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Friday, 17 May, 2002, 11:15 GMT 12:15 UK
Liverpool unveil new stadium
An artist's impression of the new Anfield
Liverpool have revealed plans to quit Anfield and move to a new 55,000-seater stadium at nearby Stanley Park.
The club have presented plans to Liverpool City Council and they hope the stadium - which will cost between £60m and £70m to build - will be ready for the start of the 2005 season.
Liverpool insist the new stadium will still be called Anfield, and will be only 300 yards away from the current ground. Liverpool's original plan to build a 70,000 capacity stadium was rejected after it was felt the projected cost of £120m might affect manager Gerard Houllier's team-building plans. Chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool's official website, liverpoolfc.tv: "What we don't want to do - and what we won't ever do - is lose the focus that the team comes first.
"We always want to ensure the revenue is available for the manager to strengthen his squad. "That is one reason why we haven't pressed ahead with our original plan for a 70,000 stadium. We don't want to have a huge financial millstone hanging around our necks. "Our view is that this stadium is right for our needs. There is still a lot of work to do though and a number of obstacles to overcome yet. It will take time but I hope all of the fans are excited by what they can see."
Parry added: "Now that we have settled on this as our preferred option we have to take the plans into the local community. This is a very important part of the process. "We have worked closely with the local residents so far and that will continue. The stadium will still be called Anfield." Liverpool felt it was impossible to further improve the current Anfield, but they will incorporate the Hillsborough memorial and The Shankly and Paisley Gates in the new site. Parry added: " It would be very difficult to increase the size of the current stadium to what we want.
"We are very short on space and the implications of re-building the Main Stand would be considerable. "Of course we would cope and we would get through it, as we did when we re-built the Kop, but we would be looking at three years of disruption as the building work was carried out. "Re-building the Main Stand would be a much bigger job than re-building the Kop because of all the facilities and the dressing rooms within the Main Stand. We would have to considerably reduce the capacity within the stadium for a long period of time." "Also, when we were building the new Kop we weren't playing European football and there weren't as many midweek games as there are today. "It was a case back then of the builders doing the work during the week and then handing the stadium back to us for weekend games. That just wouldn't be possible today and the logistics of redeveloping Anfield are just massive." STADIUM PICTURES COURTESY OF LIVERPOOL FC'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE. |
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