Joe Thomas is the Everton FC correspondent for the Liverpool ECHO. He follows the Blues home and away, providing match reports, analysis and insight into events at Goodison Park, Finch Farm and beyond. Joe spent more than a decade covering news on Merseyside, working on award-winning investigations and extensively covering matters related to the Hillsborough tragedy – including the recent criminal prosecutions. Always grateful for tips and feedback, he can be contacted at joe.thomas@reachplc.com and on Twitter via @joe_thomas18
A general view outside Goodison Park of an Everton badge
A general view outside Goodison Park of an Everton badge(Image: Getty Images Europe)
“I am the kind of person who likes to go a little bit under the radar,” Ornella Vignola said before laughing nervously as she shifted from foot to foot. She knows how ridiculous her hope of quietly bedding herself in at her new club now sounds.
Goodison Park is a grand stage waiting for fresh heroes to emerge in its maiden season as the official home of Everton Women. The Grand Old Lady is yet to host a Women’s Super League match in this new era and yet the 20-year-old has already ascended to the status of legend. Even if she failed to play another minute in Royal Blue, her star will never lose its lustre. A hat-trick in a Merseyside derby, at the home of your fiercest rivals, will have that effect. That it happened on her debut only adds another layer to a wonderful story.
Four days later, Vignola remained unable to escape the limelight. As she stood on the hallowed turf of Goodison Park ahead of the first home match of a promising future, the cameras, the reporters and the supporters remained transfixed on a player who is aware she often comes across as shy.
The Spain Under-23s international performed heroics wearing the number 18 – the same worn by Jack Grealish since he signed for David Moyes’ side last month. Together, they have lit up both sides of the club with their dazzling impact. Like Moyes, Everton Women manager Brian Sorensen also welcomed nine new faces over a summer in which the Blues embarked on what is hoped to be an on-the-pitch transformation that will match the makeover achieved off it.
Ruby Mace, an England international, was the final piece of the jigsaw for Sorensen. Even before she knew of Everton’s interest, she was aware of the landmark decision to hand Goodison to the women’s side. It was a statement not just of intent and ambition, but also of commitment and stability – an approach valued by the players fighting to help their side of the sport continue to progress.
“They could have just sold this and got so much money for it,” the 21-year-old tells the ECHO, “but instead they gave it to the women and I think that’s a massive thing in women’s football and especially for Everton to show that everyone in their club is backing the women. “There’s a project here and I want to be a part of that and give my all to this club and this badge.”
Such commitment is of no surprise to Sorensen. After several years of battling Everton’s wider financial problems to keep his team respectable, the prospect of playing at Goodison has finally given him something to sell in his pitch to targets. Unsurprisingly, the stadium has been a powerful tool.
He said: “Of course we used that. Goodison is such a magical place and it was something that I of course told agents and players – this is the plan, this is what we do – because what I think a lot of female players are looking for is that stability and support from ownership.
“A lot of them buy into projects, they say: ‘OK this is how it looks like over the next couple of seasons.’ We don’t pay the highest salary in this league by a mile, we’re far from that, but we can deliver something unique in terms of an exciting project and we can deliver something with our way of playing that they buy into.”
The move to set Goodison aside for Everton Women will have positive consequences that extend far beyond football. For Everton in the Community, who have also moved part of their setup into the stadium, it represents a major opportunity to highlight some of their most important initiatives, particularly surrounding the charity’s strategy to support women and girls.
Speaking from pitchside, as players from the women’s team took part in activities with dozens of schoolchildren in front of the Gwladys Street, CEO Sue Gregory explained:
“These are exciting times at Everton now. That amazing new stadium has given us some amazing opportunities with great people coming into the city. And then the double whammy is having this as our women’s home, which allows us then to scope out and really put the emphasis on our women and girls strategy. We’re having a real focus on girls and this is an ideal place to say come and take part in sport, because a lot of girls drop out of sport aroun
