The Story of Goodison Park:
A New Documentary Celebrating Everton Football Club’s Historic Home.

Goodison Park opened its gates in 1892 and immediately made history. The first major purpose-built football stadium in England, it was a statement of ambition at a time when most clubs played on public fields or modest enclosures. Over the 133 years that followed, it became something no architect or groundsman could have designed: a community, a shared memory, and one of the most emotionally significant pieces of land in British sporting history. This documentary, written and presented by Matthew Walker, is a tribute to everything Goodison Park meant and a record of what was lost when it closed its doors for the final time in 2025.

Goodison Park: The Grand Old Lady is not simply a football film. It is a film about belonging. About the relationship between a club and a community that spans generations, about the rituals passed down like heirlooms, and about what it means to say goodbye to a place that holds more of your life than any building probably should. Matthew Walker, an Everton supporter himself, brings both the broadcaster's authority and the fan's emotional investment to a story that deserves both.

About Presenter, Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker is a British television presenter, documentary filmmaker, and broadcaster with over 15 years of experience across BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Amazon Prime Video, and Formula 1. As an Everton supporter who has hosted events at Goodison Park and produced content for Everton FC, Matthew brings a rare combination of broadcaster's craft and genuine personal connection to this film. His documentary work is character-driven and research-intensive, built around subjects of real cultural significance.

Goodison Park: The Grand Old Lady sits alongside Matthew's other documentary films: Ricky Hatton: The People's Champion, Murray Walker: The Voice of Formula 1, and Triumph Spitfire: The Car Designed in Secret. Each film reflects the same commitment to storytelling that honours its subject and trusts its audience.

About The Film

The documentary traces Goodison Park's history from its origins in a rent dispute at Anfield in 1892, when Everton's committee took the bold decision to build their own ground, through over a century of football that shaped the club and the city around it. It covers the innovations that made Goodison ahead of its time: the first stadium in England with stands on all four sides, the first to introduce undersoil heating, and a ground that hosted FA Cup finals, international fixtures, and wartime events long before Wembley became the default venue for English football's biggest occasions.

The film celebrates the players and moments that defined the ground. Dixie Dean's extraordinary 60-goal season in 1927 to 1928. The Holy Trinity of Ball, Harvey, and Kendall in the 1960s. Howard Kendall's title-winning sides of the 1980s. And the quieter, more intimate moments that a stadium accumulates across more than a century, the tragedies it witnessed, the solidarity it offered, and the generations of supporters who made the same journey to the same seats year after year.

The documentary also covers the end of the Goodison story with the care it deserves. Everton's move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in 2025, and the plans for Goodison's transformation into a community asset serving the area that surrounded it for so long, are presented not as an ending but as a continuation of a relationship between a football club and its people that began over 130 years ago.

What Will Happen to Goodison Park?

Following the move, Goodison Park will undergo a major transformation. While no longer the home of Everton’s men’s team, the stadium and surrounding area are set to become a legacy community asset — with plans for affordable housing, health services, and education facilities.

In the interim period, Everton Women’s team may continue to use the stadium for selected matches and events, helping keep the spirit of Goodison alive for future generations. The redevelopment aims to preserve the history and cultural memory of the ground, while also meeting the evolving needs of the Liverpool community.

The Move to Hill Dickinson – Everton’s New Stadium

The closure of a football ground is one of the most emotionally significant events in a community's life. Goodison Park was not simply a place where matches were played. It was where people marked time, where fathers brought sons and daughters, where grief and joy were shared in public in ways that few other institutions allow. The story of its final years and its farewell is a story about what we lose when the places that hold our memories disappear, and why those places matter in a way that goes far beyond sport.

That is the story this documentary tells. And it is a story with resonance well beyond Everton supporters or football fans. It is a British story about heritage, community, and the passage of time.

Watch the Documentary

Goodison Park: The Grand Old Lady is available to watch in full on Matthew Walker's YouTube channel. Viewers are encouraged to subscribe and explore the full documentary catalogue.

Watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_VBvOoYahw&t=44s

Commission or collaborate

Matthew Walker is available for documentary presenting, narration, and long-form factual storytelling commissions. For production enquiries, commissioning discussions, or collaboration opportunities, contact matthew@thestandoutcompany.com or call +44 (0)207 088 8085.