cold Christmas days but we still went out and kicked a ball around on Christmas Day to spead the gospel.

First match was Manchester City away and we won 3-1. We were in the City end and dad told us not to celebrate if we score. Paul Power played for us against his old club and scored. We won 1-3. First home game was not long afterwards versus Norwich City. We spanked them. I fell in love with the place.

Lowest point was when Watford (Josh King) got a hat trick against us in the last few minutes. The atmosphere in the ground was toxic that day.

Highlight was watching us win the league in 1987 and getting to witness that great team. If you'd told my 13 year old self that it would be the last time having now turned 52 then I'd have never believed it. Espcecially if you said that Chelsea and Man City would be top teams and Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton would be highly regarded.

The last time I went to a home game was Brentford in January. Superb stadium but a miserable performance and result to bring on the January Blues.

Enjoy Saturday, Alan and all the very best.

Excellent article, Alan, that Villa game was the first Everton match I ever watched live. It was November 1989, I was 8 years old and not even an Evertonian then, but it stuck in my mind. Maybe it was a sign of what lay ahead for me?

I'm very sorry to hear about your diagnosis, I wish you all the best and hope you enjoy our fantastic stadium.

alan every evertonian wishes you and your family all best and hopefully your first visit won't be your last. a win would be nice and good weather too.
i enjoyed your consolidation trap article. a lot of pertinent points and eloquently expressed. I have only been in the east stand and also the north stand, hopefully your expensive ticket does'nt involve climbing the north face of the eiger ! as my seats high up but a great view ( but what we saw on the pitch left a lot to be desired )
have a safe journey - best wishes to you

Lovely article - I wonder if I can piggy-back on it. I'm attending the Lille game on Sat but won't be coming into Liverpool on the train as I usually do. Where's the best place to park? Someone suggested Liverpool One and walk / UBER but I'm not sure how convenient that really is. I'll be coming in from the M62 side... Thanks in advance!

Robert if you park at the multistorey at Bootle Strand it’s £2 on the shuttle bus, and the bus station is right next to the car park.

Thanks Philip - that's great. I'll try that.

Robert

An alternative car park (if you don’t mind a walk/Uber is the QPark, just off Dale Street. Use the code TOFFEES20 for a 20% discount. Takes me about 25 minutes to walk to the ground from there.

no probs robert, I went to 4 games last season on this shuttle and back to bootle using my old farts merseytravel bus/train pass. drops you off by the tai pan and going back its a bit further up derby rd. whichever way you go safe journey to you and alan too.