Liverpool to build on regeneration plans at Anfield

Tuesday 16 October 2012

On the second anniversary of Fenway Sports Group's (FSG) purchase of Liverpool, managing director Ian Ayre confirmed their intention to remain at their current home and not pursue a new-build project in Stanley Park.

Redevelopment of the Main Stand and Anfield Road end is likely to cost an estimated £150m. Picture: Getty Images

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Herald Staff

That decision was made on the back of Liverpool City Council announcing extensive plans for a regeneration of the Anfield area.

Redevelopment of the Main Stand and Anfield Road end is likely to cost an estimated £150m and, while nothing has been forthcoming as yet on how this money will be procured, Ayre said it would not have an impact on football matters.

"As we've said, the right solution is the right economic solution," Ayre told liverpoolfc.com. "More so from it detracting from our spending in the transfer market, the whole point of doing this is to actually increase our revenues."If we look at our biggest competitors with a bigger capacity, like Manchester United, Arsenal, their matchday revenues are significantly ahead of ours."This whole initiative is designed to generate additional revenues so the ultimate solution has to be one that increases the overall output through the process rather than decreasing it."Match-day revenues will be significantly increased by bigger crowds and the financial reality was that it could be achieved more cheaply on the current site, Liverpool's home since 1892."We need a much-increased capacity," Ayre told the Liverpool Echo. "We could have achieved that in a new stadium, but the cost of doing so would have been at least double what we expect to spend by staying put."We would have been making very big payments – servicing the loans involved in building a new stadium – for very many years. That would have hampered our ability to spend money where we, and the supporters, want to see it spent: in buying and developing top players."This option gives us much more chance of generating the revenues we need in a sensible and practical way."Remaining at Anfield and not building a new ground, costing upwards of £300m, was always the owners' preferred option. FSG have a history of updating historic stadiums – they did a similar thing at Fenway Park, home to baseball's Boston Red Sox, and they will now look to do the same on Merseyside.Redevelopment, made possible by the regeneration plans to clear some streets close to the ground, is subject to planning permission and the support of homeowners and the community, which means plans for a new-build stadium cannot be conclusively consigned to the wastebin until those have been secured.But planning applications to raise capacity to 60,000 are likely to be submitted next year, with building potentially beginning in 2014. "Certainly we are not setting unrealistic deadlines or talking about overambitious or fanciful timescales," added Ayre."Neither is the club taking anything or anyone for granted, especially the residents of Anfield, and we certainly don't want our fans to be misled or misinformed."*Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has ruled himself out of the running for the vacant managerial role at npower Championship club Bolton. The former Manchester United striker, who is in charge of Norwegian champions Molde, has been repeatedly linked with the job at the Reebok Stadium following Owen Coyle's dismissal last week.However, the 39-year-old says he has no plans to leave Molde before the end of the season, although there is just over a month to go."There will always be speculation when someone in England needs a new manager," he said. "There are surely 20 names who have been linked with Bolton now and mine is among them but it's not for me. Blackburn, Bolton, rumours crop up all the time but I'm not that bothered about them. I will see out the season here [with Molde], I can promise that."

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Liverpool to build on regeneration plans at Anfield

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