After 133 years, false dawns and almost lost hope, Everton finally made the leap from Goodison Park to the incredible Hill Dickinson Stadium on the banks of the Mersey. The new stadium – which can hold more than 52,000 raucous fans on matchday – has already begun to make its mark.

The Blues won their opening game against Brighton and Hove Albion, Jack Grealish bundled in a last minute winner to end Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run and it even held its first non-football event already, with Rugby League coming to town with the Ashes series. There are plans to develop the infrastructure around the Toffees’ new home in the coming years.

Getting to the ground has been a major sticking point for some fans however, with transport continuing to be a dominant topic with supporters, businesses and residents. A new parking zone was paused earlier this year following a backlash from businesses and residents over the impact of the scheme.

Fans heading to the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium in October | Matt McNulty/Getty Images

placeholder image — Fans heading to the Premier League match between Everton and Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium in October | Matt McNulty/Getty Images

Under the scheme, more than 4,000 residents and 3,000 businesses have been asked to apply for the relevant parking permits to comply with what is called an Experimental Traffic Order (ETRO). The ETRO will run for an initial 18 month period.

After consultation with representatives from those living and working around the Hill Dickinson Stadium footprint, the city council changed the operation of the parking zone in time for the final test event in August. Some business owners warned that the original measures could lead to closures, prompting dozens to protest at Blackstock Market in March and urge the council to reconsider.

Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, gave his assessment of how things had gone since the scheme was adopted. He said: “I think we’re getting a lot more positive feedback because we’re taking that opportunity to understand the granular details of different businesses, different residents and how those different streets work.

“We’ll keep on working because over the next decade and beyond, this part of the city is going to continue to transform. We’re going to have to keep being quite dynamic about it.

“I think also as well, I’m very conscious on match days and obviously it’s different, but there’s not a match. Almost for the next couple of seasons, every different match day or events at the stadium would almost be a bit of a unique event because match day habits haven’t quite fully formed yet and that’s no bad thing.”

The bulk of fans getting to the new ground have used the Merseyrail network, which has faced a variety of challenges. In a bid to deal with the large number of users at the station on the edge of the city centre, plans were announced for a new footbridge to smooth the flow of passengers.

Initially there had been a target for new infrastructure ahead of the European Championships in 2028 with Everton’s new stadium one of the host venues. Merseyrail has expedited the delivery of the scheme, with the majority of the new bridge installed on site in just two days. In November last year it was confirmed that the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority would provide £4.2m for what was referred to as the Stanley Dock Rail Access (Sandhills Station) project.

This included wider plans for what has become the new footbridge, as well as new landscaping, the installation of a fan management zone and wider improvements.

Many people challenged Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram on why a new platform couldn’t be installed at the station, to which he pointed out the island nature of its location. Merseyrail officials admitted before the start of the season that the “variable nature” of kick off times will prove a challenge.

This wasn’t helped by Merseytravel laying down something of a misguided piece of advice in the summer – albeit well intentioned. Taking to social media, they posted: “Heading to the Everton v AS Roma double-header this weekend?

“Everton Stadium is just 30 mins walk from Moorfields station – a great opportunity to get your steps in for the day and soak up the atmosphere for the big game!” This naturally prompted a backlash from Blues fans who mocked the post, even asking if the Metro Mayor and Liverpool fan Mr Rotheram would be taking part in the walk.

Cllr Robinson said he and city region leaders would continue to learn from what has come in the opening months of the season but had taken heart from discussions with fan groups. He said: “I had a really good positive meeting with Everton’s fan advisory board, working through all of those different issues and they’ve noticed a lot of improvements on the public transport network.

“They are working with us, giving suggestions about some of the road closure elements, which obviously the vast majority of those are for safety reasons. Equally, we’ve got to kind of tweak that to keep the city still sort of flowing, operating and running so I think kind of it very much is still that learning process.

“Overall, I think the implementation of the new stadium has been a positive thing and it’s been great for the city and the wide region, but of course, we’ll continue to step through all of those different aspects.”