Liverpool FC’s £150million redevelopment of Anfield is on track

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...pment-of-anfield-is-on-track-100252-32618291/

LIVERPOOL FC’S £150million project to redevelop Anfield remains on track with the club hoping to submit a planning application in the spring.

Back in October, owners Fenway Sports Group announced they had shelved plans to build a new stadium in Stanley Park in favour of refurbishing the club’s current home.

It’s part of a huge Liverpool City Council led regeneration project for the Anfield area and will involve major extensions to the Main Stand and Anfield Road stand to boost the capacity to around 60,000.

Over the past three months the council have been negotiating the purchase of homes which will be demolished to make room for Anfield’s expansion.

“We are very pleased with progress,” said Reds MD Ian Ayre.

“A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes particularly with the acquisition of properties and architectural work to look at designs and plans which would be submitted for planning permission.

“We’ve got a meeting coming up in the next few weeks with the steering group which is made up of the various parties who were present when the announcement about the regeneration was made.

“Certainly in terms of milestones that we set ourselves, we are on track. We’re pleased with the way we’re heading and there’s no reason to feel anything other than optimistic.”

 

The progress seems very slow but lets hope we get to where we need to be and that it is suitable.

 

It's good to hear somethign about the ground. £150m stadium refurb should have the ground looking pretty immense - and it will still be the Anfield that we know and love

 

Wish it could be bigger than the estimated 60,000 seats. Been to Old Trafford and Nou Camp before and they are pretty intimidating grounds.

 

They are also intimidating because of the teams/players that play there. I can almost guarantee that if West Ham get the olympic stadium the atmosphere will be nothing like these other big grounds, the same would be said if you were to ship a side like Blackburn Rovers in to the Nou Camp, the fans could probably fill it and they would make a lot of noise but you don't have the fear brought on by the fact that you're about to face the 4 time european champions with players like Leo Messi & Andreas Iniesta.

60,000 seats is fine if you ask me.

 

60 000 is good for now, but a brand new 70 000 - 80 000 would be much better.

The Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund is incredibly intimidating too, huge capacity.

 

Yep - agree with Bozz. The team plays a big part in striking fear into the opposition but if you look at a team like Stoke - their fans are brilliant and can really create a hostile atmosphere.

A big stadium, filled with mental fans like LFC would create a good atmosphere which will bring back the fear factor whIch I feel is missing at the moment.

Problem with building a new stadium are the associated costs in this current climate, along with the relative slow return on invesment.

Ian Ayre said that we may spend £300m on a brand new stadium but we're only going to get an additional 15,000 seats worth of revenue. The same revenue can be generated with spending half the amount by redeveloping Anfield.

My only concern is what happens when 60,000 isn't enough, and we want to expand further? Are our current plans future proof?

 

is that the stadium that they had dif colours on the outside that lights up red, blue etc at night?

good to hear progress as regarding the stadium, i am still a bit sceptical about it all though, wait until they get the new planning permission then when we see action rather than "we will have a spade in the ground in the next 2 weeks" bollocks we had before, then we will be heading in the right direction.

 

Will there be an option to further increase the capacity or is 60,000 the limit. I cant see us moving to a new stadium if we are going down this route.

 

No, That's Bayern's - funnily enough Dortmund fans broke in to that stadium a few weeks ago and changed the stadiums colour to yellow

 

That's the Allianz Arena in Munich, well nearly outside Munich.

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The Signal Iduna in Dortmund is a bit bigger and has a 'kop' equivalent and YNWA every game.

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[video=youtube;SFSSMjUi0LQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFSSMjUi0LQ[/video]

 

I don't think it would be a problem to expand further from a building point of view but it would be the same problem of right to light and knocking down properties around the stadium. Given how long it's taken to agree this expansion I can't see it happening again anytime soon. Given that fact I think we should be aiming for closer to 70,000.

I think the owners are thinking of it purely froma financial point of view, we can fill 60k pretty easily so they'll ramp up the ticket prices rather than having 70k with cheaper tickets because its cheaper for them.

 

1. last time people produced silly plans and 3-d oh look at me drawings... then did nothing.

2. fsg issue nothing, tell us nothing but this a meeting in a few weeks rubbish via ayre.

which do you guys prefer....


cos frankly debating 60k v 70k is rather pointless IMO. thats like acting as if something is sure to happen, that we have money to do it and frankly that it'll be allowed to happen at all.

 

That would be a shame. Hopefully we can follow the German financial model but it relies on huge commercial deals - offering cheap tickets, supporter owned etc ...

 

I honestly think 60000 is not enough, even if we had 75 000 seats i'm pretty sure we'd sell out. We have a brilliant fan base,one of the best in the country.
Our stadium is full even against teams like Gomel. I think 70 000 seats would have been great.

 

Thing is when you hear Ian ayre talking about it all he talks about is the financial implications. If we really want to be one of the tops clubs again and be spoken about in the same breath as likes of utd, bayern, Milan and the Spanish clubs we need a big stadium. It's not just the money it brings in its the impression it gives of our club to players and other teams.

Plus if the stadium is bigger the prices should not need to be as high, perhaps we could offer more family tickets/youth tickets. I don't think what's best for the fans has been in their thinking at all. They didn't decide to stay at anfield because its what the fans want its because its cheaper and Ian Ayre has stated that as the reason in every interview