I never lost at home to Liverpool as an Everton player - but latest derby win was off the scale

“You walk up that tunnel and you hear the fans. Then there is the roar when you come out. You can feel the hairs on the back of your neck stick up - that is my abiding memory because that is one thing I know I can never ever do again, and that is something that I will always love to be able to do one more time.”

Graham Stuart fell in love with Goodison Park before he fell in love with Everton. He had always respected the Blues having grown up watching the legendary side of Peter Reid and Graeme Sharp. But he only began to understand them on a midweek December night in 1992 when he stepped out under the lights in L4 with Chelsea for a League Cup game.

“I managed to score at the Park End”, he tells the ECHO while sat behind the goal where he grabbed the late equaliser in a 2-2 draw. “I remember that night, under the lights.

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“For me, playing at the old Chelsea with the greyhound track around the side, the proximity of the stands to the pitch was huge and that was why I loved playing at the likes of Goodison. It felt special, even more so with it being a night game. There is something about playing under the lights at Goodison.”

The Grand Old Lady left such an impression on him that, when Howard Kendall called him the following summer, there was no hesitation about swapping the capital for Merseyside.

Stuart was 22 at the time and had played barely any of pre-season with Chelsea. That, combined with some homesickness, led to him struggling at first. Missing a good opportunity on his home debut did not help - he still thinks about slicing that chance.

Another factor in his slow start was the sense of awe that struck him on arrival. He recalled: “All of a sudden it dawns on you what football means in this city. I am not suggesting anyone down in London is not passionate about their football club but when you get up on Merseyside and feel the atmosphere around here - it is everything. There is no hiding place and the quicker you get your head around that the better, especially if you are not from the area.”

Given there was no hiding place it was useful for Stuart that he felt his ‘safe space’ was actually on the pitch. That was certainly where he made his mark. Of his more than two dozen goals across five seasons at Everton there is little doubt of the most important.

Stuart held his nerve from the spot with Everton 2-0 down at home to Wimbledon on the final day of the 1993/94 season and looking set for relegation from the Premier League. Following Barry Horne’s stunning equaliser it was Stuart who sealed a poignant, survival-clinching win.

Twelve months later he would have had a goal to rival those for importance but for the woodwork that prevented him from giving Everton the lead against Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Fortunately for Stuart and Everton the rebound fell to Paul Rideout and the rest is history.

That was at Wembley, of course. Asked for his favourite memory of Goodison as he reflected on its final season, he paused, then said: “Very rarely do you get an afternoon where everything falls into place and goes your way but we battered Southampton 7-1 here [in November 1996]. Gary Speed, bless him, scored a hat trick. We have lost Gary now but to know I played in that game when he scored that hat-trick and we scored seven goals is a fantastic memory for me. That was one game.

“The Wimbledon game is always going to jump out for obvious reasons. We've had the conversation one million and one times about what could have happened and what very nearly happened - how we got out of that and came through it was amazing.

“Then there were the derby games - I was fortunate enough never to be involved in a home defeat to Liverpool. They were fantastic nights. They were pretty good then Liverpool, but they were a 'nice' side, and we were pretty good against nice sides.”

Of his more recent experiences, Stuart of course highlights April’s emphatic home win over Liverpool as a core memory - not just because of the opponent but for what the result signified, the 2-0 win effectively guaranteeing survival.

He said: “The atmosphere was off the scale. I would love a few of them before we bow out. It was brilliant because then all of a sudden you could relax and know that even though they [the Premier League] have taken eight points off us, Everton have still dug in, we have all stuck together again with that 'we shall not be moved mentality'.

“That is what I have always loved about Everton and that is what I have always loved about the supporters, they are die hard - whatever you throw in front of us you are not going to shake us off and we are always going to overcome.”

Stuart watched that game, as he now does every match, from the stands. As a club ambassador he is a constant presence and his role means he has intimate knowledge of Goodison as both player and fan.

It has changed his outlook, particularly over the relegation battles of recent years - battles that have seen, like he experienced as a player, survival go down to the final home game of the campaign.

He said: “My appreciation of what the supporters go through is better than it was. I sit in the stands now and it always dawns on me that I can't do anything to impact what is happening, I am one of us now and I have to go through the turmoil - I can feel the pain supporters would have gone through against Wimbledon for instance. The good thing for me was back then I had the chance to do something about it. Now all I can do is scream them on - like they did for me.”