The 1878s fan group have grand plans to say goodbye to Goodison Park
A siren suddenly blares out across a sun-kissed Goodison Park. As it ends, the theme to Z-Cars begins. Normally this would prompt an explosion of noise from close to 40,000 Evertonians.
But the ground is close to empty. It is Thursday, two days before Everton’s game against Ipswich Town – the penultimate fixture at the Toffees’ home of 133 years. On a small corner of the pitch, a five-a-side game involving a group of under-eights is about to start. The famous Gwladys Street End is a hive of activity, however.
A band of volunteers are busy readying Goodison for Saturday’s game. The next time Z-Cars will be heard at this grand old ground, Everton will walk out onto the hallowed turf to face the East Anglian side.
They will be greeted by quite the display. There will be flags and banners on all sides of the ground as well as a ticker tape release.
At the centre of it will be a huge banner celebrating Everton icons from all eras, including Howard Kendall, Duncan Ferguson, Richarlison, Kevin Ratcliffe and Neville Southall.
It is the work of the 1878s, a supporter group who have organised coach welcomes as well as displays within the ground over the past three seasons, willing the Blues over the line in a number of difficult campaigns. Speaking to the ECHO in the concourse of the Gwladys Street is Katie Carter, one of the group’s founder members.
Moved by hearing Z-Cars at Goodison for one of the last times, the 40-year-old from West Derby tells the ECHO: “We hope that we give this place the send-off it absolutely deserves – no other ground deserves it more than this.”
The Blues will depart Goodison Park at the end of the season to begin a new era on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey at Bramley-Moore Dock. May 18’s match against Southampton will be the final played at the ground in L4, which has been the home of the Blues since 1892.
For civil servant Katie, who has been coming to watch Everton with her dad for 37 years, it is an emotional time. She wants to play her part in ensuring the farewell is as memorable as possible.
Saturday’s display is the culmination of years of hard work from the group, who have dedicated their own time to helping Everton through a testing period. Saturday will be their last display at Goodison.
The 1878s trace their origins back to the 2021/22 season, when Frank Lampard’s Blues narrowly escaped relegation. They began with a huge coach welcome outside the ground before a crucial win over Chelsea.
Katie explains: “Three years ago this week we did our first coach greeting – Chelsea at home. We’ve gone properly from then and we’ve just upped the stakes each year as it’s come. With what’s been going on at the club – on the pitch and off it.
“We’ve done what we can to help the players on the pitch. We came about because the players needed help on the pitch – they were struggling, there were six games to go and we needed to stay in the league. As fans, we decided we needed to get behind them.
Huge displays have followed – including one at February’s dramatic derby against Liverpool. But Katie wants Saturday’s to be the biggest and best.
“I’m emotional now, these are our last few days of coming here, doing what we do – being on the concourse, being here when nobody is in Goodison”, she says. “We’ve got a day and a half now of preparation, so it is quite emotional.
“Our aim is to create an iconic image of Goodison that will live forever. So, no pressure. There are eight of us in this group and we will work our hardest to make it work.
“Everyone else is a volunteer who help hold the flags up each week. There are eight of us in the group who make all of this happen.
“We’ve got a really special man who is not in the group but he’s our flag designer. His name is Mike, he runs Everton the Gear (an independent Everton clothing brand).
“There are eight of us in the group, but there’s nine really. God love him, he works every hour God sends for us. I hound him on a daily basis.”
As they work to get the display finished – before returning on Friday for final touches – the group are treated to a surprise visit from club captain and legendary right-back Seamus Coleman, who thanks them for all they have done over recent seasons. He helps hold up the statement banner on the Gwladys Street End before chatting to and posing for pictures with fans.
“It’s brilliant, he’s so lovely”, says Katie. “He turned up at the back end of last season as well, it was just to thank us.
“That’s for the volunteers. We do a lot, but without the fans who turn up every single week and help us – or have even turned up once this season and helped – none of this happens. We can’t do what we do without these people.
-“We can say let’s do it but if nobody joins in then you’re on your own and it doesn’t work. We’ve got a group of people who turn up week in, week out, no matter the circumstances of what’s going on in their lives. They come and they help out every single week.
“It was a thank you for them. We’re made up because we know some of them. We’ve got Enid, she’s 80 and she comes and helps set up in the winter.
“She’s turning up with her daughter in the winter and she holds her flag every week. You’ve got little Oscar and Paddy who are like nine and 12. Without those people, of all generations, nothing happens.
“We don’t work if they don’t work. That’s the best part. Yes we help the players on the pitch, we know it works, we appreciate it. But to bring fans together, that’s the best part, that’s the most important thing to have come out of this season for us.”
The reality of leaving Goodison is truly setting in for Evertonians now. In a matter of weeks, the ground will be a memory.
Celebrating all that it represents the group’s aim for their last display. They want to champion players of all eras, uniting supporters of all generations.
“It all works and he’s (Mike) done one hell of a job”, Katie says. “We thought of all of these iconic moments over the years at Goodison, I sent them to Mike and asked if he could put them together for me. That’s what Mike’s come up with.
“There’s something there for Evertonians of all ages. Richarlison with the flare, Alan Ball, Neville Southall sitting on the post, Ray Wilson, Duncan with his shirt off, Cahill on the pile, Kev The Tat (Kevin Ratcliffe) with the league, league champions in 1987, there are so many different things on it. You’ve got the Cannonball Kid (Dave Hickson) at the end.
“There are so many more you could have put on but you couldn’t have fit them all on it. You could’ve gone on forever ideally but we’ve picked some of the most iconic images that relate to different generations who will be in the ground.
“It will be at the side of the goal at the Gwladys. We’ve also got another one at the other side of the goal which is every single trophy we’ve won while at Goodison – obviously we’ve got one trophy which isn’t on it because we won that at Anfield.”
Leaving Goodison will be a wrench for all Blues. Though a bright new future awaits at Bramley-Moore, saying goodbye won’t be easy and there are plenty of little quirks about the old ground that Katie will miss.
She says: “This place is unique. There’s nowhere like it. There’s nowhere like this place in the country or in the world, there’s nowhere like it at all. It shakes when you score, it physically moves.
“You’ve got wooden seats, you’ve got posts everywhere, the clicks of the seats, the banging on the floor when you get a corner, it reminds you of when you’re a kid.
“They’re the best bits, that’s Goodison. There are so many things that you’re going to miss when we leave.
“You haven’t got wooden seats, you haven’t got those clicking noises, but you’re going to find your own new way. Our own new way. We’ll never ever forget this place because this is what has made the club.
“We’ve got to go and do better in the new place. We’ve been great here for so many years but that’s halted. We need to go and make sure that’s back and where we’re going is right.”
Despite the sadness that comes with moving on, Katie is proud of what she and the group have achieved in Goodison’s final years. Speaking as the club’s walkout song plays over the ground’s speakers, she reflects on the 1878s’ work and reiterates her desire for Saturday’s display to be the pick of the bunch.
She explains: “This (Z-Cars) has just come on, when you hear that and you see the display in full flow and you’re in the mix of it, it gives you a sense of pride.
“We’re made up that we’ve had the honour and the privilege to be able to do this. We’re very, very lucky to be able to have done what we’ve done.
“We’ll hopefully take this on into the new ground. We’ve got one last dance here and we need to make sure it’s the best we’ve done.
“Let’s go and create an iconic image that’s going to live in memories forever, will be on walls, screensavers, let’s look back and when you think of Goodison, what do you think of, we hope that we give this place the send off it absolutely deserves.
“No other ground deserves it more than this.”
