Everton's move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium was meant to be a fresh start, but the transport issue around Sandhills has become part of the story. More than 600 supporters responded to a survey about post-match experiences there, about half reported a poor experience and roughly 30% said they had felt vulnerable or unsafe on a matchday. Steve Rotheram has now said there is "no easy solution".

Sandhills capacity is under strain

The scale is hard to ignore. About 20,000 matchday rail journeys currently pass through Sandhills for Everton home fixtures, with up to 11,000 passengers travelling through the station before games and between 6,000 and 8,000 afterwards. Officials from Merseyrail have said Network Rail's signalling infrastructure limits the ability to increase services beyond the 24 to 28 trains per hour currently operating.

That leaves the station experience doing a lot of heavy lifting on matchdays. Fans have complained about queues, accessibility problems and a lack of toilets, while Rob Galkoff said the discussion with the mayor was productive but the underlying travel concerns remain unresolved. He also said: "Tickets are expensive. The whole day out is an event and an experience."

Everton's strong start keeps demand high

The transport frustration is landing while Everton are seventh in the Premier League after five games and have 9 points from their opening five league matches. They are unbeaten in that run, with 6 goals scored and 3 conceded, so the pull of the new ground is not being reduced by results on the pitch.

Galkoff also said: "We want people to bring their children and their grandchildren to games, and we want them to stay to the end." That is the problem Sandhills now has to solve, and it is part of the new-stadium picture whether the club likes it or not.

Rotheram's line about squeezing more capacity out of what is already there is as far as the public answer has gone so far. Liverpool fans heading to future Everton home games will be watching for any practical change at Sandhills, starting with the next round of fixtures.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →