Moshiri’s one positive legacy should be celebrated, even though the £750m-£800m project came close to sinking Everton at times: £55m of that sum was spent preserving and restoring heritage works at Bramley-Moore, including the original dock walls that remain under the stadium, the railway tracks that carried coal to steamships on the Mersey and the Grade II-listed hydraulic tower that forms a symbolic part of a 17,000-capacity outdoor plaza.
Future quiz question answers: Everton’s Demi Akarakiri kicked the first ball and Wigan’s Harrison Rimmer scored the first goal at Everton Stadium.
Everton went through two failed stadium projects at King’s Dock and Kirkby, plus a proposal that never really got off the ground at Walton Hall Park, before settling on this site in the early years of Farhad Moshiri’s ownership.
Wigan’s visit was the first of three test events required for Everton to obtain the licence and safety certificate to operate at 52,888 capacity next season.
Architecturally, Everton Stadium is the most striking, ambitious addition to the Liverpool waterfront since the Three Graces were built in the early 1900s.
