The reason Everton requested the final game of next season was NOT at Goodison Park

Everton asked that the final game of the club’s last season at Goodison Park would not be at home.

The ECHO understands the Blues submitted the request to the Premier League as part of club efforts to ensure the Grand Old Lady gets the send off it deserves.

The final round of matches all take place at the same time on the same day - for next season that will be 4pm on Sunday, May 25. This would have created the potential for the Goodison farewell to have been lost in competing storylines at both ends of the Premier League. It also would have meant the attention of the wider footballing world would have been split by games being broadcast simultaneously, as is now common on the last day of the campaign,

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Hoping to avoid this, and to do everything possible to ensure Goodison’s final match is the showpiece spectacle that gets the recognition and coverage it deserves, Everton chiefs approached the Premier League with the request to play away on the last day.

That has been granted, with the Blues concluding their season at Newcastle United. As a result, the final league game at Goodison will be against Southampton on the weekend of May 18, with every effort being made to ensure it is a stand alone game that gives one of football’s most famous venues the send-off it deserves after 133 incredible years.