Goodison Park’s last Merseyside derby: Emotions running high as Everton host Liverpool at the Old Lady for final time

I was asked this week if I was looking forward to the 245th Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Of course, I think most Evertonians, or for that matter, Liverpudlians would admit to not actually looking forward to a derby. It’s a game that just needs to be won, at any cost, and one which only then can you truly enjoy.

As an openly Blue sports reporter, the last league derby to be played at Goodison Park will not only be a nervy experience but a hugely emotional one, also.

I always remember Rafa Benitez taking Steven Gerrard off in the derby once at Goodison because he suggested he was playing with his heart and not his head – and of course Everton will need to keep that in mind as they go into this game – but I’m sure the atmosphere inside Goodison on Saturday will be as ferocious as the Old Lady has ever witnessed.

One of the great things about Derby week, however, is remembering the good, the bad and the ugly of previous games, and my memory is littered with all three!

As a fan, the 4-4 in the FA Cup and Andy King’s volley stick out for me at Goodison.

But then there was the Glenn Keeley derby, the on-loan defender being sent off early in the game only for Ian Rush, feared by all Everton fans for his derby antics and goals, to score four.

I’m sure the atmosphere inside Goodison on Saturday will be as ferocious as the Old Lady has ever witnessed.

The hard part was that I’d bought a last-minute ticket from a Reds fan outside the ground and had to sit next to him in the Park End stand for the whole nightmare. He kept apologising, the poor bloke!

However, it was when I became the club’s press officer in the late 90s that I got a real insight into just how tense and special these games are.

The Goodison games were the only live experience I got to enjoy due to a self-imposed ban from going to Anfield for those games after being scarred as a supporter by Ronnie Rosenthal’s 94th-minute winner in the 80s.

To say the stress levels rose as an employee of the club was somewhat of an understatement.

My first experience was working for manager Joe Royle who seemed to have the Midas touch against Liverpool.

In fact, his first game in charge a couple of years previously saw a 2-0 victory, with Duncan Ferguson and Paul Rideout earning a famous win for the Dogs of War.

There were some dark days for the Blue side of the city at that time. In fact, it’s fair to say Liverpool have dominated the fixture in recent years with some heavy score lines too but it always seems when the chips are down is when Everton pull a performance out of the bag.

One game that sticks out for good and bad reasons was October 1997. Everton were once again struggling at the wrong end of the table under Howard Kendall.

Nobody saw a result coming that day, especially me as it had already been a season of real pressure and stress.

But just on half-time a corner was floated in and Neil Ruddock glanced a defensive header into his own goal. Goodison went crazy and I got a bit carried away!

Part of my duties at the time was reading the teams out over the PA system and also announcing goal scorers. I excitedly announced to the 40,000 inside the ground “Goal scorer for Everton – Neil Ruddock!”

As you can imagine, it was met with total approval from the Goodison crowd, or most of them, but I was then summoned up to the boardroom after the game to be told off by then Chairman Sir Philip Carter for being unprofessional – a crime, of course, I owned up to straight away!

Humour is something very much evident at a derby, even today, so I think the Reds fans would’ve taken it in good spirit.

When I rejoined the club in 2013 I recall then manager Roberto Martinez, on hearing my non-attendance at Anfield, telling me I should go to the game.

I stuck to my policy and saved myself the trauma of watching Everton being torn apart in a 4-0 defeat.

Once again, Everton find themselves going into the game as underdogs. Liverpool are top of the league and flying but as they say in derbies, form goes out of the window.

A friend told me this week that if Sean Dyche wins on Saturday he would have more Merseyside Derby victories to his name than the previous seven Everton managers.

I think that stat tells its own story but should he achieve it then the fans on the Blue half will celebrate it like never before and give Goodison another day to remember for sure!

The day Big Dunc arrived at Goodison

Former Everton forward Graham Stuart told Sky Sports:

“The one Goodison Park derby game which stands out for me was when big Joe Royle came back in 1994. He’d graced the club as a player, and he came back to manage the club. His first game was here at Goodison against Liverpool.

“It was under the lights and we won it 2-0. There was an iconic goal scored by big Duncan Ferguson. Joe had been so important is us getting Big Dunc from up in Scotland.

“He came down and he hit the ground running with a fantastic header to win us that derby game. It just set the tone for Joe Royle, and he had a wonderful few years here as manager.”

Dyche wants Everton fans ‘to the fore’ in last Merseyside derby

Sean Dyche is determined to ensure Everton’s farewell to Goodison Park includes one last derby win over Liverpool for the fans.

The Toffees host their Merseyside rivals for the final time at their home of 132 years in a Premier League match on Saturday, with the club moving to a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock next summer.

Everton beat the title-chasing Reds in the corresponding fixture last season and Dyche wants to repeat the feat for supporters he recognises have been questioning his approach of late.

“I’d like to think it’ll bring our fans to the fore,” said the Everton manager, whose side eased some of the pressure at the bottom end of the table with a 4-0 win over Wolves on Wednesday.

“They’ve supported us throughout. They question us – that’s fine, we’ve never questioned their questioning us because that’s part of the game.

“But on this occasion I think it all goes out the window, for this game. I’ve learned that it’s an individual game in the season’s work that means so much.

“We delivered a very good performance last season and we’re going to have to do that again against a very good side.

“I think certainly our fans can play a part in that by getting behind the players from the off and creating that atmosphere. It makes it difficult for teams to come and play here.”