Everton to spend £1m on Goodison improvements

About £1m is being spent on preparing Goodison Park for the start of the Women's Super League season in September, according to one of the club's senior officials.

Colin Chong, Everton's stadium development director, said the ground would have "a new lease of life" when it became the home of the women's team.

The men's squad bid an emotional farewell to the 133-year-old stadium in May ahead of its move to a 53,000-seater arena at Bramley-Moore Dock.

The club confirmed in May it no longer planned to demolish Goodison Park and would reconfigure it instead, with upper stands covered in the women's team branding.

The women's team average attendance has been 2,062 at their previous home in Walton Hall Park and Everton have previously said they are keen to make Goodison, which has a capacity of 39,572, into "an intimate, atmospheric arena".

Phase one of the transition will include stadium changes to improve the matchday experience and more adequate facilities for the start of the season, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Chong told the Local Government Association conference in Liverpool that the club intended to invest in Goodison "over a period of time" and would seek external investment to the tune of "tens of millions of pounds".

He said the aim was that the stadium – long known as the Grand Old Lady - could become "a centre of excellence" for women's football.

The Blues' charity Everton in the Community would also operate out of the Goodison Park in the future, he added.

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