LIVERPOOL are planning to expand the Anfield Road Stand in order to take the capacity of their iconic home up to 61,000.
The Reds hope to get the project underway by the end of 2020, to be ready in time for the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.
Liverpool want to expand the existing Anfield Road standCredit: PA Media
The redevelopment would make Anfield the third biggest stadium in the Premier LeagueCredit: PA Media
The stand currently houses home and away fans on matchdaysCredit: PA Media
Liverpool are set to win their first Premier League titleCredit: PA Media
The club have begun public consultations over the ambitious plans, with one of the key subjects being the rerouting of Anfield Road itself – rather than a complete closure during the redevelopment.
Those consultations began on Wednesday and if all goes as planned Liverpool will submit planning permission in the spring.
The new stand would take the overall capacity of Anfield up to 61,000 – with only Manchester United and Tottenham able to seat more.
On the exciting proposals, Liverpool’s chief operating officer Andy Hughes told PA: “Our plan is to go into a planning process in March through April and expect a planning determination to come in late summer.
“Assuming that goes to plan we would be able to commence the build towards the end of this year and take us through to completion in the summer of 2022.
“There are lot of things that can happen on that journey and even a small change on the planning application could delay us.”
Within the responses to Liverpool’s initial fan consultation phase, many of the respondents – of which there were over 800 – took issue with the planned closure of Anfield Road itself.
This prompted a rethink, which the club are now confident has resolved the problem: “As expected to some degree there was some negative feedback around the road closure, it is obviously an issue for some of the local residents.
“We have completed quite a lot of the design work and internals in the building but we’ve had a long, hard look at space requirements and we have managed to come to a solution where we have shrunk down the ground floor of the building a small amount just enough to be able to divert the road around the back of the Anfield Road stand without going into Stanley Park.
“It is not a significant cost.”
Liverpool hope to keep the stand open during the proposed work, meaning that they will not have to open at a reduced capacity.
Hughes continued: “It was very complicated for the Main Stand, we built around the back and over the top and kept match days running pretty much as they were and we are pretty confident we can follow the same process for the Anfield Road expansion.
“We are looking at minimal seat loss on matchdays, hopefully virtually nothing.”
Fans at Anfield are set to witness their first ever Premier League title, with the Reds an astonishing 22 points clear with 13 games remaining.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
