This is a good read if you fancy a relentlessly negative diatribe about the plans:
A redeveloped Anfield is undoubtedly needed, but the plans smack of broken promises and disappointment
Jim Boardman of the Anfield Wrap is looking forward to a bigger stadium but questions remain over the plan
Fields of Anfield Road: The new-look Liverpool stadium
Whatever happens this season, however those last three games pan out, Liverpool fans will go into the summer with memories of special days and nights that will live long in their memories. For those lucky enough to see any of it live, in the flesh, unfolding right in front of them on that sacred turf, all the while being a part of the noise that engulfs it, those memories will be far stronger.
To go to Anfield is a privilege, one that regular match goers take for granted at times, but for fourteen years the club have been promising to make it easier for more supporters to be given that privilege.
As Liverpool unveiled the latest in what is a long series of drawings of building work yet to actually happen, Ian Ayre said “we are proud to be able to unveil our plans.”
There is little there to be proud of. The plans are underwhelming and
the increase in capacity is even lower than feared.
It’s not all bad and the plans do at least address the issues of dereliction caused by years of dithering by the club, although the various plans submitted for a new stadium were meant to do so too.
Despite the song, there aren’t really any fields around Anfield Road, but there are a lot of houses waiting to be demolished. Many of them have stood empty for some time, “tinned up” as the locals say, waiting for the council to win its battle of wills against those who owned the rest. Door after door is marked forebodingly with a big “X”, which on closer inspection turns out to be pieces of tape warning would-be demolition contractors of asbestos within.
Fact sheet: Everything you need to know about new Liverpool stadium plans
New Anfield
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Those streets have been in limbo for years and local people have had to live with the mess for far too long. Whoever’s fault it is, the way the community of Anfield has been treated over those 14 years is shameful and it can’t all be blamed on Tom Hicks and George Gillett, however convenient that might be.
In terms of the stadium itself, it isn’t that long ago that Ian Ayre was part of a Liverpool board promising fans up to an extra 30,000 seats for home games.
These plans offer 8,500, with maybe another 4,800 later on. The 75,000-seater stadium promised a few years ago has made way for an Anfield extension totalling either 54,000 or 58,800, depending on how far they actually get with it all.
Hundreds of millions of pounds are being spent to increase the seating at Anfield to a figure still some way short of 60,000. But it’s ok, they’ve managed to fit an extra shop in.
Yes, to go above 60,000 needs more work on the local infrastructure, on getting people in and out of the area on a matchday, but it’s hardly likely to be an insurmountable problem when offset against the benefits of having a stadium big enough to meet demand.
The announcement refers to “detailed design proposals” for the Main Stand, but as far as the Anfield Road work is concerned, they’ve only got as far as “outline proposals”. Hardly encouraging.
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Anfield is currently the sixth largest league ground in the country. This work will, after Manchester City finish their own expansion plans, move it up to fourth, although Spurs are also planning a 58,000-seater ground for 2017 which would see Liverpool’s extended stadium drop back to fifth if work hasn’t started on Anfield Road.
In the 1980s the capacity at Anfield was much the same as it is now, around 45,000. New tiers on two of the stands offset the reduction caused by converting the Kop to an all-seater stand in the nineties.
The “managed decline” of Merseyside was in full flow in the eighties so it’s unsurprising to recall that Liverpool home games weren’t always sell-outs, despite all that silverware and breath taking football. For some games there was still more demand than could be catered for but it was probably just about the right size for the time.
Nowadays Liverpool do sell out all their home league games, or come very close to doing so, with tickets hard to come by even against the ‘lesser’ sides. That was the case well before this season’s brand of exciting football or the flirtation with the league title.
Football in general appeals to a wider range of people than it used to do and Liverpool’s fanbase is developing rapidly at home and abroad. With air travel growing increasingly accessible to more and more of the overseas fanbase the catchment area for match-going Reds is widening too.
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Scarf ace: Liverpool's unique atmosphere attracts a lot of fans
Once-in-a-lifetime visitors can make an annual visit. Annual visitors can come most weeks. Those who would never have expected to see Anfield in real life can maybe make a once-in-a-lifetime trip and see their idols play right in front of them.
If 45,000 was just about enough for a predominately local crowd in the eighties what chance does the same figure have with today’s range of supporters? Adding another 8,500 or even the eventual 13,300 doesn’t really help. The season ticket waiting list alone has twice that number of fans on it and these changes still won't help those supporters who miss out because they lack the funds to buy 6 or 12 months' worth of tickets in one go.
Another problem in the eyes of many supporters is the shortage of child tickets.
One of my children wasn’t even born when the club first started telling us how important a new, bigger, stadium was. By the time this work is finished she’ll no longer qualify for a child ticket. No change there then, the club offer so few child tickets I have to get her a full-priced adult ticket, if I can get one, if I want to take her to a game.
How long until our children get fed up with trying to feel part of a sport they are as good as excluded from?
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"How long until our children get fed up with trying to feel part of a sport they are as good as excluded from?"
As for the plans themselves, one issue stands out immediately.
How insignificant does the Kop look next to that towering Main Stand?
John Henry and the club have tried to sell fans on their vision by playing on the sentimental nature of the football fan, telling us all that redeveloping Anfield means we get to keep that great place that is so full of memories of so many great days and nights. Here they are offering us a new look ground with what looks like a shrunken version of our most famous stand.
As for memories, unless we plan on making seasons like this one a thing of the past we have a lot more yet to be formed. Yet far too many fans will continue to be locked out, far too many won’t get to base their memories on the same experiences of the privileged few, by being lucky enough to see it live, in the flesh, unfolding right in front of them on that sacred turf, all the while being a part of the noise that engulfs it.
Anfield will never be big enough to meet demand for games like Sunday. It would have been nice to think it might one day get close.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...ium-redeveloped-anfield-3449467#ixzz2zoUUgcmg
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