Everton Makes Jon's Heart Go Wooooah!

Finally! We made it to Everton's home ground at Goodison. That was the same stadium Jon had seen on the telly since he first started supporting the club. It's a great thing that they've not yet moved. So silly as the pillars around stands are, it was a fuzzy and exciting time for Jon :)

The night before I was being nagged at to make sure I wake up on time, cos we can't miss the bus, cos if we miss the bus we'll not get to Liverpool in time, we'll miss the match...etc etc etc :O) Actually he was excited for the whole week! He kept asking "when are the tickets going to arrive?"

So it was a grand outing to Liverpool. We caught the bus, and got there in good time. Met Ernest who had driven up from Bristol - he was joining us for the match. From the city centre we decided (actually Jon dictated ;) ) that we take a cab cos he was worried we'd get there late and miss the match and not have time to go to the shop to buy the jerseys.... hee hee... I was just enjoying watching him so excited! =)

It was fun taking the cab cos the cab driver was really friendly. Turns out he was a Liverpool fan and Jon and him were chatting about soccer, about the history of Everton and Liverpool, and making light-hearted jibes at each other :) The cab driver was telling us that actually most people in Liverpool support Everton, it's just that on an international scale Liverpool has more supporters. Anyway, I think the funniest part was when we were trying to get out of the cab somehow the door wouldn't open, and the cab driver joked "that's cos you're Evertonian!"

Jon went on a shopping spree at the Everton Club store! He went in with his old 'Kejian' jersey, and out he came donning the new 'Chang' jersey! :) Add to that the scarf he bought and he was all decked out for the match!
































Ernest and I were all made into Everton supporters for the day as well :) (yepp..the old 'Kejian' jersey went to me)










Jon had even downloaded the lyrics for all the Everton cheers to his blackberry! He really came fully prepared. We were actually listening to the cheers/songs a couple of days before as well to familiarise ourselves with the tunes! Too bad where we were sitting wasn't too spontaneous with their cheering, partly cos they were frustrated with how the team was playing heh...


















Everton wasn't playing quite so well that day (even though Reading is wayyy below on the table), so we were so happy for Jon's sake when Everton scored!! Final score was 1-0 to Everton! Yippi!! At least Jon could go back satisfied that his team won!










I appreciated how the place had wheelchair access for supporters who required them. I had not noticed this at the other stadiums we had been to (but perhaps I had just overlooked it).













After the match on the walk back into town we passed by the St Domingo sign, whereupon Jon proceeded to give us a history lesson on how Everton FC used to be called St Domingo FC :) Altogether now, "ooohhhh!"




For all the anticipation, excitement and thrill of going to Goodison, this was certainly the highlight of the trip for Jon!