'I couldn’t stop shaking' - Stadium artist's hand was trembling as he met Everton icon

Artist Andy Brown travelled to Merseyside to paint Goodison Park before Everton's move to their new stadium

Andy Brown has toured the world painting sports stadia but admits his pilgrimage to Goodison Park to capture Everton’s home ahead of the club’s move to their new stadium left his hands trembling. Essex-based Brown – who is currently painting cricket grounds in India as the official IPL artist for the 2025 season – travelled to Merseyside on the weekend of the Blues’ most-recent fixture against West Ham United.

His exploits have seen him paint more than 150 sporting venues live in over 20 countries, with subjects as varied as sumo wrestling to baseball. During lockdown, the Tottenham Hotspur fan painted all of the Premier League’s stadiums remotely but with Everton now preparing to depart the first purpose-built football ground for their 52,888 capacity future home on the Mersey waterfront, he was determined to make his first trip to ‘The Grand Old Lady.’

Brown told the ECHO: “This is the sad end of Goodison Park. It’s been there since 1892.

“The series I did on the Premier League stadiums was during covid. Prior to that, I’d lived in South Korea for 10 years, I’d painted all the baseball stadiums there plus Taiwan, and then I went over to the United States to do the 30 MLB stadiums and ended up in Mexico and Cuba.

“I came back to the UK in March 2020 and then of course everything shut down. My whole industry had died.

“I thought: ‘Blimey. How am I going to keep painting live sport when there is none?’

“I went onto Google Earth, find an interesting angle and paint it. Everyone was doing stuff on Zoom at the time from remote offices.

“But my work is all about being out in the elements, on location, experiencing the local surroundings, the weather and the smells. I want to capture that as authentically as possible.”

Brown’s original Goodison Park painting was taken from the view by the Dixie Dean statue outside the Park End but after getting in touch with the ECHO, this correspondent suggested his in the flesh rendering be done from the corner of the Gwladys Street and Goodison Road, to take in the Holy Trinity statue and St Luke’s Church.

While finishing off his project on St Patrick’s Day, Brown was paid a visit by another globetrotter, iconic Everton superfan Dr David France who has travelled over two million miles attending Blues matches having been based in North America for the past 48 years.

Dr France sold his 10,000-item collection of Everton memorabilia to the club at a heavily discounted price so it could be kept for posterity while also founding the Everton Former Players’ Foundation to raise money for the physical and pastoral care of ex-professionals who have represented the club.

A keen art collector, the 76-year-old, who lives in Arizona, observed Brown’s work after he had finished making a film for the Everton FC Heritage Society at the nearby Winslow Hotel before offering an invite to join him for a drink.

With staff at William Hill minding Brown’s canvas and easel, sat in the unassuming surroundings of Mike’s Kitchen cafe on County Road, the artist was wowed by Dr France producing Alex Young’s 1966 FA Cup winners’ medal, one of Brian Labone’s England caps and tickets for the 1966 World Cup final from his bag. Brown told the ECHO: “I couldn’t stop shaking holding those World Cup tickets. It was the coffee of a lifetime!”

Thankfully, he was able to keep a steady enough hand to finish his painting and copies can now be ordered from his website if you click here.