Liverpool will finally begin work on expanding Anfield, with 8 500 seats being added in a revamped Main Stand.
The project, which has been two years in the planning, will see the stadium capacity rise to 53 500 for the start of the 2016-17 season.
The redevelopment of Anfield has been an enormous issue for Liverpool since the turn of this century, with Tom Hicks and George Gillett famously declaring when they bought the club from David Moores in February 2007 that they would ‘have a spade in the ground’ within 60 days.They had intended to build on a site on adjacent Stanley Park but their plans were doomed to failure, and they sold the club to Fenway Sports Group in 2010.
This announcement is regarded by chairman Tom Werner and Ian Ayre, the club’s chief executive, as being a ‘momentous day’ in Liverpool’s history.
‘It was just over two years ago that we said our preference was to stay at Anfield and here we are announcing that the expansion is going ahead,’ said Werner. ‘We have made more progress in the last two years than in the last decade.’
FSG had considered building a new ground but have favoured a project on the lines of how they redeveloped Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. FSG are underwriting the development with an interest-free loan of £114m, which will be paid back over five-and-a-half years from the extra £20m the club expect to earn each year through the new seats.
Werner added: ‘Having experience of expanding Fenway Park and being through a similar and very successful project of the Red Sox, everyone at FSG is excited to be part of expanding Anfield.’
Carillion are the construction company entrusted with building the Main Stand and Liverpool also have planning permission to redevelop the Anfield Road stand — which would add another 4 500 seats — in the future. But, as yet, there is no urgency to pursue that.
‘We spent the first 18 months looking at solutions and decided staying at Anfield was the best,’ said Ayre. ‘We always said we did not want any false dawns. Finding the right economic solution in the best interests of the club.’
A significant chunk of the new seats will go to corporate clients but, at a time when Liverpool fans have been protesting about the cost of admission prices, Ayre has argued it is a necessity to supplement incomes if Liverpool are to keep pace with Premier League rivals.
‘I don’t think there’s a club in the country who could afford to spend money on a new stand without the assistance of corporate hospitality,’ said Ayre.
‘It pays. It will probably pay two thirds or more of the payback of this facility.
Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard was delighted at the Anfield expansion news, saying: ‘It was all about staying at Anfield. I’m more traditional and I like old stadiums where the history and memories happen.‘We’ve had our picture taken with a host of Liverpool legends and I’ve got memories of them playing and doing terrific things for this club.
‘There have been so many unbelievable nights and memories here, it would have been a shame to leave it and for this to become apartments. ‘Now that they are going to extend the stadium, it’s going to become even bigger, better and noisier. Hopefully there are many more fantastic memories to come.’ – Daily Mail