The selection of the initial batch of televised games, for the first two months of the season (August and September) has been announced ... we have texted our members the dates of the home games safe to book.

TV matches for October and November should be confirmed and announced in early August.

The 2015/16 Premier League fixtures

At this initial stage, 11 of our 19 home games currently coincide with Man Utd home games ...this usually seriously impacts flight prices. However, the requirements (of Sky and BT Sport) for live televised games should reduce this number somewhat.

The Premier League will commence on Saturday 8th August (the earliest start for 16 years) at home to Watford ...and will finish on Sunday 15th May at home to Norwich.

A few other noteable dates are...

• FA Cup 3rd Round will take place on the weekend of 9th January
• League Cup Final will take place on Sunday 28th February
• FA Cup Final will take place on Sunday 21st May

(updated 03 Jul)

Just before tomorrow's fixtures announcement, a reminder that (for the third season running) there will be a particular lack of suitable flights at the start of the new season...

The last easyJet flight back from Liverpool on Saturdays will be at 18.10 (18.25 on 12th September) until 19th September, when a 19.45 starts (for the duration of the winter). The next flight home will be on Sunday at 07.00. Furthermore, there will be no Saturday evening easyJet flight back from Manchester until 31st October; and, even then, it will be at 19.00.

The first easyJet flights out on Sundays will be at 08.15 (08.40 from 25th October) to Liverpool and 16.40 to Manchester.

Flybe’s suitable Belfast City/Liverpool weekend flights will be out on Saturday at 10.25 (07.10 and 09.40 from 31st October) and back on Sunday at 12.20 and 20.25 (17.15 and 20.10 from 25th October).

Incidentally, Ryanair's suitable Derry/Liverpool weekend flights will be out on Saturday at 09.00 and back on Sunday at 17.10 (14.40 from 6th September and 19.25 from 25th October).

From Dublin, the ‘day-return’ Saturday flights are...

• Ryanair - out: 07.50 (07.05 from 7th November); and return: 20.45 (19.30 and 22.10 from 31st October)
• Aer Lingus (new service commencing 23rd October) - out: 07.15 and return: 19.40

So, we may keep our fingers crossed for some Sunday or early Saturday kick offs.

(updated 16 Jun)

Remember, there's now no APD for children under 12 ... so, that's a saving of £26 per trip!

In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced his intention to remove the APD tax for children under 12 from 1st May, and for children under 16 from 1st March 2016.

This will mean a saving of £26 per child, making their trips to Goodison significantly more affordable ... commencing with the Sunderland (9 May) and Tottenham (24 May) home games in May of this season.

However, there will be no change in the rate for adults, meaning the APD (Air Passenger Duty) for a return flight to Liverpool will remain at £26.

(03 Dec; updated 01 May)

Flybe will return to the Belfast City/Liverpool route from 2nd February.

However, there will be only one flight per day at the weekends, making day-return trips impossible. Consequently, the only option for weekend matches is to fly out Saturday 08.25 (or Friday evening) and return Sunday 20.30.

The flight times are...

For Season 2014/15, if you call and quote ESCNI, the Liner Hotel will offer a 10% reduction on their selling rates for the particular date in question.

This 3‑star hotel has over 150 rooms and is located in central Liverpool just behind the Lime Street railway station. The hotel is now fully refurbished and operates as a non- smoking hotel.

Trip Advisor Reviews

(06 Aug)

A reminder that this year's AGM will take place on Tuesday, 18th November, and the venue will be the King's Head, Belfast.

A complete set of documents for this year's AGM is available to download from our dedicated 2014 AGM webpage. This webpage is located within our password-protected MEMBERS ONLY Area; the new password for which was recently texted out to our members.

These documents comprise...

• the previous AGM Minutes
• the Accounts (2014/15)
• a Notice of AGM (2014)
• a set of the current Rules

Please note that, in accordance with the Club's Rules, all Nominations, Resolutions and Notice of Motions had to be with the Club Secretary by Tuesday, 21st October.

(originally posted 02 Oct - updated 12 Nov)

Anyone renewing (or taking out) an ESCNI membership for this season should, by now, have received their membership package (mousemat, coasters and membership card).

If you haven't, please contact our Membership Secretary (William Hewitt).

(18 Aug)

From 4th June, Liverpool Airport will charge £2 for the privilege of dropping off (or collecting) passengers at its car park adjacent to the terminal buildings.

There is the alternative of being left off (or collected) at a different car park, which will be free to use for up to 20 minutes. However, this car park is a 10 minute walk from the passenger terminal and will leave you exposed to the elements for the entire duration of your walk.

The Liverpool Echo

(15 May)

The tendering of 168 live Premier League games per season (14 more than in the current three-year contract) for the 2016-19 seasons is currently underway, with the contracts likely to be awarded in February.

The main point worth noting for long distance travellers, such as ourselves, is the introduction of up to 10 Friday evening games per season. However, there will not be any Sunday evening kick-offs, the prospect of which had also been discussed with the league's broadcast partners BSkyB and BT.

Televised live Friday night football is not unprecedented, with both the BBC and ITV showing Friday night games in the decade before the top flight became the Premier League. However, opportunities for Friday night football are likely to be limited by many teams' participation in European competitions during the week. Consequently, Friday games will either have to feature teams not competing in Europe, or be broadcast during the weeks where there is no European competition.

(16 Dec)

The new Premier League fixture list has been released today, and updated fixture information on all home games is available from our password-protected Flight Prices webpage. Headline news...

• good news...   only five of our home games currently coincide with Man Utd home games (this usually seriously impacts on flight prices)
   
• bad news...   eight home games are subject to possible rearrangement due to our Europa League commitments

...however, until the first group of Sky/BT Sport televised matches (covering games up until the end of November) is announced "within a few weeks", it is unsafe to book any flights.

In order to receive our text information immediately, take out an ESCNI membership via our Membership webpage. 

(18 Jun)

Belfast man (and Everton fan), Henry McDonald's take on the importance of going to the game, including his tributes to Pat McGrath and to a very close group of friends from the village of Coagh...

...from his recent article in the Belfast Telegraph.

(16 Aug)

Before the advent of Match of The Day, cinema newsreels would provide the only glimpses of football stars on film. In the forefront of this, from the 1920s until the late 1960s, was British Pathé.

Pathé have recently uploaded thousands of items onto YouTube ... many of them covering Everton. So, if you want to know the history as to just why we are a grand old team to play for, then head along to the Pathé YouTube Channel.

(25 Apr)