“There are people who have come here and said: 'I wasn’t interested in football but you have changed me'.”
Those are the words of Lily Barnes, gatekeeper to the history of Goodison Park. The 78-year-old has worked at the famous stadium for decades and, in her current role, taken thousands through the storied corridors of the Grand Old Lady.
As Everton prepares for a new future on the waterfront, demand for ground tours has rocketed as supporters clamour for one last peak behind the scenes. Those who do are likely to fall under Lily’s spell - or that of her grandaughter and fellow lifelong Blue, Elle Barnes-Reen. The pair must be among Everton’s most impressive partnerships and together they have - and continue - to reveal the magic of one of football’s most legendary homes.
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For Lily, the chance to tell the stories of Goodison Park is a privilege. Her pleasure stems from the smiles on the faces of supporters young and old as they are captivated by their journey through Everton’s history. Rarely does a tour go by, for instance, when a fan fails to become teary as they experience one of the highlights - walking up the players’ tunnel to the sound of Z-Cars.
Her pleasure comes from the reactions across the experience, whether that be the tunnel walk or a trip through the dressing rooms or elsewhere on the tour: “It’s great. I feel so proud that we have done something for them that only took a couple of minutes.”
Lily’s favourite tale is Everton’s origin story: “The start of Everton from Everton Village, right back from the very beginning, St Domingo Church and how the football started on Stanley Park… That story is my baby. There is so much you can tell about the ground, how the pitch is looked after and where the home fans are seated and where the away fans are. It’s amazing and I could just go on and on.”
Delivered in the media room - where Frank Lampard and the visiting managers hold their press conferences after each game, she takes the heightened position of the manager as she speaks, looking down on the guests sat where the journalists would be pitching their questions from.
That is her favourite part of the tour - though it has not always been the case. In the past Lily’s great love was the boardroom, a place that crackled with atmosphere, though it was not always open to her tours before its conversion into a hospitality area. On more than one occasion Lily had to quietly lead people away from the room after watching managers and players get there first - sometimes on their way to be sacked or sign contracts.
With much of Everton’s staff split across Finch Farm and the Liver Building, most of the drama at Goodison takes place on matchdays now. That does, at least, make planning tours easier. But it has not ended the involvement of players - some of whom have tours with their families when they sign for the club. And visiting Goodison and learning about the history of Everton is a rite of passage for academy youngsters, many of whom Lily has taken around the stadium - sometimes keeping in touch with families and their starlets after getting to know them while leading their experience.
Asked how it feels to take visitors through the history of the club she loves, Lily said: “I couldn’t think of anything better. People say ‘don’t you get fed up?’ I say: 'No. Never'. I could go on and on and on. I give a talk about of 15 minutes on Dixie Dean and I could keep you in there for two and a half hours if I told you everything I knew. It keeps me going. And there are times when people come around and say ‘you know what, when I was at the game in 1940-something and this happened’, and I think, ‘that’s worth taking down’. So you learn little bits more even when people come in."
Lily once worked with Everton legend Dean - though it was before she responded to an advert for casual hospitality work that she saw at the ground while attending a match in 1979. Just over a decade earlier she had worked alongside him at a Littlewoods site in Birkenhead. She said: “If I’d have known what I know now, I’d have talked and talked to him. He was a lovely man. Even in his history he never got sent off, never got spoken to by the referee, just a perfect player and a perfect gentleman.” Lily uses similar words to describe her favourite player of the current squad - club captain Seamus Coleman.
Her first role at Goodison came after responding to that advert in 1979, but it was almost 20 years later when she left Littlewoods and went full-time at the ground, working her way across several roles before helping with the stadium tours. Being so closely involved with the club she grew up supporting still fills the season ticket holder with joy. Recalling her early Everton memories, she said: “When I was a child my grandmother was an Evertonian. On a Saturday night, if Everton won, the table would be set with a blue and white tablecloth, and the cakes, and all the goodies, and if they got beat - don’t bother. Every Saturday night, if Everton won, we would have a feast - all the kids would be around eating cakes.”
At one point, Lily’s daughter worked with Everton but now it is grandaughter Elle who has followed in her footsteps, the 26-year-old first getting involved with the club while she studied at John Moores University.
Having since risen to become tour and events manager, Goodison Park is as much Elle’s first home as it is her second. She told the ECHO: “It’s just the Everton family. You feel so looked after. When I first came my nan looked after me, she introduced me to a few people and Graeme Sharp, Graham Stuart, Ian Snodin, they were just amazing and they really did look after me. I’m just part of the family and furniture here now but you never take it for granted - it doesn’t matter how much people look after you, every day is a blessing. Walking down that tunnel is special - it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand whether I walk down it once a day or 50 times in a day.”
Elle’s favourite part of the tour comes just after the tunnel walk, she explained: “It’s definitely pitchside and behind the dugout where the stadium announcer sits. You can take in the whole of Goodison and you are looking at the Bullens Road and the work of Archibald Leitch and the old stand and the authenticity of that, I think that’s definitely one of the best places.”
Goodison has retained its magic for both Lily and Elle and they remain eager to ensure they can help others enjoy the stadium’s aura before the move to Bramley-Moore. Both support the move, but are aware they will be heartbroken when Everton leaves Goodison.
Elle said: “We just want everyone to have the best experience and to tailor it to them. The script, as such, and the places that we show them are the same every week but everyone’s experience should be their own and have that personal touch. I think that’s the Everton way in general. You can show anyone a stadium, you can show anyone the history books, but we want to give everyone an experience that is tailored to them.”
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