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Good old Goodison
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No, not how dated it is... nor where our new stadium should be... not even how desperate for a new stadium we are.
Instead, where is you're favourite seat at Goodsion?
I've pretty much been in every stand with Lower Gwladys my favourite. Just wondered what others thoughts were?
Matt Brown, Posted 03/09/2010 at 12:02:23
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However, a front seat in the Top Balcony has the best actual viewing angle of the game (shame about the shitty wooden seats, atmosphere, facilities etc)
But the hospitality is the same all over the ground (except for the directors box of course) ? warm Chang, dishwater for tea and they always sell out of the pies just before you get there.
I have had a few restricted seat experiences and went for neck surgery afterwards but you cannot beat the middle to rear of the Park End for outstanding views.
My season ticket was on the Top Balcony, in line with the centre circle in the Gwladys Street half, and it was an excellent seat for watching football from, especially in terms of seeing the whole pattern of the game in one glance. The only problem is, in terms of atmosphere, you can feel slightly out of it, and the singing rarely penetrated up to the top unless it was an exceptional game.
Main Stand and Upper Bullens give the best overall, and I sat behind the press box once, which was interesting.
The view from the Top Balcony can be breathtaking, Park End is too far from the pitch (you can reach out and touch the goal nets at The Gwladys End, but Park End has a gap of about 10 yards and that ruins it for me), I don't like the Main Stand much or the Lower Bullens unless the first couple of rows.
On a slight tangent, has anybody else noticed that we have the most intimidating (to away teams) Family enclosure in Britain?! Full of frothing, baldies in track coats hurling abuse at linesmen, opposition Manager, subs and the 4th official (and sometimes our own players and Moyes) whilst their kids look on open mouthed. :)
Then when I got braver, I stood right by the Church, for many years.
I have sat in all stands, and I am now planted in the Park End... since it opened.
Now the gang is spread out all over the stadium.
On another topic (old farts? post.) I heard the Kinks? ?Death of a Clown? again the other day. Do any other old sad bastards in anoraks remember the politically incorrect words we used to sing to that song, and the particular Shite player we used to target? If you know, ask Norman Wynne for the five guinea prize.
For atmosphere, upper, or pherhaps preferably, lower Gwladys. Top Balcony will give you a fantastic view, but overall I'd agree with Richard Reeves # 3.
Upper Bullens, at the front, although I'd try an get a seat not in line with the halfway line, but somewhere halfway between there and the corner/Gwladys. Still a near perfect view, but gets you closer to the best atmosphere. (and further away from the away support)
Bits I can remember...
"Ian St John lies dead on the floor
We won't bring bananas for him anymore
We hate old Bill Shankly, we hate Big Ron too
Liverpool should be locked in a zoo
Let's all drink to the ......
I'll get me anorak
Phil,
At least there?s someone else out there who went to games in 1967 and remembers this kind of stuff. Not sure you?d get the full five guineas though. My recollection of this particular ?affectionate parody? is slightly different:
?Ian St John lies dead on the floor,
There?ll be no bananas for him any more.
Shankly and Paisley are both very sad,
They?ve lost the best monkey that they ever ?ad.
There were eleven monkeys and now one has gone,
Let?s all drink etc.?
Sorry for my ignorance ? who was Freddie Armstrong? Can he provide the authorised version? Or is he singing in the choir at that great Finch Farm in the sky?
I guess you would get thrown out now for this kind of stuff. However, it probably belongs in some book of oral history. It certainly reflects something about those days (for instance, that there were no substitutes.)
I remember one derby match when our version of that Dave Davies song was belted out in the Winslow and the small band of kopites (yes, drinking prematch in the Winslow ? how times change) took offence, for some reason. So, in response, they were regaled with a chorus of "St John's mother runs a who-ere house in Hell".
Freddie is the big, black lad who was a Gwladys St `character' home and away throughout the 60s; a real gentleman in every sense who looked out for us younger ones at away games. He was fond of creating parodies from old favourites and current chart songs and we'd often try then out in the Winslow, with Gerry on piano (honest, an old Joanna in the lounge!).
I heard last year he'd had a leg amputated but remains a massive Evertonian and still attends the games. If anyone knows where he drinks pre/post-match, please let us know ? for me, he's up there with Eddie Kavanagh as an Evertonian legend.
"Goodbye, Upper Parly, farewell Clayton Square...".
"But the one they forgot was the greatest of all,
A red-headed dynamo named Alan Ball..."
"We're the boys from the banks of the Mersey..."
Oh his name is Joey Royle and he?s the leader of our team,
The finest centre forward that the world has ever seen.
When Alan takes the corners, he nods them in the goal,
And as for Alun Evans (later Bobby Graham), you can stick him up your ?ole
Da da da da
Da da da da da
Oh we?re going to win the football league
(God ? how the last line dates it)
There was also ?Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe Royle?, and subsequently, ?Joe, Joe, Mexico.?
Do you also remember around this time that someone at Everton decided that we needed a team song for the crowd to sing? So they ran a competition ? I think in a Sunday paper, although it could have been in the Echo ? for someone to write the words.
The result was some huge, long ditty, can?t for the life of me remember to what tune. And for a while they tried to get us to sing it before the game, with someone on the pitch trying to conduct. Hardly anyone knew the words. I think the whole idea got quietly dropped one day.
Now I?m off to pull one of the drawstrings on the hood of my anorak. I?ve always wondered what might happen?
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1 Posted 03/09/2010 at 14:22:04
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Lower Gwladys takes it for me too.