Welcome to 2026. Everton are bothering the top half of the Premier League table with a squad of talented, exciting players in a stunning new waterfront stadium and it promises to be a good year for David Moyes’ Toffees.
The club is very much still a work in progress on the field as they recover from the mismanagement of recent years, but there is also plenty going on off the pitch too.
We have picked four of the most exciting potential projects that could transform the match day experience for fans in 2026 and beyond.
Completion of the Grade II-listed Hydraulic Tower
The 1883 Hydraulic Tower at the north end of the Fan Plaza is a Grade II-listed building that has been painstakingly restored by Everton as part of the stadium build. Once the engine room that powered dock operations, it has become a striking but unused part of the match day experience since Everton moved into their new home.
Everton have sympathetically replaced the historic windows, added a new timber roof structure, and have sourced bricks to refurbish the old station master’s office inside the building.
The original plans for the tower were for a cultural hub, exhibition space, and café. However, the Hill Dickinson Stadium website and a hospitality provider has started to list it as an ‘exclusive event space’ that can be booked for premium experiences on match days, which could signal a slight change of use when it opens this year.
That would be a shame, as a cafe and exhibition space would give more fans access to the tower and allow for a space to Everton to showcase memorabilia, historic items and art in the absence of an on-site stadium museum.
Hill Dickinson Stadium statues
The plans for Hill Dickinson Stadium originally included two spaces for statues at the stadium. They can be spotted at the end of small tiled plinths extending from the side of the East Stand near gates 16 and 19 respectively.
The small on-tiled area at the ends are designed to feature statues. The club has already ruled out moving the Dixie Dean and Holy Trinity statues from Goodison Park and there will be plenty of debate about who would warrant the honour at the new stadium.
An individual Howard Kendall statue would make sense as he is the club’s most successful manager ever. Kevin Ratcliffe, who captained the club’s most successful side, or Joe Royle, who won major honours as a player and manager, would also be in consideration.
Neville Southall would also be a popular choice. He has been shunned by the club for too long and his incredible history with the club, which included multiple trophies as the best goalkeeper in the world, deserve more recognition. The famous image of him sitting against the goal posts would make a unique statue.
The next 12 months could also potentially see the club name one of more of the stands at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. The standard North, South, East and West stands are quite generic.
Stands are often named after previous owners but with Sir Phillip Carter already honoured at Goodison Park (alongside Howard Kendall), there would be little appetite for Bill Kenwright’s name to appear on a stand. The thought of Farhad Moshiri’s name adorning anything at Everton is laughable, while the Friedkin Group have only been at the club for a year.
Other options could be long-serving staff at the club or even a fan such as Michael Jones, the fan who sadly passed away during construction of the stadium and who has a blue bollard memorial in the fan zone.
The stands could also be offered for commercial sponsorship. While that has rarely been done in the English game, Everton are one of the few sides to secure a lucrative stadium naming sponsor and a separate sponsor for the Fan Plaza in the shape of US drinks brand Budweiser.
Nelson Dock purchase
It has been nine months since Colin Chong suggested Everton were in negotiations for Nelson Dock. Land registry data shows the dock area is still under the ownership of Peel Ports, which suggests nothing has been completed yet.
The move is seen as essential for Everton owners the Friedkin Group. They have made no secret of the fact Everton were an attractive proposition because of the new stadium and surrounding area, and there is a further concern that without ownership of Nelson Dock, Everton do not have control over developments on the stadium’s doorstep.
Everton want to ensure Nelson Dock is developed to complement the stadium. Peel has helped here after amending previous planning applications to ensure sight lines to the stadium are central to any central docks development.
However, Nelson Dock has permission for a large hotel on the North East corner, within yards of the Fan Plaza, as well as residential buildings, space for bars and restaurants, and even a floating ‘sports venue’ that was originally viewed as a water sports centre. The Friedkin Group, who also own a chain of upmarket hotels, will be keen to help shape the future of Nelson Dock themselves.
The purchase of the dock would also allow for two more gates for fans to enter the South Stand area of the stadium and that could support further expansion of the stadium in future.
With work beginning on the stunning Central Park development in the central docks, plus the skyscrapers and event spaces planned for the King Edwards Triangle to the south, Everton’s plans for Nelson Dock would fully connect Bramley Moore Dock to the city centre along the waterfront.
Keep an eye out for MIPIM, one of the world’s biggest property conferences, in early March for more news here. Chong used the event last year to announce the plans and an update would make sense a year on.
The Old Lady bar
The Terrace and The Bluehouse are superb match day pubs with good pricing, fantastic views of the stadium and, in the case of the latter, Homebaked pies and Everton Heritage Society.
However, it can still get a bit busy before and after the match and both are often at full capacity. So it is exciting to see work ongoing at The Old Lady next door. It will form a Holy Trinity of Everton matchday pubs on that strip of buildings and our recent peek inside the door showed a good size space with lots of work going on to get it match day ready.
The Old Lady is not the only new match day venue – The Dock Wall opened for the first time for the Arsenal game before Christmas and was a hit with fans, while a new indoor venue next to Meriki is also in the works.
