Everton fan granted final wish to see new stadium

John Gordon says Everton "means so much to me"

A life-long Everton fan is to be granted one of his final wishes to visit the football club's new stadium.

John Gordon, 80, has lung cancer and has been told he has just months to live.

The "Everton mad" supporter said seeing the club's new Bramley-Moore Dock ground on Liverpool's waterfront and "going to heaven" were the only things on his bucket list.

Mr Gordon's friend and fellow Toffees fan Gerry O'Brien has helped organise a visit later on Thursday, leaving him "absolutely delighted".

Mr Gordon, from Billinge in St Helens, a former welding foreman at the National Coal Board, said: "The club means so much to me. It's been a big part of my life."

He said his greatest highlight as a fan of almost eight decades was watching Everton's "Holy Trinity" of Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball when the club won the league title in 1969-70.

Mr Gordon said he still treasures an autograph he was given from the late Ball.

"I was very fortunate to see them play," he said.

Everton's new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium will become the Toffees' new home for the start of the 2025-26 season

He said the club's current home of Goodison Park has "such a special atmosphere" and the team has brought him such a lot of joy, but Bramley-Moore Dock - where the club will move to in time for next season - signalled a "new era".

Mr O'Brien helped set up the visit to the new stadium when Mr Gordon told him how much he would love to see it.

Mr O'Brien, 79, told BBC Radio Merseyside: "It is smashing news that John's wish will come true. He's over the moon."

The Toffees will leave Goodison Park after 133 years playing there.

The new £750m waterfront stadium can hold 52,888 people at full capacity, about 13,000 more than Goodison, and has already opened for several test events.