Was hoping to be totally knocked out by the whole experience yesterday but sadly I wasn’t.

We got the Northern line train to Sandhills from the Southport direction. Getting out of Sandhills and away from it wasn’t too bad. We got there about 12:30pm.

Just over a 10 min walk to the ground. We walked around all sides that were open to get a feel. Everton Way was shut so it was a restricted walkway. I got a sense the overall size of the footprint of the ground when full to capacity might be a tight squeeze.

Also how many entrance gates at the front are there? Hopefully enough to get a full stadium away safely and quickly after a match.

I wanted to be totally knocked out when I went inside and viewed the pitch and stands but sadly I wasn’t. I know the stadium needs dressing inside and out and it will look much different full but I know I will miss the character of the stands that Goodison has. It felt generic and a little soulless to me upon initial first viewing. I know it will change but I just hoped to be “wowed” more than I was.

We were sat in Lower East Stand. We have season tickets in Club View in the Upper East are f the halfway line so hopefully will get a different feel and perspective from there.

I didn’t like how the North End looked given it being much smaller than the rest of the stands. It felt out of context with the rest of it. I think the view from their as opposed to looking at it will be much better as a whole.

The concourses definitely need some dressing to get an “Everton” feel and I’m sure that will happen.

I think we’ve made a huge mistake giving the away fans such a prominent position for the TV cameras. When they score at the North end we’re gonna see them bouncing all over our TV’s.

Don’t know if there are rules about them having to be near pitch level, maybe that influenced it but seeing them now during the game will be a huge difference as we don’t see them at Goodison.

We left just before halftime and can’t 100% judge getting away from Sandhills as there was an incident on the line which meant we waited a while in a queue for the first train which we managed to get on. Apparently the trains afterwards were still subject to delays.

I get a feeling that people will be getting away from the match early to avoid the queues getting out the stadium and then back home when it is at full capacity.

Sun shining in August and for the first proper game I am sure it will look great.

It’s the winter months in harsher weather that are a concern and the walk back into town or the queues for trains from Sandhills. I hope that doesn’t dull the experience for match goers.

Not trying to be negative on purpose, I just wanted to feel something more than I did upon first experience and viewing.

Everything I’ve read and hear so far about the stadium itself has been mostly positive. I hope we can somehow make it feel less “generic” inside to me but I guess I just need to adjust to the new surroundings better!