A shiny new stadium awaits Everton however the Merseyside derby won’t ever be the identical once more… DOMINIC KING seems again on his Goodison derby day reminiscences

Things will never be the same. Yes, a shiny, new stadium standing proudly on the banks of the Mersey awaits Everton but the thought of a Derby being played somewhere other than Goodison Park or Anfield is difficult to comprehend.

That’s why the enormity of this latest fixture cannot be underplayed. For one last time in the league, Goodison will shake and rattle with thunder and expectation. On these occasions, there is no place like it.

This reporter has, in various guises, attended Merseyside Derbies since the mid-1980s and these are the top five I’ve seen at Goodison.

Note: the list is personal, runs chronologically and is here to stir memories. It also acts as a reminder how privileged the city is to capture the eyes of the world.

EVERTON 2 LIVERPOOL 3; DIVISION ONE, SEPTEMBER 21, 1985

You never forget your first and almost 40 years on, the events of this day are crystal clear. The rain on the walk to the stadium, the towering Main Stand that seemed to rise as high as skyscraper; Kenny Dalglish scoring after 21 seconds and pockets of red erupting in all corners.

I’d gone with my Dad – we had tickets for the top tier of the old Park End – and at half-time, as Liverpool had stretched further clear with goals from Ian Rush and Steve McMahon on his debut, I remember him smiling like I’d never seen him smile before.

‘There will come a point in the future and, hopefully, Liverpool will be here and they’ll be three-nil up again,’ he told me. ‘You’ll understand then.’

The second half was just as dramatic, however. Everton responded with all their might, scored twice, Gary Lineker hit the bar and Trevor Steven caused panic every time the ball arrived at his twinkling feet. The two teams were the best in Europe that year. They showed why that wonderful afternoon.

EVERTON 2 LIVERPOOL 0; PREMIER LEAGUE, NOVEMBER 21, 1994

Losing at Goodison Park was almost commonplace for Liverpool at the start of the Premier League era: Peter Beardsley returning to haunt his old club in December 1992, Mark Ward thrashing in from 20 yards after Bruce Grobbelaar had squared up to Steve McManaman in September 1993.

This game, though, was different. This was the night Joe Royle let loose the Dogs of War and Everton ravaged Liverpool. They won 2-0 but nothing sticks out more than Duncan Ferguson’s first goal for the club, the picture of him heading the ball, eyes blazing, while others winced is iconic.

‘It was a big moment for the club, wasn’t it, bringing Big Joe back,’ Ferguson told me four years ago in an interview for Mail Sport. ‘He’s a club legend. His first game… it all went well for us. We’ve not had many night like that, have we? So we’ve got to enjoy them!

‘Honestly, there’s nae better feeling than scoring a goal in a Derby game. Believe me. If it contributes to you getting a result – of winning – there’s nothing like it. The fans make derbies. They give you the enjoyment of football, they make the experience. It’s the roar of the crowd, lad, isn’t it?’

They roared that night, all right. Under those lights, a hero was born. We watched footage of his header again as he we spoke.

‘When you show me something like that, it makes me feel incredibly proud,’ he said, smiling. ‘At the end of the day, I’ve played in a derby game and I have helped us win a derby game. Everybody should understand that – no matter what colour shirt they were.’

EVERTON 2 LIVERPOOL 3; PREMIER LEAGUE, APRIL 16, 2001

Five goals; two penalties, one of which was missed by Robbie Fowler. Duncan Ferguson running in front of the away section in the Bullens Road, clenching his bicep and pointing to his Everton tattoo. Igor Biscan rubbing his hands across his head after being sent-off.

Jeff Winter, the referee who was never afraid of being the centre of attention, making decision after decision that enraged both sets of fans, each shrill of his whistle acting like another shovel of coal onto a bonfire. It was crazy, thrilling and agonising and everything a Derby should be.

Then came Gary McAllister. Even now, thinking about it, I can see the ball bouncing from my perch in the Upper Bullens Road just in front of Paul Gerrard and realising his free-kick was going in – 16 years after Dad’s words of wisdom, I knew exactly what he meant.

EVERTON 1 LIVERPOOL 0; FA CUP FOURTH ROUND REPLAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009

Time can play tricks with your memory but time has not changed my belief that this was the finest Everton side to run out at Goodison Park since the days of Howard Kendall. David Moyes constructed a young, hungry squad that for a period served it up to everyone.

I was with them every week in my old role as the Liverpool Echo’s Everton Correspondent. I knew the work David put in to get players to the club and how he worked in tandem with the late Chairman Bill Kenwright to give the fans a team of which they could be proud.

Moyes had been getting criticised before this particular game that he didn’t win enough of the big matches and there was huge amount at stake; he’d had two good wins over Rafa Benitez at Goodison before (Lee Carsley, December 2004; Andy Johnson, September 2006) but things felt different.

The occasion was incredible. It wasn’t a classic game in terms of the football played but it was the kind of night that stopped the city, as tension crept like ivy. Benitez wanted to get to penalties but two unlikely heroes had other ideas, as Andy van der Meyde crossed for Dan Gosling to score.

Peter Crouch once compared playing at Goodison as like being in a cage fight, so tight and imposing are the stands. When the place erupts, as it did this night, there is not a noise like it anywhere else in the country.

Gosling, a young lad from Plymouth, was unaware of the enormity of what he had done and it only dawned on him a week later when he went to the cinema in Liverpool city centre to see The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and found himself besieged by autograph hunters.

EVERTON 2 LIVERPOOL 0; PREMIER LEAGUE, OCTOBER 17, 2010

Conversations with Moyes before Derbies tended to have a familiar tone. He always let you know that he just wanted the chance to put his hand on Liverpool’s shoulder and pull them back. There are plenty of targets an Everton manager must achieve but the first, always, is being top dog in the city.

Moyes had been trying and trying for eight years and then, on this Sunday afternoon, it felt like he had got there. Everton were magnificent from start to finish, trampling all over Liverpool with pace and power and lethal finishing from Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill.

He had no hesitation in calling it ‘the best performance of my time here’ and it was impossible not to argue with him. It was one of the most one-sided derbies of the last 25 years and 2-0 didn’t reflect Everton’s superiority.

‘We weren’t that bad, were we?’ Roy Hodgson, Moyes’s opposite number, asked as he walked out of a particularly hostile press conference. No – Liverpool were worse than he thought, unable to cope with the Goodison frenzy. How it will be missed when it was gone.

P/S There is no place in this famous five for the 4-4 FA Cup Fifth Round replay in February 1991 or the league match that ended 0-0 in May 1989, Liverpool’s first match after Hillsborough, purely because I wasn’t in the stadium. Both those occasions, though, show the best of what the city represents.