Evertonians saluted the past before Saturday’s game against Bournemouth but a 2-0 defeat ensures that Blues must now look to the future and the hope of a brand new dawn for the club at Bramley-Moore Dock. The loss means that the visit of the Cherries was Goodison Park’s last FA Cup tie, some 132 years after her first.

That inaugural FA Cup game on Saturday January 21, 1893, saw Everton defeat West Bromwich Albion 4-1 in front of a crowd of 23,867 – almost 10,000 more spectators than had watched the same two sides meet in a Division One fixture at Goodison Park the previous weekend. It goes without saying that the world was a very different place back then – that same month the Independent Labour Party had its first meeting in Bradford under chairman Keir Hardie while the Prime Minister was William Gladstone, born in Liverpool in 1809 and by now in his fourth and final term in office.

As for the Blues’ upstart neighbours across Stanley Park... They were on their way to winning the Lancashire League in front of gates of just two-to-four thousand at Anfield but had already been knocked out of the FA Cup 2-1 by Northwich Victoria at the third qualifying round stage on November 19.

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That Everton side, who finished third in the league, would make their way through to their first FA Cup final that year and were favourites to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers but missed out on the trophy as they lost 1-0 at Fallowfield athletics stadium in Manchester. The first purpose-built football ground in England, Goodison Park was so impressive though, the following season it became the first Football League venue to stage the FA Cup final as Notts County defeated Bolton Wanderers 4-1 in 1894’s showpiece game.

When she was just shy of her 18th birthday, the ground that would later be dubbed ‘The Grand Old Lady’ also hosted another FA Cup final when Newcastle United overcame Barnsley 2-0 in the 1910 replay. After losing five finals in a row in London, perhaps the Magpies might have a better chance of ending their near 70-year domestic silverware drought if they requested that their Carabao Cup clash with Arne Slot’s Liverpool be switched from Wembley to Goodison?

Goodison also hosted 10 semi-finals, a quarter-final ‘replay’ in 1974 – again won by Newcastle United against Nottingham Forest after their initial victory at St James’ Park was declared null and void due to a riot – a trio of first round ties involving smaller Merseyside clubs and even a Manchester United ‘home’ tie against Liverpool which attracted a bigger crowd than the Reds have ever drawn for a game in the city! However, it was Everton’s FA Cup heroes who were rightly honoured by the Blues’ supporters before what proved to be Goodison’s final tie.

Incredible work by fan group the 1878s ensured the Park End was a riot of colour and powerful imagery before kick-off. Each one of the five occasions that Everton have won the competition was honoured.

From 1906, there was match-winner Alex Young (‘Sandy’ rather than his later ‘Golden Vision’ compatriot who graced Goodison in the 1960s). From Everton’s triumph on their first Wembley trip in 1933, captain and goalscorer in a 3-0 rout of Manchester City, Dixie Dean.

From the 1966 3-2 comeback against Sheffield Wednesday, match-winner Derek Temple, manager Harry Catterick, skipper Brian Labone, Colin Harvey and even iconic pitch invader Eddie Cavanagh. From 1984 when the victors told Watford chairman Elton John ‘I guess that’s why they call us the Blues,’ captain Kevin Ratcliffe, manager Howard Kendall plus John Bailey’s iconic oversized top hat.

And from 1995, manager Joe Royle, captain Dave Watson, match-winner Paul Rideout plus team-mates Barry Horne, Graham Stuart, Daniel Amokachi, a blue nose-wearing Duncan Ferguson and of course, the late Gary Ablett, a Scouser who made history as the only play to lift the trophy with both Everton and Liverpool.

Defeat also means that the lengthiest silverware drought in the Blues’ history will now extend into a 31st year. While David Moyes’ men had an Iliman Ndiaye header cleared off the line and hit the post three times in the second half, in truth Bournemouth kept them at arm’s length to defeat them for the third time this season.

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The Cherries cannot come close to emulating Everton’s proud football pedigree or illustrious past but right now in 2025, the sobering fact is that they are currently a far more accomplished outfit. Andoni Iraola’s side play in a stadium with a smaller capacity than the south stand at the Blues’ future home and given that this is just their eighth season in the top flight, they have less Premier League experience than Moyes possesses personally, but the 61-year-old finds himself looking to steer his side clear of relegation danger while his Basque counterpart is pushing for European football.

After enduring the turmoil of the Farhad Moshiri years though, the recent rise of the likes of Bournemouth and fellow south coast outfit Brighton & Hove Albion, a couple of clubs without a major honour between them, should act as an inspiration to Everton though over what they can potentially achieve under Moyes and The Friedkin Group, playing with a new-look team in front of the biggest regular crowds in their history by the banks of the Mersey. A paragraph in the club’s appeal against its initial 10-point deduction last season for a PSR breach revealed matchday revenues at Goodison Park ranked a lowly 18th in the Premier League, so for all the tears that will be shed in May when the Blues move on, in reality the switch is long overdue when it comes to competing against the game’s modern elite.

Despite this setback, Moyes though knows how to harness the power of Goodison. Writing in his programme notes a week earlier for the game against Leicester City, he said: “Last time we were here against Tottenham, people have told me that for 45 minutes Goodison felt like a very different place to how it has been.

“We are not here for too much longer now and I think it's important that we all play our part in the next few months. Some weeks it will be enough, other weeks it may not be, but we will guarantee we will do everything we can to give this great stadium the send off it deserves.”

And therein lies the rub. Moyes knows that with this limited side, he is not always going to get the results everyone wants, but together, with the supporters, they can do enough.

There were a smattering of boos from home fans at half-time when Everton went in 2-0 down but although they were unable to make inroads on that deficit after the interval, the Blues were still applauded off the pitch on the final whistle, beaten but unbowed. That united front between the manager, the players and those in the stands can get them over the line over the remaining 14 fixtures of this historic season – starting with last-ever Merseyside Derby at Goodison on Wednesday night.