Located to the north of Liverpool city centre, Bootle FC moved to the cricket ground on Hawthorne Road in 1884. The pitch was on the south side of the ground and, at this time, the only facility was the cricket pavilion. There was a considerable improvement to spectator facilities in 1889 with the provision of an open seated stand behind the west end and covered and open stands on the south side. The record attendance of 20,000 was set on December 26th, 1889 for the visit of Everton in a friendly match. Bootle FC folded after their one season in the Football League and Bootle Athletic FC took over for a while at Hawthorne Road. The cricket ground is still in existence but Wadham Road was later extended over the area that contained the football pitch.