Everton

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"We talk about Hollywood scripts and this could not have been written any better," says former Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker on the final men's game at Goodison Park.

Ex-Everton players returned to bid the Grand Old Lady a final farewell, whilst David Moyes also selected Seamus Coleman to lead his side out for the very last time there.

It was a magnificent send-off to English football's most played-in ground with those that care the most.

"David Moyes has transformed the club since returning and there is a connection with the fan base and he knows the club is moving forward," said Reo-Coker on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"They are leaving Goodison Park, a historic stadium in English football, and now it is up to those fans to make the new stadium just as intimidating.

"It is all going in the right direction and I don't think there is a better man to take them on this next journey than Moyes."

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Highlights and analysis from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

Saturday 17th May

FA Cup final: Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City - 5 LIVE

Sunday 18th May

West Ham 1-2 Nottingham Forest - 5 LIVE

Brentford 2-3 Fulham – SPORTS EXTRA 2

Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle - 5 LIVE

We asked for your photos and stories from the last day at Goodison Park.

Here are some of your best moments:

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Dwight McNeil spoke to BBC Radio Merseyside after Everton's final match at Goodison Park: "We knew there was only one thing to do today and that was to win. It has been an amazing day. Coming in on the coach, I've never seen anything like it, It was amazing to see it and it is something I will never forget. We are sending Goodison off in the right way.

"I'll always remember getting the last assist at Goodison, it is something I will always treasure. It is a privilege to be at this club, I've loved every minute here and I'm looking forward to what the future holds."

On his favourite Goodison memory: "The one that will stay with me forever is Liverpool at home last season when we won 2-0. That was an incredible night under the lights."

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David Moyes spoke to BBC Sport after Everton's victory against Southampton: "Extraordinary atmosphere. The crowd were amazing, as it was outside before the game. We started the game pretty well and got in front. We played some good bits but not always. The job was to win the game today and see ourselves out at Goodison in a good light.

"The support at Everton is immense. It's needed some form of success. Today is a day they've been waiting on for so long, a new stadium coming.

"I never thought I'd be the one to do it [manage them in the new ground]. I'm really pleased. I'm honoured to be given that opportunity. We all see it as another chance. We need to start rebuilding Everton again. We've done the job [of staying up]. We have to try to build on that next year. If we can get an atmosphere like this in the new stadium it'll give us every chance of winning games.

"I thought it was as if everyone had come together as one club. Today was everyone standing together."

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Since David Moyes' first game back in charge of Everton, only Newcastle (21) and Liverpool (18) have scored more first half Premier League goals than the Toffees (17). Their 17 goals before half-time is one more than they'd scored in the opening 45 minutes of their previous 40 games under Sean Dyche.

Were you at the game today or following from elsewhere?

Everton fans, sum up how you are feeling about Goodison's last dance

Have your say on Southampton's performance here

Five matches make up Sunday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Everton v Southampton (12:00) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• West Ham v Nottingham Forest (14:15)

• Brentford v Fulham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Leicester v Ipswich

• Arsenal v Newcastle (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

In just a few hours David Moyes and his players will walk out to a sea of blue at Goodison Park for the final time.

Emotional yet?

In what will sure to be a fitting send off to the Grand Old Lady, we want you to send us your photos and stories from the day.

Submit your photos, memories and thoughts here

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Former Everton player and manager Joe Royle says scoring his first goal at Goodison Park "seems like a lifetime ago" but he describes walking down the tunnel and out onto the pitch as being "a feeling you cannot scratch".

He explained what it felt like to sign for the club as a young boy on BBC Radio Merseyside's Goodbye to Goodison podcast: "I was just over the moon, not to be corny. This sounds conceited but I had the choice of several clubs, one not too far from here, but it was always Everton for me."

When asked what Goodison Park means to him, he replied: "This is the place where I scored my first goal. I was also in a side that won the league here and I can remember us all running around with the cup. We won the FA Cup as well, so there are some great memories here for me.

"It is a lovely old place. You only have to look at it to see that it is super.

"Walking out onto the pitch here is a feeling you cannot scratch. I loved the buzz of getting out there.

"You would have a mixed crowd some days, where the fans would be so easy-osy about things, but then you would come out after half-time and boy did they let you know they were there.

"The crowd hasn't changed an awful lot. The crowd here on a cold night in November would still get behind the team and the opposition wouldn't like it at all - and it is still just as good.

"Even now, you see the same regular fans in the same regular seats. It is seldom very short of customers here."

Finally, on his favourite memory at the historic ground, he said: "Scoring here in my first home game for the club. I scrambled one in. I probably miskicked it slightly but nevertheless I was there to scramble it over the line and it counts just the same as a volley!"

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

And catch up on BBC Radio Merseyside's four-hour Goodison Park special here

Lynette Horsburgh
BBC News

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Saying goodbye to Goodison Park is "going to be like losing a little bit of my mum", the daughter of Everton's first official toffee lady has said.

The tradition of handing toffees out at Everton's stadium dates back to the 1890s when Old Ma Bushell, who ran the nearby Ye Ancient Everton Toffee House, dressed her granddaughter in her finest clothes and sent her with a basket of Everton toffees to throw into the crowd.

Lifelong Evertonian Mary Morgan (nee Gorry) was the Blues' toffee lady from 1953 until 1956.

Speaking ahead of the final men's fixture at Goodison Park before their move to Bramley-Moore Dock this summer, Patricia Smith said: "It'll be a sad day - there's going to be a lot of tears."

She said her mum's role as the toffee lady "started off as a joke" when she customised a bridesmaid dress, handstitched "Everton Supporters Federation" on a white pinny, and teamed it with a bonnet.

It was a nod to the traditional attire worn more than 60 years previously, when Jemima Bushell handed out Everton toffees to fans as Ye Ancient Everton Toffee House battled to outdo Everton mints creator Mother Noblett, whose shop was situated closer to Goodison.

And so the enduring link between Everton and toffee was born.

Read more on the story

As you all know, it's not often I'm wrong about anything but you may remember me saying in a previous predictions article that I thought I held the record for the fastest senior goal at Goodison Park for my effort after 12.94 seconds with Blackburn in 1995, until Abdoulaye Doucoure scored after 10.18 seconds for Everton against Leicester in February.

It turns out the fastest goal before Doucoure was actually by Bournemouth's Colin Clarke, after 11 seconds in a League Cup tie in 1985, but I still hold the record for the fastest away goal there in a men's league game and no-one is taking that away from me because I don't think Southampton will score at all on Sunday.

Saints will probably be too exhausted from their celebrations after last week's draw with Manchester City to ruin the party as Everton's men's team play their last game at Goodison after 133 years.

I have not got a problem with the Southampton fans celebrating reaching 12 points and avoiding equalling Derby's record for the worst Premier League points tally because they have had to endure an awful season, but it is absolute amateur hour from their players to react the way they did afterwards.

People will say it was down to emotion but how low is your bar if you see that as an achievement? The team should have thanked the supporters, and cleared off down the tunnel.

Everton got taken apart in the first half by Fulham last time out, but were much better in the second half and went to win 3-1 at Craven Cottage.

It would be typical for them to mess up on their big day, but they won't. I fancy Beto to get a goal, and the Toffees to sign off with a win.

Sutton's prediction: 2-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Tom Mallows
BBC Sport journalist

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Goodison is not just players, grass, bricks and mortar. It is also about people. The matchday ritual. Walking up streets of tightly spaced Victorian terracing; meeting friends and family by Dixie's statue; chips at the Goodison Supper Bar; a pint in the Winslow Pub in the looming shadow of the triple-decker Main Stand; perusing the memorabilia, old programmes and vintage shirts upstairs in the Church of St Luke the Evangelist, home of the Heritage Society, which is nestled between the Gwladys Street and Main Stand.

For supporter Frank Keegan, the day Everton's men's team leave Goodison will be tinged with sadness, but it is something he feels they have to do.

"It's been my life going there," he said. "I look across from my seat to the Lower Bullens and the Upper Bullens Stand and you see ghosts of your mates that used to go to matches.

"But another part of me thinks that the Goodison Park I remember growing up, as a ground, went a long time ago. We've got to move with the times.

"But it's not about me, it's about individual supporters. You've got your memories of the ground, but the ground is just a place that held them. And you can think back and remember them fondly."

This Sunday we'd love it if you would send us your images and stories from Goodison via this form

BBC Sport had a strong response from readers to Everton's naming rights deal for their new stadium, which will be called Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Here is a further selection, with more lower down this page:

Jim: Awful. These naming deals are nonsensical.

Phil: A huge embarrassment to the fans. Do Everton get anything right?

Greg: The name sets us up for an awful lot of stick, as if we have not already had enough. But we're going to have to get used to it, whether we like it or not.

Jon: Just like Twickenham will always be Twickenham rather than the 'Allianz'. This will always be Bramely-Moore to fans. I get the revenue stream importance, but it sounds more like a bookies.

Daniel: For all the ceremony and tears over leaving Goodison the naming of the new stadium shows that sentiment is dead. As Evertonians let's not kid ourselves the new stadium is all about income generation, profit and money. The new match day experience is now all about rinsing us fans of money before during and after the match. What's in a name? Hundreds of millions apparently.

Mark: I hate naming rights deals as much as the next person, but considering some of the monstrous names inflicted on stadiums, this could be a lot worse. It's not an airline, a fast-food chain, or a company owned by an oligarch and the context has some class to it. It'll either grow on us or people will just use 'Bramley-Moore Dock'. But while understandable, anyone who held out hope it might be named after Dixie Dean or Brian Labone or Per Kroldrup was clutching at straws.

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Former Everton midfielder Barry Horne says leaving Goodison Park will be "sad" but that the move to a new stadium "feels right."

Horne, a boyhood Evertonian, was an FA Cup winner with Everton in 1995.

The ex-Wales international scored Everton's first ever goal in the Premier League on his debut at Goodison Park in August 1992.

He also scored in a famous win over Wimbledon in May 1994 which saw Everton seal Premier League survival on the final day of the season.

"For many, many years I was dead set against moving from Goodison but as time has gone on you realise it's tired," Horne told BBC Sport Wales.

"It's been a magnificent stadium – it's had the World Cup here – but it's had it's time. We'll all be sad but it feels right.

"I've been to the new stadium – I went to one of the test events – and it's going to be absolutely sensational."

Read more of Barry Horne's Goodison Park memories

Everton have announced a naming rights deal for their new stadium, which will be called Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Here's what some fans think of the move:

Phil: Love it, a proper company with a long term commitment. Everton moving up!

Niamh: We don't like it and we prefer Bramley-Moore. The new stadium name highlights how society has become obsessed with economic opportunity where instead football should be a social and cultural celebration rather than a liquified commodity.

Steve: Not a great name, but I think after all these years, it'll be continued to be called Bramley-Moore either way.

Geoff: Not sure about the new name. The deal might be worth big money but the name sets us up for endless mickey taking on the sponsor's name. Surely it shouldn't be just about who stumps up the most cash? We have to live with this name until the deal runs out. Just ask Bolton fans.

Dan: Sounds just like a Football Manager regen name - but I quite like it.

Paul: Not a great choice. What about the Dixie Dean Stadium or something better?

Noel: I knew this new name would come as a shock to a lot of fans, however, it sounds professional and will grow on us all. Embrace the phoenix rising from the ashes. It's up to all of us fans to get on board, stick together and make this opportunity a big success story.

Sydney: Think it's a big let down from an iconic name in Goodison Park to Hill Dickinson. First big thing they had to get right and they messed it up. What a let down regardless of what money they paid for the privilege.