Australian Teenager Travels for Final Goodison Park Merseyside Derby

An Australian teenager, passionate about football, expressed that attending the final Premier League Merseyside derby between his favored club Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park would be exceptionally “special.” Mackenzie, a Sydney resident, informed his mother, who was born in Liverpool, of his desire to be present at the derby during Everton’s concluding season at the venue. Rita recounted to BBC Radio Merseyside that she had told her 15-year-old son in March: “You’ve got no chance mate, we’ve just come back from England and there’s no way I can save that money in the time we’ve got.” Undiscouraged, Mackenzie accumulated his own funds and recently made a two-week journey back, arriving in time to witness Everton defeat his father’s club, Wolves, by a score of 4-0 on Wednesday. “Everyone says I’m a lucky charm,” the teenager stated, expressing his strong desire for Everton to secure three additional Premier League points against Liverpool on Saturday. Everton, known as the Toffeemen, have been based at Goodison Park since 1892 and are scheduled to relocate to their new 52,888-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock next season. Mackenzie conveyed that he was genuinely “looking forward” to the match against Liverpool. “I am sure it’s going to be special,” he remarked. Rita, who chose to remain in Australia after visiting as a backpacker for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, stated: “When we came back [after Easter], he said it was his dream to go to an Everton v Liverpool game at Goodison Park.” She continued, “He saved up the money, used all his savings and said two weeks ago ‘I’d really like to go mum – will you let me go?'” “I said I can’t stop you if you’ve got the money. We’re very proud of him.” Mackenzie, currently residing with his aunt, mentioned that he could have allocated his savings towards purchasing a car but “loved” returning to Liverpool. For more content, listeners can access the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Story ideas can also be submitted to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding their approach to external linking is available.