FOLLOWING the Taylor Report in 1990, Liverpool’s impetuous arch rivals Manchester United found themselves in a situation of ponderous limbo in relation to their Old Trafford home.
United’s all-standing home had seen its capacity steadily decline since the Second World War. By the 1980s, the capacity had dropped from the original 80,000 to approximately 60,000. The Taylor Report would mean the attendance would be decreased further to rightly implement safety measures set, not to mention an estimated cost of £3-5 million that would be needed for the Stretford End and beyond due to the stadium’s apparent disrepair.
United’s hierarchy were faced with a stick or twist conundrum. The forced redevelopment was undertaken, with the removal of the terraces at the front of three stands, which increased the cost to around £10m. Pennies you might think, but not necessarily in those days. This also further reduced the capacity to an all-time low of 44,000.
In the years following the initial redevelopment, United went on to redevelop the North Stand in 1995. The same year the club purchased the Trafford Park Trading Estate for £9.2m which allowed them to envisage a grander scale of stadium redevelopment and eased many feasibility conundrums. In May 1996, the new three tier stand opened to a cost of £18.65m and increased capacity by around 25,000. Following this, a second tier to the East Stand was opened in January 2000; the stadium’s capacity was temporarily increased to around 61,000 until the opening of the West Stand’s second tier, which added yet another 7,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 68,127.
Old Trafford’s most recent expansions, which took place between July 2005 and May 2006, saw an increase of around 8,000 seats. In 2009, a reorganisation of the seating in the stadium resulted in a further increase of the capacity by 255 to 75,957 making it the largest club stadium of any football team in the United Kingdom, the third-largest stadium and the second-largest football stadium in the United Kingdom, and the 11th-largest in Europe.
So, United were a club in transition with a young and ambitious manager, success had been starved in recent times but felt inevitably around the corner. They were also a club who had undertaken some stadium redevelopment and had the supporter demand which far outweighed supply and were at a point in time were they needed to decide whether to carry on expanding or not. Is any of this starting to feel relatable yet?
United’s hierarchy chose to twist.
In 2016 Liverpool Football Club, under the stewardship of its divisive American owners Fenway Sports Group, opened its hugely impressive new Main Stand, towering above the skies of Anfield and in view from many of the city’s panoramic landscapes and beyond. This was a development and sign of progress long overdue. From the bowl-shaped Stanley Park projections which gladly never came to fruition in the early 2000s to George Gillett’s delusory “spade in the ground” falsities some years later, Anfield was in grave danger of becoming a forgotten community, stagnating in a purgatory of fortnightly fleeting influxes of match goers but otherwise resembling a place left to languish delinquent under a grey existence of broken promises and false dawns.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Sunday, November 7, 2010: Liverpool’s owner John W. Henry with wife Linda Pizzuti and Chairman Tom Werner before the Premiership match against Chelsea at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Anfield this season has a spark back, it has hope. The stand has breathed new life into the area. The stadium itself looks much more imposing and befitting of a club of our standing and stature. Work is carrying on outside the stadium to build a new hotel and club shop as well as plans for more small businesses to open alongside some much needed and deserved housing regeneration. For all of this, Liverpool’s owners deserve their accolades and credit.
However, their next step, or lack of one, will ultimately define their tenure at Liverpool and will ultimately cast judgement from all quarters, as many, myself included, have been impartially on the fence when it comes to FSG up until this point. I’ve always felt my stance on FSG was an embodiment on the type of owners they ultimately are; non-descript, middle of the road, steady. After seeing the embargo of the High Court battle in 2010 that really could’ve seen Liverpool in ruinous free fall, FSG were a welcoming safety jacket to many of us.
However, the thing that the Main Stand has sparked more than anything is hunger, a hunger to keep going, to be relentless in further development of the stadium and the area. At first glance of the new stand in September 2016 anything felt possible. Eyes were ultimately then fixed on the suddenly underdeveloped looking Anfield Road and the scope for new life on that side of the ground. Even The Kop seemed developable given what we had been presented with in little less than 18 months.
“I don’t know if there is a next step because ticket prices are an issue in England. That may foreclose further expansion. We’ll have to see.”
Ah…
John Henry’s comments shortly after the opening of the Main Stand seemed a sobering plummet back down to Earth. It had all the school teacher dictation of being told not to get too carried away that we’ve all encountered in our adolescence at some point. Don’t you dare start dreaming of progression and furtherance, that’s on my watch, not yours!
At present, Liverpool currently have a deadline of September 2017 to submit plans for ‘phase two’, the redevelopment of the Anfield Road. It is not a question of if it will be done or not, as it looks increasingly likely that it won’t, it is more a question of why it wasn’t done immediately after the Main opened its turnstiles or even before. Henry’s comments felt somewhat like an underlying dig at the fan’s ticket revolt last year, a ‘reap what you sew’ type of statement that ensures expectations are well and truly managed. This aside though, there are more prevalent questions that need to be answered, like just what exactly is FSG’s end game with all this? If there was no intention to further redevelop Anfield then why submit plans in principle as they were? Why, you could argue, did they bother doing the Main Stand at all if they were just going to stand still after it? Have their experiences in trying to raise ticket prices and the issue around cost effectivity put them off that much?
These are all currently questions floating in the Anfield atmosphere that, if left unanswered, will become more pertinent and unsettling as time goes by. As with FSG’s tenure, if there is a wall of silence from their safe haven across the pond in Boston, the discontent will only rise up until voices are in one way or another heard. The insinuation from Henry that ticket prices and a lack of corporate opportunity in the Anfield Road end means that further expansion is unlikely is simply not good enough. The priority must quickly be shifted from one of seeking immediate financial compensation to simply easing the overwhelming demand to see Liverpool Football Club play football and the willingness to play more of a long game. If more people are able to see Liverpool perform in the flesh, then all of the other income generators that contribute to match day revenue will inevitably increase with it. At present, FSG resemble that overly careful mate or family member we all know who is far from hard up but will sacrifice a great night out for the sake of austerity and tell you they’re skint.
The other thing to consider here is Everton’s impending new residence on Bramley Moore Dock. The sight of further development in the city as a whole is a good thing, this should never be doubted. If Liverpool is to regain its status as a football powerhouse as well as cultural one then the sight of both red and blue at the top of the football pyramid will only serve as evidence of this, and both clubs will need a stadium befitting of this status. However, the thought of Everton suddenly looking the more progressive and innovative of the two clubs could be damaging to Liverpool’s ambition going forward for a number of reasons.
If you consider the constant stream of younger generation football fans split red and blue across the city that undoubtedly adds to it’s vibrant and energetic roots as a rivalry, the prospect of Everton not only being more accessible, but now having a new stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront with all its shiny new buttons, while Liverpool’s season ticket waiting list remains closed at 20,000-plus and Anfield suddenly looking once again as a place stuck between ideals, the prospect of blue rather than red perhaps suddenly looking more enticing to the youngsters of this city and beyond.
Of course the Blues will tell us that everyone in Liverpool already supports Everton and Anfield is basically a four cornered map of Norway. And at the expense of being told my “Kopite head is falling off”, the realities of Everton’s impending stadium means Liverpool have to act to make sure they remain the Joneses, and are not suddenly just keeping up with them. As well as this, the club have a responsibility to make Anfield as accessible as possible for the people of Liverpool and beyond to come and watch a team with a plan, a club with an aim.
The purpose of mentioning United and Old Trafford was because it is something that symbolises one word: momentum. Liverpool currently has a manager that thrives on the word momentum. Jürgen Klopp, when at Mainz, advocated the club’s stadium expansion when they were chasing promotion to the Bundesliga because it fed in with what he was trying to gather — momentum. At Dortmund, he set a goal of trophies and didn’t stop at the first one, this saw attendances and season ticket sales at the Westfalenstadion rocket. Liverpool, at present, are a team on an upward trajectory that are improving every year and currently crave a return to the Champions League because it will evidence and signify one thing — momentum.
Klopp has already implemented a long-term structure for the training facilities which will entwine both the first team and Academy set-ups at Kirkby. He is constantly looking for the club to be progressive both on and off the pitch in line with his long-term vision for success at Liverpool and the owners must mirror this in their own actions to keep the pace. Klopp’s appointment was the biggest indicator to me that these owners genuinely want Liverpool to be successful. A decision to stand on ceremony now in this sense would pose the question of just why they moved for Klopp so proactively in the first place and gave him seemingly every key to the castle. A repeat of previous years’ inner turmoils, from cryptically veiled public outbursts to privately rumoured murmurings of unrest must be avoided at all costs. This could sound extreme, I appreciate that, but Klopp is not someone who will stand for any onerous presence in the confines of Liverpool Football Club from its hierarchy or otherwise. Rafa Benitez didn’t stand for it and a civil war raged for what felt like an eternity within the club until his position became untenable.
Fenway Sports Group need now, more than ever, to sit up and take stock of Liverpool’s current situation as a matter of urgency. They have been custodians for enough time now to realise this is a club who will not accept any form of sitting on its hands. In many ways, they are owners who have made a rod for their own backs by waking up supporter ambition and drive that we ourselves were perhaps guilty of being too pedestrian about. They would be wise to heed the lesson of times gone by where their actions have been somewhat unmeasured or dismissive.
More importantly, they need to honour their commitment made to base Liverpool’s future at its current home, a decision that effectively diminished the option of a new stadium elsewhere and means that Anfield needs to be the absolute best it can and should be in every single department.
In many ways, it is their very own case of now or never. Stick or twist, lads, your call.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
hmmm interesting article Daniel. Maybe for Man Utd it was a case of right time right place, the Sky money was just taking off and they took advantage of it – they had business acumen.
But how do you justify the funding of a stand/stadium that won’t financially wash it’s own face for a long while – perhaps too long for FSG to reap the benefit if they where to sell the club.
FSG strike me as safe hands, they won’t drop the baby or leave the back door open, and they won’t take the risk, they won’t be opportunistic, because the risks are too high.
That being said, I still think that the phase 2 will happen. FSG can’t be anything but proud of the main stand, but I bet the finances where tight (down to the penny) in respect of payback. So are prudent, good housekeeping owners no good for us? maybe they where after Hicks et al, maybe they steadied the ship and put us on a good financial path.
Can FSG take us forward (quickly)… I doubt it very much. We now need the Sheikh to come in with £Bns…
thanks FSG – you saved us, you steadied us, you calmed us, but we have now outgrown you
There are a couple of ways that FSG could fund the Anfield Road expansion without losing their cautious approach. One is to take a note on the costs from the club. When the club is eventually sold, the note will be paid off. This allows their short term needs to be balanced by the longer term payback of the expansion. Second, get a sponsor for the expansion. By selling the naming rights, you can get a nice income stream that would guaranty the funding of the note payback. Probably not what the purists want to hear, but a practical approach nonetheless.
Well, united were almost sold for about 15m in 1989 so to commit that money in 1990 was a big call.
I think FSG realise the Anfield Road end needs to be expanded but I just dont think they’re willing to fund it themselves.
The only way I think it’ll happen is if they can get investement from a third party imo.
Nice article bro,but i feel we are somewhat unappreciative over what FSG has done..
Come-on they are better than Tom and hicks who plundered us into administration almost. Just as sumeet rightly said FSG has steadied our ship at least we are not going to sink down though we will not sail fast. whatever expectations we may have ,Lets not forget these guys are business men aiming for money as we Liverpudlians crave development and higher status. For me all efforts should be geared at reaching a balance in interest of both parties(FSG and Liverpool fans) for the progress of all.As a strong red blooded fan,i just hope that someday our club can secure a financial superpower owner cos that’s for me the only path to overnight development like that of Manchester city. For the present times, i cease this chance to say thanks to FSG for their steady administration of my one love club Liverpool until we have a “florentino perez”
Exactly. Fully understand FSG seeing the club as a business and maximising its value. That clearly is their main objective. But the club has a committed fan base and is part of a local community. There are surely objectives beyond purely profit. Expanding the capacity of the ground expands connections to community, fan base, atmosphere, which indirectly will increase value of the club. Problem is they are not things that can be measured accurately by a bean counter.
I logged on to FSG’s homepage. There is no mention at all of Liverpool FC only a small image of our badge. It’s baseball all the way, as is their spending. They aren’t bad owners but they see our club as an investment vehicle so redeveloping Anfield Road isn’t sensible given the return will be a long term prospect, probably long after they have sold us on at maximum profit and they have had a brilliant laugh all the way to the bank. I have no idea how long they will be around but the TV money must reach a ceiling before long and if we aren’t qualifying for the Champions League almost every season then they will probably regard their investment as complete and look elsewhere. All I will miss is seeing the lovely Linda every so often. I don’t want some dodgy Russian oligarch or a human rights adverse middle eastern bloke, so where next? I doubt that fan ownership is feasible now that the club is worth around £1b currently. Sorry to be so pessimistic but the only solution I can see is for FSG to give two fingers to its capitalist philosophy, enjoy the ride and give us the ground we deserve and the transfer funds to match. Some hope.
The Qataris will be along soon! FSG are biding their time. Maybe its better the devil you know.
When everything is put in context FSG have been ok. They’ve spent what the club can afford each season and perhaps they’ve had to keep the wage bill down a bit. They’ve never denied they want Liverpool sustainable and out of debt. Personally, I can’t see any evidence of trying to make profit. That comes in huge amounts when they sell. I think it’s clear if you look at the sackings and the appointments they want success. It’s more than a passing aim.
But, stories such as we wanted to save Anfield are slightly patronising. It was part of the due diligence, I’d guess. The club can sell 100k tickets but the ground holds 40k. They wanted the route that got 54k capacity for an extra 120m, not the 60k capacity for £400m plus. Probably a smarter business move. Look what happened to Arsenal in the period they were paying for a new ground. I’d prefer Anfield to a new 60k stadium. I’d also prefer a new 90k capacity stadium to Anfield. The point is, the new stand benefits the club but it certainly benefits the owners. I’m absolutely fine with that. We all win.
The Anfield Road is going to tip the balance for a lot of fans though. We all know they’re here because they bought a cheap asset they thought they could grow. Most are fine with that if mutually beneficial for us and them. Here, they showing us that they don’t really care for fans at all. We saw it once before with the tickets but they saw sense and did the right thing. You’re right to mention Henry’s response though. It’s what I’m basing my assumptions on. It’s been decided (I’m guessing) that the profit isn’t quick enough so not worth doing.
It’s a ‘fuck you’ to the club and the fans. If they stood to make £200m profit when they sold LFC I could think – well, they’ve been here 7 or 10 years, their entitled to want to maximise their return after long long but we’re talking £700m plus. The Annie road costs £75m and brings back £6m a year for ever. Do the math. Actually, when all said and done it could be paid off in 10 years. Less with naming rights if set at a good rate. It would benefit the club in numerous ways in 10 years time.
Aside from the finances, the bigger crowd on match day and the increased opportunity to go to the match, the Anfield Road end is dreadful to watch a match from. If I get someone tickets and they’re in the Annie Road I apologise to them. I stress that they’re not near the back of the lower tier or it’s pointless going. I refuse to sit in there. The new stand is good, the Kop is good enough and the Centenary is pretty good even if leg room is scarce. We need the Anfield Road end doing. It’d be great for match day, great for the fans and great for the club. Agree, it would be great for momentum too. FSG need to genuinely give something back that still confines to the ‘good for us, good for them’ except it’s slightly more in our favour this time. If they don’t it says a lot. The ticket increases fiasco was a case of we’ll try but ok, we’ll admit you do have a voice and you are important. This feels like, ok, we gave you a voice but come on, don’t get carried away – you’re only the consumer who helps us make our money. I’m really disappointed. With a summer spend and the announcement of the new Anfield Road stand I’d be willing to defend FSG’s tenure against anyone. Without the Annie Road it all feels a bit sterile. Put Linda up as the nice face who interacts with the fans, make it look like we’re human and we care before the day comes when we can get the fuck out of this cauldron and count the cash. I pray they do it but I’ve lost all hope.
F off, FSG are getting their money back and with interest it was a loan! like many tried to say! FSG never intended on developing a second phase, it was just to give the illusion of progress,they are cheap, they want to do everything at a cost and maximize their own profit, even if they thought selling the club off piece by piece would be best for them, they would do it, they don’t care about the club, about the fans or anything else, just about their own profit,
Even administration would not of being so scary, a fine, points docked and sold to a higher bidder, who would of more likely being more ambitious and more wealthy,
utterly deluded comment. why should anyone just ‘give’ their money away to a football club ? its a business. it has to be run at a profit, like any business, and only through making a profit can the club progress. they are not maximising ‘their’ profit, they are trying to maximise the clubs profit. Of course, if you want to just give the club a few million of yours, i’m sure they will be grateful …..
Great article… Hits the nail on the head…. Only thing it misses is that up until their ownership we were a very tired and old club and whilst the new stand has brought back some vision and increased capacity… This sort of thing was needed a decade ago. Unfortunately it never happened… And fsg to their credit have done a good job with the stand… But realistically that’s as much as they will do. If they secure a 9m sponsorship for 10 years… Then technically they won’t have paid out much for the stand. So I think this is key. What also needs to be pointed out is that when they initially unveiled these plans they always knew seating behind a goal would not generate corporate boxes… So why is it such a lightbulb moment now?
I tell you what FSG should do is go and sit in the lower Anfield Road end on the back one or two rows right in the corner and see what the experience is like. They might begin to understand what a poor state of affairs it is. I’ve sat there 3 times against Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal recently paying 43.00 English pounds for the privilege and still have a sore neck! I’ve also sat on the back row of the new main stand against City and United for an extra three pounds, a fantastic view and no neck ache!
After 2020:
Old Trafford (Manchester United): 88,000
New White Hart Lane (Tottenham): 61,000
Etihad Stadium (Manchester City): 61,000
New Stamford Bridge (Chelsea): 60,000
Emirates Stadium (Arsenal): 60,000
Olympic Stadium (West Ham): 60,000
Anfield (Liverpool): 54,000
Liverpool need URGENTLY to start a phase 2 of Anfield expansion!
Anfield Road End is very small, has a small time stadium appearance or impression! Totally different from the new Main Stand, which is gigantic. Liverpool should also add a third tier of seats at the Centenary Stand (5,000 or 6,000), raising the Anfield’s capacity to 66,000, which in my view was ideal for Liverpool FC. 66,000 is a perfect capacity. It can also make a city host the UCL final. #BrazilSupporter
I wish people would stop repeating this Anfield Road expansion has to ‘pay for itself’ BS.
The whole ‘phased development’ was a load of baloney from the start. Expanding Anfield from 45k to 60k would have been paid for in about 8 years.
But why pay to redevlop the whole ground when you can simply cherry pick the corporate seats?
Ah, but the fans won’t stand for so obvious a corporate expansion at their expense you say? Well, don’t worry fans, your seats are coming in Phase 2 (date tbc)!
Then say each stand redevelopment has to pay for itself and suddenly you’re looking at 5 years for the Main and 15 for the Annie.
Well shucks, ain’t that a shame. The sums just don’t add up folks.
Read Henry’s emails from the takeover – his only interest was in buying a cheap asset, ‘Fenway’ing Anfield to maximise return with corporate seats and maintaining high ticket prices through limited supply.
I can never get why people say “I know they’re businessmen who see us an investment BUT…”
Agree with most what everyone has said here. I think Dan and a lot of the fans lack a fundamental understanding of what LFC are under FSG. I desperately want to win the league and be the best club in the world. But FSG are running a business- we sold Suarez, we sold Sterling, and pretty soon I think Coutinho will be out the door. For FSG, they want to win, but they want money more. We will continue to buy young promising players, develop them, and sell them in for a profit- and look I understand their position. If we get a billionaire in or a Chinese consortium, that may change but FSG are going to run their same model. Same goes for any development- they don’t have a long run view imo, they aren’t going to drop millions for something that won’t pay off before they can sell the club. A lack of understanding by Dan in the article, but I share the same hopes and desires to be the best club.
6,000 extra seats at roughly 50 quid a pop = 300k a game, or around 6m quid a year with it being unlikely any corporate facilities available. If it costs 100m to build that’s a minimum of 17 years before it has paid for itself. Even once it has it will add little to the overall income of the club with matchday becoming a lower proportion of club income.
That’s the reality of the business side of football these days.
I agree, but it’s not just about ‘business’. There was an article on here a little while ago about the success of the team feeding off the supporters and vice-versa. With more fans in the ground, that will create a better atmosphere (the ‘atmosphere’ is another debate in itself), so while from a financial point (takings per game) it may not seem logical, in terms of inspiring the team and making us successful, it has to be worth it. And, it will show their long-term intent towards the club. If they aren’t committed to the club for the next 10+ years, then sell up now (they’ll make more than a tidy profit).
FSG have been great for us, in terms of stabilising things and getting us in the right direction and have done a lot for the club. It’s not that we’re not grateful for what they’ve done – I am VERY grateful – as the article says, we need to progress further still and need ambitious owners to take us forward.
We’re Liverpool Football Club. We should be the best team in the country and the best team in Europe.
I think the 2 comparisons between us and Man Utd are somewhat misconstrued as they were in very different times. Utd did this (as mentioned above) in the time when the new money came into football and the crazy prices of today were not being thrown around in wages and transfers. However they did ‘twist’, gamble and it paid off. Saying that we are now in a time of economic uncertainty still and there lies a big problem. FSG have steadied us, nearly brought us the title but we can not compete with the big money men out there. Dunking Doughnuts and Nivea are not going to bring in the big money needed but it all helps. They are business men and not sugar daddies like the other clubs all have. To compete on them levels we need our own sugar daddy. Or we carry on with slow progress (which we are making under Klopp) but risk being left behind but the cash injections in these other clubs.
Are big stadiums all they are made out to be. Even in a 70000 crowd I would say only about 20-30000 are doing the singing. Crystal Palace for a time was believed to have one of the best atmospheres and that is such a small stadium. The bigger the stadiums get the worse the views get I feel. I must admit I do not go to many live matched these days but have been up in the gods of Newcastle ‘s St. James Park and I did not feel part of the game with players so far away. It used to have a more intimidating atmosphere especially when Newcastle scored than it seems to have now. Spend the money on the players I say at least for now.
I think the Arsenal example needs a bit more looking at.
http://swissramble.blogspot.ch/2016/10/arsenal-new-sensation.html
For the stadium the Emirates sponsorship deal covered a significant part of the development. In addition Highbury was converted into Luxury flats and fans had initially to buy season tickets in a 4 year block. so paying 4 years down from the off.
I think their cash balance show that they’ve plenty in the bank which has always been the stick to beat their persistent failure to go win anything other than to secure top 4 and keep the cash coming in.
For Arsenal the perceived view of the owners its been about staying in the top 4. My perception of our owners is for us to stay in the top half of the league.
For me the owners have built a nice extension (with a restricted view) Taking away the emotional context of Anfield as a piece of architecture the ground aesthetically looks poor, it’s a complete miss mash of different designs from different time periods with no over arching aesthetic.
Andy Heaton nicked my idea (from a post a while back, with no credit either ;-) ) of moving Walton Breck Rd to allow for development of the Kop. That along side the development of The Anny Road. would allow for a 65 plus seater stadium.
Invest in the rail line and build a stop at Cherry / Ince Avenue to cater for the extra demand in the area and run match day specials to and from town.
LCC will bend over backwards for Everton to secure this new site. The owners need to leverage that Everton bum love that’s going round City Hall at the moment and get Anfield up to the spec the club deserves
I agree with everything that has been said but I’m left imagining what it will take for us fans to stand up and protest at the apparent stalemate of our proceedings. Should it be the case that we don’t see an ambitious transfer window come the summer plus some communications regarding what the owners aspirations are for the club and the stadium in the medium term, will we amass a protest ? It just feels like with FSG doing the bare minimum it pulls the wool over many fans eyes as we fall for chasing that dangling carrot which we have been chasing since they have arrived. We’ve not won a proper trophy since they arrived (the first was all down to the King – I can’t attribute it to their ownership, albeit they appointed him and provided him with the profits gained from Torres/Mascherano & Alonso). The Main stand and Klopp are the best things they have done for the club and neither lets be honest could not have been achieved with other owners. We’re accepting our own plight with the amazing rhetoric the Americans are soo well known for. We’re too thankful towards them for what they have done, I’m not saying don’t be appreciative but imagine where we would be had we got DIFC owners ? Would we be in a better state both on the pitch and with the stadium? I’m in no doubt we would have had a stadium to compete with the rest (we CANNOT slip behind from the top 6). They’ve settled the ship… it’s time for us as fans to ensure the ship actually sails. We should not accept anything but serious ambition both on and off the pitch!
Its an interesting assessment, although with reference to the comparisons with Man Utd, it does not mention the serious levels of financial debt with which their club is currently existing. I agree with you that FSG are ‘steady’ but would suggest that is exactly what we need, not recklessness and a return to the nightmares we experienced under Hicks and Gillett
Getting too and from Anfield would not make me rush back. It’s shocking, buses to the stadium and getting out and a bus is nearly impossible. Sort out this asap. Bayern Munich have a fantastic set up.
Who would have believed that a stadium built 15 years ago and strategically positioned for easy fan access would be better than a stadium that’s been there for 130 years.
Agree with most of the comments on here, though I don’t think Everton will overtake LFC any time soon. LFC have a tremendous fan base worldwide and will grow if Klopp and Co win some trophies in the near future.
I have been to Anfield for home games and been to London for away matches. I never attended a match back when there was a standing Kop end, but watching it live on the telly was enough to see what support it brought.
Can’t say the same after personally being at Anfield. Much has changed and I don’t blame FSG for it.
As for the stadium expansion, etc FSG will continue to do steady the ship until it is time to sell. I don’t know who will buy the club then, but wish it will be someone to put us back on the map of the elite.
For now we have to look forward to scrapping with the likes of Everton and hope for a win on Saturday.
Up the Reds!!!
It defies logic. It has taken around 20 years for LFC finally to expand Anfield while United have doubled their stadium size. This year Liverpool finally expanded to 54,000 seats and every game has been a sell out. So in my eyes, for 20 years, LFC have been turning away 8,000 supporters every game(20+games a season)…talk about lost revenue. And now FSG sit on their hands and say “not sure if its financialy viable”. For god sake step back and take stock. United have around 80,000 and sell out nearly every game
(Before Chelski, before Ethiad City) LFC always were the club who bought thee marquee player/huge record signing. We still do generate vast sums but unfortunately these FSG owners just want every penny of profit they can squeeze/take, regardless.
The only way any club can compete with the two clubs mentioned above is to have someone own that club like them above. Profits have to be made, yes, but it’s down to how much a greedy owner wants.
If fans are not happy with their owners plan then ‘demonstrate’.
If FSG will not redevelop Annfield road because of their profit model then they must go, you need to force them to sell up and move on.
Anfields new main stand is now already the past.
Anfield road NEEDS redeveloping regardless; we are talking about one of thee biggest football clubs on the planet. Do you redevelop to a very high standard the whole of your house and leave an old delapedated driveway to it in place because of the cost? No; you redevelop that too. In the case of a new remodernised Anfield road stand you eventually get your money back, unlike a driveway to your house you get nothing. It’s an image thing too, it HAS to be redeveloped.
Plus as for FSG”s model of selling our star players it’s totally wrong for our standing as a super power club. In reality they are no good for Liverpool fc as a football trophy winning club, they are just milking it and basically really have to now go.
Don’t be fooled by what you see at the moment as it’s not for the LFC fans at all.