DECEMBER 20
Reds confident over stadium

By Martyn Ziegler - PA Chief Sports Reporter

Liverpool insist plans for their new stadium are still on track despite some uncertainty over the long-term funding arrangements.

The club's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have had to postpone plans to borrow the £300million needed for the project until 2009 due to the global credit crunch.

Club sources say, despite this, the stadium plans are proceeding according to schedule in terms of the planning, design and initial construction of the Stanley Park ground.

Hicks and Gillett are expected to re-finance the £220million loan used to buy the club in February.

The new £350million loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland would include £60million to get work on the new stadium started and £25million to cover the cost of last summer's signings.

A club source said: "The stadium plans are still on track although, as was stated publicly earlier this week, the design may have to be scaled down in terms of extravagance.

"There is some tough talking going on between the Americans and the banks but the stadium plan is financially sound and on track."

Earlier this week, the club confirmed they had been forced to scrap their futuristic design for the stadium because of spiralling costs.

What may prove controversial however is if Hicks and Gillett follow the Glazers' example at Manchester United and put some of the new debt on the club - something the American tycoons said they would not do when they took over earlier this year.

Gillett said in February: "We have purchased the club with no debt on the club so, in that regard, it is different (to the Glazers).

"We believe in the future of the club, the future of the league, the new TV contracts are outstanding and we are proud to be a part of it."

It has also been reported that Liverpool would have to pay around £30million in interest to finance the loans.

DECEMBER 18
Stadium u-turn vital to benefit team

By Tony Barrett - Liverpool Echo

In July this year a beaming Tom Hicks told a packed Anfield press conference that he had given the go-ahead to a world class stadium which would allow Liverpool to “compete with the Manchester Uniteds, Real Madrids and Barcelonas of
the football world”.

The Texan millionaire was justifiably proud of the design by his favourite architects, Dallas-based HKS, which dazzled everyone present and caused huge excitement amongst the Liverpool fans.

Not only would the new stadium be unique, it would also service the financial requirements of a major European club for years to come.

Everything seemed perfect – a 76,000 capacity to allow more Liverpool fans than ever before to see the team play on a regular basis; vastly increased match day revenue to put the club on a more even footing with the likes of United; and a stunning architectural design the likes of which has never been seen before in this country.

But there was one big, insurmountable problem – it was simply too expensive for Liverpool to pay for it.

Forget talks of credit crunches and the sub prime crisis in the US making borrowing increasingly prohibitive, when it came down to it the HKS design was too expensive.

There were those within the club who feared as much in the first place but Hicks, in particular, remained confident that the stadium was deliverable, hence his pride at the launch presentation.

But when the cost of building the stadium and fitting it out reached a staggering £450m – despite initial estimates suggesting it would cost around £150m less – Hicks was forced to order a complete rethink. It was back to the drawing board.

The alternative was to plough ahead with the HKS design regardless, running the risk of having a white elephant of a stadium built which would have looked great but severely restricted the club's ability to compete in the transfer market.

And seeing as the avowed reason for building the stadium in the first place was to facilitate progress on the pitch, that was never going to be a realistic option.

Now the club is weighing up new plans submitted by HKS and Manchester firm AFL, both of which would allow for a capacity of around 70,000 at a more manageable price.

Chief executive Rick Parry has insisted that whichever set of plans is approved will give the fans something to be proud of and, as a qualified accountant, he will no doubt be delighted that more cost effective, if less ambitious, options are now being considered.

Significantly, plans for a single tier Kop – which Hicks was determined to incorporate into the design after seeing the world's most famous stand in all its glory during the Champions League clash with Barcelona last season – has been retained by both firms of architects.

There is no doubt within the corridors of power at Anfield that the new stadium will be built and there remains a great confidence that it will be ready for the start of the 2011/12 season.

Similarly, club chiefs are unshakeable in their belief that the stadium will be among the finest in Europe when it is completed.

The revised design submitted by HKS is believed to be only slightly dissimilar to the futuristic design which caused such excitement in the summer andAFL’s effort is understood to be a great improvement on their original effort.

But when decision time comes around in the New Year they will also be acutely aware that this time they have to get it right if they are to retain the confidence of the fans.

Another false dawn would be disastrous for the club and would leave Hicks and Gillett facing awkward questions about their stewardship of one of the biggest names in world football.

The Americans have shown their ambition and they have made all the right noises. Now they have to prove that they can deliver on their promises at a price which allows Liverpool to remain competitive in the transfer market and does not saddle them with the kind of debt which would stymie progress on the pitch.

It is a big ask but if Hicks and Gillett really want Liverpool to compete with the Man Uniteds, Real Madrids and Barcelonas of world football it is a challenge they must meet.

And should they do so, there is no reason why Tom Hicks cannot wear that beaming smile once again.

DECEMBER 17
Liverpool downgrade stadium plan

BBC Sport Online

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry says spiralling costs have forced the club to scale back plans for a futuristic new stadium.

The Reds are still committed to building a new 70,000-capacity ground.

But Parry said the design would be "slightly downgraded" from plans released earlier this year.

"It will be a massive improvement on where we were 12 months ago, if not quite as dramatic as the plans unveiled in the summer," said Parry.

"We are now considering two schemes but the stadium will be a 70,000-seater.

"The new stadium will be a significant improvement on the original plans and a slightly downgraded version of the new ones.

"The single tier Kop remains fundamental to the design and we are not expecting any delays - it should be on schedule for 2011."

The cost for the proposed stadium in Stanley Park was estimated at £400m, but that figure is now set to be reduced.

DECEMBER 15
Reds rubbish 'stadium scrapped' reports

Liverpool Echo

Liverpool FC today rubbished reports they had pulled the plug on plans for the new Anfield.

Certain media outlets reported the club were set to scrap plans for their new £400m stadium because funding for it has been hit by the crackdown on worldwide credit markets.

It was claimed the volatile financial situation was going to force American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett into taking on a smaller loan and see them ditch the revised plans for a 70,000 seat arena in favour of the original 60,000-capacity project.

The reports also stated the project would cost around £700m.

But Reds chief executive Rick Parry has today moved to assure fans there is nothing in the reports and the Stanley Park scheme is still on-track.

Parry told the club website: “'We remain absolutely committed to the building of a new stadium which will improve on the original design inherited by Tom Hicks and George Gillett when they came into the club.

“It will have a capacity of around 70,000, be higher quality and have a substantially increased Kop which will form the centrepiece of the new plans.

“Ever since the original designs were unveiled, we have been continuously revising and refining with the intention of delivering the best possible solution to our future needs.

“The situation in the credit markets has not affected our design, programme, or implementation of building our new stadium.

“The priority has always been to build a winning team on the pitch and everything else we do is geared towards that.”

The ECHO exclusively revealed the proposed look for the new stadium back in July.

It will be built next to a community partnership centre, club museum and shop, club offices and a conference and banquet centre.

LFC also want to build a car park for 970 vehicles together with a hotel, commercial offices, retail outlets for food and drink, and housing on the existing Anfield site.

The unique glass and steel dominated structure will ultimately be capable of housing almost 80,000 fans, hopefully before the first game is played in August 2010.

NOVEMBER 6
Liverpool get go-ahead for new stadium

Reuters

Liverpool's plans to leave Anfield and move to a new 60,000-seat stadium were given the green light by city authorities on Tuesday, the club said.

The construction of the new 300 million pounds ($626.2 million) stadium in Stanley Park a few hundred metres from the present ground, will begin early next year after revised plans were approved.

The new Anfield, which will be completed in 2011, could hold a lot more than the originally-envisaged 60,000 and another planning application is likely to be submitted once building work gets underway.

Chief executive Rick Parry told www.liverpoolfc.tv: "This is very good news and we're obviously very happy. We got unanimous approval from the planning committee which is very gratifying.

"This gives us the ability to build a structure, and that structure would be capable of taking significantly more than 60,000."

Parry said that while the opening will now be 12 months later than originally thought, the end product would be worth the wait. "We will be very proud of what we have. Whether it will be the best depends on what other clubs do in the future, but we're certainly setting our sights high," he said.

"The message for the fans is it will give us the revenues to make sure we continue to compete on the pitch. That's the whole purpose of the exercise. It's not about building monuments, it's making sure we're competitive."

The club said it now has to wait four months for any legal challenges or intervention from the secretary of state.

The plans include a copy of the Premier League club's landmark steeply-banked Kop end as an integral part of the design.

Moving from Anfield is an emotive subject for fans of the five-times European champions, but chief executive Rick Parry has said the new Kop end would become the "heartbeat" of the four-sided stadium.

Liverpool's current Anfield capacity of 45,000 puts them at a disadvantage to the likes of Manchester United (76,000) and Arsenal (60,000).

NOVEMBER 6
Stadium plans go before planners

BBC Sport Online

Liverpool Football Club's plans for a new stadium are set to go before the city council's planning committee.

The projected cost of building the Stanley Park stadium is thought to have risen to about £400m.

It will have a capacity of 60,000 - 15,000 more than Anfield - but that could increase to 75,000 in the future.

One of the club's American owners, Tom Hicks, said he was "excited" by the plans, which will give the club amenities it has never had.

Mr Hicks and co-owner George Gillett took over when plans for the stadium were well advanced and wanted to satisfy themselves that it was right for the club and the fans.

About £5m of European money had been set aside for a new community partnership centre at the stadium.

But delays to the work means the money cannot be used by the December 2008 deadline.

Instead, the football club is going to meet the cost of building the centre and the money will be ploughed back into the community.

Mr Hicks said he thought the stadium would give fans "amenities, comfort and ease of getting tickets they have never had before".

OCTOBER 30
Liverpool urge speedy action
over new stadium start

By Greg O'Keeffe - Liverpool Echo

Council officials are being urged to approve Liverpool FC’s vision for a new £400m stadium.

The plans for the 60,000 seater ground in Stanley Park received the go-ahead from city council planners before a vital meeting next week.

Now club officials will hope that councillors agree with their planners at the meeting on Tuesday.

If that happens the plans need only a rubber-stamp from the government to pave the way for building work to begin before Christmas.

Councillors will be taken on a tour of the proposed site of the ground during the meeting and be shown where the stadium would be built, next to a community partnership centre, club museum and shop, club offices and a conference and banquet centre.

The club also want to build a car park for 970 vehicles together with a hotel, commercial offices, retail outlets for food and drink, and housing on the existing Anfield site.

The unique glass and steel dominated structure will ultimately be capable of housing almost 80,000 fans.

Initially permission will be sought to house 60,000 supporters, though Liverpool hope they will be cleared to fit it out to its maximum potential capacity, understood to be around 76,000, when the first game is played in August 2010.

Previous plans for a new ground were approved by the council before the club’s takeover by American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

But concerns surfaced over how the plan would be funded so chief executive Rick Parry decided to completely re-model the club’s vision under its new ownership.

The new ground could transform Anfield.

OCTOBER 26
Liverpool stadium costs rise to £400m

By Alan Weston - Liverpool Daily Post

The cost of Liverpool FC’s new stadium on Stanley Park has risen steeply, it was revealed last night.

Tom Hicks, one of the club’s new American owners, has disclosed that the cost of the new stadium – due to open in August, 2011 – will now be at least £400m.

This is £100m more than the previous figure for the project, which is due to go before a special sitting of the city council’s planning committee next month for final approval.

Hicks and fellow American George Gillett took over Liverpool in March and have since revamped the club’s plans for a new stadium.

Hicks, who was attending a global sports industry forum in London ahead of Sunday’s NFL game between the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins, admitted the projected cost had risen to “at least £400m.”

But he added: “I'm so excited about the new stadium because we'll be able to go do things for the fans we’ve never been able to do for them.”

The stadium will have a capacity of 60,000 – 15,000 more than Anfield – when it opens but that could increase to 75,000 in the future.

Hicks said: “Our fans are wonderful and over time we’ll be able to give them the amenities, comfort and ease of getting tickets they’ve never had before.”

He said neither he nor Gillett had any intention of cashing in on any future revenues at Anfield.

“People get involved in sport mainly because they have a passion rather than for the money,” he said. “There are far better investments I could make than buying a football team.”

US-based architects and planners are currently working alongside British design teams and the city council’s planning department on the scheme.

The move comes just weeks after the final slice of public funding for the Stanley Park project was agreed by the board of the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The board agreed to award £9.3m to add to the £9m already given from the European Objective 1 fund.

The cash will go towards refurbishing Stanley Park and building a new community partnership centre alongside the new ground. It is hoped the improvement scheme will give historic Stanley Park its biggest-ever facelift.

Business Editor Bill Gleeson analyses the cost rise

The rise in the cost of Liverpool FC’s new stadium can hardly be a surprise, even up to £400m. After all, the cost of both the London Olympics and the new Wembley soared.

The principal reason is the rising cost of steel, driven by strong demand from China.

This has been the bane of this project from the start. While Liverpool has edged its way slowly through Britain’s slow grant culture and planning processes, the Chinese have got on with build- ing big public projects such as transport infrastructure of the Olympics, and in so doing, driving up the cost OF the essential raw material of civil engineering.

Another obvious reason for the rise in the cost of Liverpool’s new stadium is the fact that it has been redesigned to be bigger. It takes more steel to house a bigger capacity crowd.

While the club’s new owners ambitions for their new stadium appear great, there is one big question that fans ought to be asking: how is £400m going to be repaid? Rest assured, nothing is for free and payback day will come.

So far, there has been a lack of trans- parency in one important aspect of the Americans ownership of Liverpool.

The Gilletts and Hicks families have taken out huge loans to pay for their acquisition and the stadium. These loans come with big interest payments. Where does the money for those interest payments come from and when will it be paid over to the banks?

One other big issue that has emerged to afflict the whole corporate lending market in the past few months is the credit crunch. There is less money around today than there was in spring. The chances are, though, that with their substantial family wealth to back them, the Americans won’t be thought of as a bad credit risk.

OCTOBER 14
Date set to decide fate of
Liverpool FC's new stadium

By Larry Neild - Liverpool Daily Post

A crucial decision on Liverpool FC’s revised plans for its new stadium on Stanley Park will be made on October 30.

A special sitting of the city council’s planning committee will spend the day studying the proposals before making a final decision on the £300m project.

Last night, city council regeneration executive member Cllr Mike Storey said: “The right decision on the day will pave the way for a start on the new stadium early in 2008. This is so important not just for the club, but the Anfield community and the city as a whole.

“Liverpool FC is so crucial to our growing tourism sector. On match days every hotel room in the city is taken. I am delighted to see the scheme moving forward and look forward to seeing work start as soon as possible.”

Previous plans have already won approval and supporters of the new scheme are confident of winning official backing for the amended planning application.

Committee members will head for Stanley Park for a visit to the proposed stadium site before debating the scheme.

Last night, council sources said the American owners of the club, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, were pulling out all the stops to ensure planning documents and drawings were ready in time for what will be a crucial meeting.

US-based architects and planners are currently working alongside British design teams and the city council’s planning department.

The move comes just weeks after the final slice of public funding for the Stanley Park project was agreed by the board of the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The board agreed to an award of £9.3m to add to the £9m already given from the European Objective 1 fund.

The public cash will go towards refurbishing Stanley Park and building a new community partnership centre alongside the new ground. It is hoped the improvement scheme will give historic Stanley Park its biggest-ever facelift.

If the new plans are agreed at the end of this month, it will enable work on the new ground to start early in 2008, with opening planned for the start of the 2010/11 season.

The new plans are vastly different to the original proposals, hence the new planning application.

The scale of the project remains the same, with permission being sought for a 60,000-seater stadium, but there will be the possibility of extensions to add thousands of extra seats.

SEPTEMBER 21
Funding in place for new Liverpool stadium

Liverpool Daily Post

The final slice of public funding for the scheme that will see a new home for Liverpool FC in Stanley Park was agreed last night.

The board of the Northwest Regional Development Agency voted an award of £9.3m to add to the £9m already given from the European Objective 1 fund.

The decision paves the way for Liverpool FC’s new owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, to start work on a new home for the club once their new planning application is approved.

Last night, Steve Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, welcomed the decision of his board.

He said: “The £18m of NWDA and Objective 1 money will lever in a private investment of around £300m and that is a tremendous return. The scheme is extremely important for the regeneration of Anfield and Beckfield.

“The cash will go towards refurbishing the park and building a new community partnership centre alongside the new ground. The decision is a major step towards carrying out this project.”

Liverpool City Council has agreed to underwrite any losses incurred by the NWDA should the US-based owners fail to secure private sector cash for the new stadium.

But there is confidence within the council and the NWDA that there will be no financial hurdles for the two owners, despite reported problems due to the current credit crunch.

With the new planning application going to the planning committee within months it means work on the new ground could start early in 2008, with opening planned for the start of the 2010/11 season.

The cash has been earmarked for an improvement scheme in Stanley Park which will see the historic park given its biggest- ever facelift.

There was a slight possibility that the vital public funding may not have been granted, and that could have meant the entire project being halted or held up.

This is because the whole scheme is dependent on the new stadium being built as part of an overall regeneration package.

The NWDA, set up to help improve the quality of life and economic prosperity in the region, has awarded the grant in an attempt to drive forward the proposed development and regeneration of the Anfield area of the city.

The proposed scheme includes the creation of a shop-lined plaza on the current ground site and also the restoration of surrounding historic structures in the park, which was awarded planning permission earlier this week.

The new stadium will have a stone-work base on the north, west and east sides with mainly glass facades above. The south side will be clad in metal and overlook the Plaza.

One striking feature of the ground will see the south east and south west corners of the stadium visually open, providing views from the park deep into its heart.

The new LFC ground will also incorporate dedicated facilities for the Anfield Sport and Community Centre and Liverpool Hope University, with external facilities including tennis courts and multi-use games areas.

JULY 26
Sponsorship deal for
new Anfield is worth millions

By Ian Doyle & David Bartlett - Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC wants to raise £100m in a deal that will see a corporate sponsor awarded naming rights to its new stadium, it emerged last night.

Chief executive Rick Parry confirmed the club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, were keen to secure a sponsorship package similar to the one Arsenal signed for its new Emirates stadium.

It comes after Liverpool yesterday submitted a planning application for a spectacular 60,000-seater stadium which it wants to build on Stanley Park over the next three years.

It is expected to cost around £300m and is planned to be open for the start of the 2010-11 season. The design also allows the club to increase the capacity to a potential 76,000.

In an exclusive interview from America with the Daily Post, billionaire Mr Hicks said he expected the finance to be fully in place by the end of the planning process this autumn.

He said the funding would involve a combination of equity and project finance, which was typical of this type of development.

He stressed the construction was not dependent on the naming rights being sold and that the “mortgage-style” debt on the stadium would be serviced by increased revenues over a period of 25-30 years.

“The new stadium is the single most important thing in helping Liverpool remain competitive with the Manchester Uniteds, Real Madrids and Barcelonas of the footballing world,” said Mr Hicks.

A major part of the new ground will be the 18,000-capacity Kop end, almost half as big again as the current Kop.

The dramatic glass and steel design allows views of the Kop from the outside to give a feel of the atmosphere inside on approach to the ground.

“We challenged the architects to do something that would be unique to Liverpool, something that would be world class, that would encompass the Kop and something that would be recognisable to the world as Liverpool’s,” said Mr Hicks.

A construction agent for the new stadium has not yet been announced. No-one from Laing O'Rourke, which was due to build the previous ground, and is being tipped by trade press as a front runner to take on the scheme, was available for comment yesterday.

Speaking in Hong Kong on the club’s tour of Asia, Liverpool’s chief executive Rick Parry said the new stadium would allow the club to compete with European heavyweights in financial terms.

Manchester United earn around £2m more per home game than Liverpool due to their larger stadium and greater corporate facilities. Liverpool hope to close that gap once they move to the new stadium.

Mr Parry said no decision had yet been taken on naming rights but said Tom Hicks and George Gillett were keen to explore the options for a deal.

“It’s something we will look to do or start on quickly, I would say within a matter of months,” he said. “It has to be somebody whose name and reputation match our own.

“It is certainly something that has to be complete before the stadium is finished.

“Arsenal got a very significant deal for the Emirates Stadium. And some of the figures coming out of the latest developments in America are very high.

“It’s certainly possible to have a total deal over a period of years that runs into tens of millions, if not more.”

Emirates Airlines are paying £100m to sponsor Arsenal’s new Ashburton Grove stadium over a 15-year period.

While Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium has grown to a 75,000-seater arena, the present Anfield has a capacity of only 45,000 and far fewer corporate boxes.

“When we started this process about five or six years ago, we sat down and one of our concerns is that we were earning £1m less than Manchester United every home game,” said Mr Parry.

“Since then, United have increased their capacity twice, so the gap is significantly greater now.’’

“Hopefully the new stadium will give us more money to spend ultimately because it will generate greater revenues and that’s the whole point with the extra capacity.”

Mr Parry said a final decision had not been taken on the number of corporate boxes, but it would be more than at present.

The revised plan has been produced by leading architects HKS based in Dallas, the home of Tom Hicks.

An eight metre hollow will be dug into the park near Arkles Lane and Priory Road to avoid causing controversy or breach planning rules.

It is envisaged there will be a car park below the stadium, and as exclusively revealed by the Daily Post last year, corporate bunker suites overlooking the pitch.

The new ground will also incorporate dedicated facilities for the Anfield Sport and Community Centre and Liverpool Hope University and external facilities will include tennis courts and new multi-use games area.

The north and east facades will overlook Priory Road and Utting Avenue respectively, looking across gardens.

The south side will have a more formal appearance at the northern edge to the new Anfield Plaza development which will replace the current ground.

The stadium will have a stonework base on the north, west and east sides with mainly glass facades above. The south side will be clad in metal and overlook the Plaza.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said he was “blown away” by the plans and manager Rafael Benitez said: “The plans for the new stadium are absolutely fantastic.

“It looks very different to other stadiums I have seen. There are a lot of windows and it really is ground-breaking in terms of stadium design.”

Steven Gerrard said: “It’s amazing and the best thing about it, I think, is that it’s so different to any other.

“We are Liverpool Football Club, We expect the best and this will be the best.

“ I’ve played in some special stadiums but this is something special and it’s so important that we are not seen to be copying off another club.

“The fact that a massive Kop stand will be incorporated into the new stadium is great.

“I just hope I’m still around when the day comes for us to play our first game in it.”

JULY 26
New £5m train station could
be ready in time for ground opening

By David Bartlett . Liverpool Daily Post

A new train station needed to allow Liverpool FC to have an expanded 76,000-seater stadium can be ready by the time
the ground opens in 2010.

Neil Scales, chief executive of Mersey-travel, last night revealed it would cost between £4m and £5m for a new passenger station to be built on the Bootle Line, which is used for freight.

Three sites are being considered for the station, which will be a replica of Aintree station, designed to deal with large crowds to the Grand National racecourse.

Economist Peter Stoney predicted an additional 15,000 fans travelling to the 60,000-seater stadium would bring in £8m extra into the economy each year and double if the stadium expanded to 76,000 seats.

Earlier this month the Daily Post revealed Liverpool would need a new train station if the capacity was to increase to 76,000.

A transport and environmental analysis will need to be carried out before a second application is made.

The Bootle line is a four-mile stretch between Edge Hill and Canada Dock. It closed to passengers in 1977 when the Merseyrail loop line opened.

Mr Scales said: “We have got three potential sites within walking distance of the ground. On the station front we would use the same design as Aintree so it can deal with spikes in crowds (1,000 people arriving in one go).

“The station would cost between £4m and £5m, and we think it’s do-able by 2010.”

Signals will have to be upgraded which have to be done in co-operation with Network Rail.

Mr Scales said the authority was also working with the council on improvements like better pavements and pedestrian crossings.

A major regeneration package attached to the stadium means millions of pounds will also be spent on Stanley Park to make up for the loss of land.

JULY 26
Legends say move with confidence

By David Bartlett - Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC legends said the new ground will never replace Anfield but there’s no reason it can’t be as intimidating for visiting teams.

Former defender Mark Lawrenson said: “The supporters have known for a long time about the move, so they have got over the apprehension.”

“Everyone has got used to the fact they are going to move and that’s the way it’s going to be.

“The Kop has not been the same since it went all-seater.

“From what I saw it will look fantastic, they will need a few people to clean the windows.”

He said the atmosphere would depend on how close the pitch was the seats and how much space was given over to corporate section.

He said it would not be better than Anfield. “There’s something about Anfield, which is history and tradition.”

And the club’s legendary “super-sub” David Fairclough, said: “It’s revolutionary. It’s a move away from the everyday stadium that you tend to see these days which tend to be like model kits.”

“I think it is great that new owners decided to step back a bit from the original drawings.

“Anfield was fantastic but it is time to move on, we can’t be stuck in a time warp.”

JULY 25
Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher
hail new stadium plan

By John Thompson - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard today admitted he was ‘blown away’ when he first saw the designs for Liverpool’s
new £300m stadium.

Gerrard joined manager Rafa Benitez and a number of Anfield stars in looking forward with excitement to the opening of the stadium in 2010 - hopefully by then housing around 76,000 fans.

He said: “To be honest I knew it was going to be great but after spending five minutes looking at the plans I was just completely blown away by it.”

Benitez described the designs as ‘absolutely fantastic’ and said he hoped to lead Liverpool in winning more trophies in their new home.

And Jamie Carragher added: “The plans are spectacular. I’ve never seen a football ground like it and that’s what makes it so special.”

JULY 25
Rick Parry: The new Kop is our heartbeat

By John Thompson - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry today spoke of the desire to build the Reds’ new stadium around the club’s “heartbeat” – the famous Anfield Kop.

He praised new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett for their role in producing world class designs for the new ground.

Parry, currently in Hong Kong on the Reds tour of Asia, said: “It is very exciting. We have three key features to the new stadium.

“Firstly there is the Kop, which will be as close as we can get to recreating the heady days of the 60, 70s and 80s.

“There will be eighteen thousand seats, steeply raked and tightly packed with a roof, very much designed to provide every possible acoustic benefit to preserve the atmosphere.

“That is the heartbeat of the stadium.

“Secondly, this will be uniquely Liverpool – it couldn’t conceivably be anywhere else.

“Wherever anyone is in the world, they will say when they see it ‘Liverpool’. Certainly, that’s the hope.

“And in terms of design the third key feature is that it absolutely fits Stanley Park. It is a stadium designed for the park, not just in the park.

“Each stand faces different directions and takes full advantage of the topography (detailed features) of the park.”

The architects behind the plan, who are understood to have been working around the clock to get it ready in record time, are HKS.

The ninth largest firm of architects in the world and the 4th largest in America, they are based in Dallas, home to Tom Hicks.

HKS designed the Rangers Ballpark, the stadium used by Hicks’ baseball team the Texas Rangers as well as the American Airlines Centre which houses his ice hockey team Dallas Stars.

PARRY said: “HKS have responded brilliantly to quite a challenging brief, to capture the essence of Liverpool and what it is about, but doing so also in a way which is fresh and modern.

“They have done a fantastic job and it is testament to the new owners who wanted to pause for breath before going on with the original design.

“That pause has been a pause worth taking.

“Clearly we had been looking for the right investors for a number of years – people who had the resource and the commitment to help to get us at the level we wanted to be at.

“The stadium was one of the greatest challenges facing us.

“So there was never any looking back or regret – we were just pleased we had owners who have that vision and commitment enabling us to produce what will be a spectacular stadium development, not just for the club but for the whole of the city of Liverpool.

“It is a city on the move and a city that deserves world class developments, one which in this case I am sure the supporters can be proud of.”

Asked about the impressions released now and the work that has gone into today’s announcement, Parry added: “Obviously we saw some of the ideas the architects came up with before we got to this point.

“As I say, the idea first of all was the need to preserve the Kop. That was the cornerstone of the brief we gave them.

“I think they were very conscious of the need to create something sympathetic to Stanley Park – and we have achieved that extremely well.

“There’s a lot of glass in the design. It’s light and it’s airy, not so much an intrusion but a real feature.

“A lot of fans who come to Anfield now can visit the museum and walk around the edge of what we have. But it is a bit fortress-like.

“But this design enables people to get up close and see into it on non-match days.

“It really will help to boost the economy of north Liverpool. It’s a magnet which will draw people in.

“It was clear the architects were intent on the need to address the park appropriately.

“The third idea was tremendous coming from American architects. They said very early on they did not want to produce an American-style bowl.

“Most football grounds they looked at were asymmetric. The stands were developed at different times. The architects decided it would be exciting to use that concept and not to be apologetic about it. That was very clever.

“So we have seen the evolution of this through stages.

“When it all came together and we saw the outline and the perspective for the first time it was stunning and spectacular.

“It is world class.”

JULY 25
Twists & turns in road to big deal

Liverpool Echo

June 2000: Plans for 70,000-seater New Anfield at Stanley Park. First images unveiled.

January 2001: Speculation the club has lined up Speke as a possible substitute.

May 2002: Consultants GVA Grimley say building a new stadium is better than rebuilding Anfield.

October 2002: 19,000 residents support new ground.

October 2003: Planning application for £80m, 60,000-seater stadium submitted.

July 2004: Planning permission granted by Liverpool council.

August 2004: Deputy prime minister John Prescott agrees not to call in plan.

January 2005: Talks over sharing new stadium with Everton FC collapse.

February 2005: Liverpool still waiting for decision on £23m funding from North-west Development Agency.

March 2005: NWDA says it still wants clubs to ground-share. Cost of the stadium is estimated to be rising by £750,000 a month and now standing at £120m.

June 2005: The ECHO reveals the NWDA will not put taxpayers’ money into the stadium scheme but will consider funding the regeneration of Anfield and Breckfield.

February 2006: The NWDA privately agrees to put about £10m towards the project’s regeneration elements.

September 2006: Liverpool land 999-year, £300,000-a-year lease on part of Stanley Park. Club given £9m Euro grant after assuring officials it can afford ground.

February 2007: American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks buy club and say work will start on ground in two months.

March 2007: Gillett and Hicks order a review of stadium design to see if it can be made bigger.

April 2007: Shared stadium deal killed off for good.

July 2007: New construction timetable means ground will not open until August 2010.

JULY 16
New rail link crucial for
80,000-seat stadium plan

By Larry Neild - Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool's new American owners will have to bankroll a new rail link if they want to increase the capacity of the new Stanley Park stadium beyond 60,000, it has emerged.

Joint owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are on the verge of submitting what are described as “stunning” plans for a new home for the Reds.

Although the two partners have made it clear they want a ground able to accommodate between 70,000 and 80,000 crowds, they have accepted it is impossible in the immediate future to exceed the 60,000 already agreed by planners.

Sources close to the stadium project say the owners know they will have to pay a large chunk of a scheme to enable thousands extra to reach the new stadium, and that leaves them with just one option – a new rail link. Their advisers are already studying the prospects of bringing back into passenger use a rail link closed around 30 years ago. It would open up the so-called Bootle line to passenger trains, giving a direct access to the new ground from Lime Street Station.

The line is currently used by freight traffic from Liverpool docks, linking to the main rail network close to Edge Hill.

Liverpool FC will not seek permission at this stage to build a bigger ground.

But, as exclusively predicted in the Daily Post earlier this year, the new plans will enable the ground to be enlarged later on, building up the capacity.

However, to win the go-ahead for a capacity beyond 60,000, the club will have to undertake a detailed transport impact plan to demonstrate how crowds of up to 20,000 more can reach the stadium without overwhelming the road and rail infrastructure.

Revised stadium plans will be submitted to the city council on July 25.

Last night, the prospect of re-opening the Bootle line to passenger traffic was welcomed by Cllr Mark Dowd, chairman of the region’s transport body, Merseytravel.

He said: “If the needs of Liverpool FC is the catalyst that finally sees the re-opening of this line to passengers, I welcome it. For some years, I have wanted to see the use of this rail link to passengers.

“It would provide a good service to people in the Aintree area and would revolutionise public transport in North Merseyside.

“I travelled along the line by train not so long ago to check out its feasibility, and it would provide an exceptionally good public transport link. The line already takes trains carrying 1,000 tonnes of freight a time, so passenger trains would be no problem.”

To win consent for an enlarged station, Liverpool FC’s owners would have to make a contribution, likely to run into several millions of pounds, towards the cost of a new station and other necessary works to re-establish a rail link. Sources close to the debate say, without a commitment to the rail link, the club’s owners would find it difficult, if not impossible, to extend the stadium.

But the rewards for the club by expanding the ground would be so huge that the outlay in rail infrastructure would be modest compared to the rewards it would generate.

JULY 13
Liverpool FC: We’ll build
our new stadium by 2010

By Nick Coligan - Liverpool Echo

The ECHO can today reveal the detailed timetable to deliver Liverpool FC’s new stadium.

Anfield officials have delivered precise plans to the city council which would lead to work starting in Stanley Park by the end of the year.

Despite calling back the bulldozers who were due to start work in May, the club is confident the 60,000-capacity stadium will still be ready for the start of the 2010 season.

The £280m project’s new timescale was revealed today as city officials waited for the club to unveil its redrawn proposals for New Anfield.

Reds’ owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks decided to go back to the drawing board after buying the club to see if stadium capacity could be increased beyond 60,000.

As revealed in Monday’s ECHO, the American owners intend to retain the original capacity, but redesign it significantly so it can be expanded later.

Now Liverpool council is being given a firm timescale which the club hopes to stick to. It would mean:

A planning application being lodged on July 25.

The council granting planning permission by the end of October.

Government officials agreeing not to intervene by the end of November.

Work starting at the end of the year.

Councillors will also be asked to agree a 999-year lease for the site to new company Stadco, which is being set up by Liverpool to develop the ground.

The club would have to pay rent of £300,000 a year.

Plans to refurbish the rest of Stanley Park have not changed, although a proposal to convert the Isla Gladstone conservatory into a facility similar to Sefton Park’s palm house has now emerged.

Cllr Berni Turner, executive member for the environment, said: “We are thinking about something like a cafe bar, which would be available for weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs.”

Rent money received from Liverpool, along with £350,000 a year from the council’s own budget, will be used to maintain the park and conservatory for years to come.

The plans will be discussed by councillors at a meeting next week.

The timetable

JULY 25 , 2007 – this is the date that Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks says the revised plans will be submitted to Liverpool council, a month later than originally planned.

OCTOBER 2007 – the council will then face a race against time to re-examine the proposals and decide whether to grant planning perm-ission. To meet this deadline, the club will have to make sure the scheme is not dramat-ically different to its predecessor in terms of capacity and impact on the surrounding area. The original scheme was approved in summer 2004.

NOVEMBER 2007 – possibly the most crucial date. The government office for the north west will have to decide whether Liverpool’s plans should be “called in” for further investigation, sparking a public inquiry. This would delay the scheme by several months.

Park revamp still on

Liverpool council insisted the stadium review would not affect plans to refurbish the rest of Stanley Park.

Regardless of any changes to the new ground, it will still contain a community centre. Talks continue about providing extra facilities elsewhere in north Liverpool.

Anfield Plaza, a new district centre of shops, restaurants and homes, will be created on the current stadium site, possibly with the pitch as a centrepiece.

A 24-hour security service, including CCTV, will be set up around the stadium, integrated within a surveillance proposal for the park and Gladstone conservatory.

Improvements to pavements, roads, pedestrian crossings and coach parking are planned, while new park-and-ride sites will be set up and the matchday residents-only parking zone expanded.

Seven-year struggle for new Anfield

June 2000: Plans for 70,000-seater stadium unveiled.

October 2003: Planning application for £80m, 60,000-seater stadium submitted.

July 2004: Permission given.

August 2004: John Prescott agrees not to call in plan.

January 2005: Shared stadium talks collapse.

March 2005: Stadium costs estimated at £120m.

July 2006: Liverpool insist they can afford their share of the now-£190m project.

September 2006: £9m European grant agreed.

February 2007: George Gillett and Tom Hicks take over – work to start within 60 days.

March 2007: Owners discuss increasing capacity with planners.

April 2007: Shared stadium idea finally killed. Work due to start in May.

July 2007: Hicks says new planning application for redesigned 60,000-seater stadium will be submitted at end of month.

Plans for a northern palm house

Exciting plans could see an historic north Liverpool building turned into the area’s version of the Sefton Park palm house.

The derelict Isla Gladstone conservatory could be restored to its former glory as part of the renovation of Stanley Park.

Council officials have asked experts to draw up a detailed proposal to use the grade II-listed structure as a catering facility.

It could then be leased and run as a commercial enterprise.

The conservatory was designed by Edinburgh firm Mackenzie and Moncur and opened in 1899, 29 years after Stanley Park was created.

JULY 9
Anfield will be biggest in
Premiership, say owners

By Jessica Shaughnessy - Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool fc’s American owners have reaffirmed their plans to make the club’s new stadium the biggest Premiership ground in the country.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett revealed they will submit a revised plan to Liverpool City Council on July 25. It is the first time supporters have been given a concrete time-scale.

The proposals will detail designs for a spectacular 60,000 capacity stadium that could eventually be expanded to host almost 80,000.

This would make Liverpool’s new ground bigger than Manchester United’s stadium at Old Trafford, which is currently British football’s largest.

“The city council’s planners will receive the final plans on July 25,” said Hicks.

“The initial capacity will be the 60,000 previously approved, but the design will accommodate an eventual capacity in the high seventies.”

Soon after their take-over earlier this year, the billionaires ordered a review of the plans for the Stanley Park stadium.

They made the plans for the club’s new home, which will be up and running in 2010, their top priority.

The Daily Post has reported closely on how the pair were always keen to look into ways of increasing the 61,000 capacity in the current proposals.

To completely overhaul the plans and transform the designs into an 80,000 seater-stadium would mean massive delays.

The project team would have to undergo another round of extensive environmental impact assessments, which could take up to a year to complete.

It is hoped that by altering the current plans, with the potential to extend seating capacity once it is completed, the club could by-pass this lengthy and costly process.

But the altered designs are understood to be drastically different in aesthetic terms from the originals. The Kop is believed to be a key feature, but it will be raised and very steep, in order to fit in more rows.

The foundations of the stadium will be lowered to enable the club to build on top of it when required.

There was a mixed response to the news on Liverpool supporters’ internet forums yesterday.

Many fans were trawling websites in search of an elusive picture of the new plans.

Images have been posted on several sites in recent weeks, but none have been confirmed as the true designs and the pictures have all been removed shortly afterwards, adding to the suspense before the plans are officially unveiled.

In a string of discussion threads, fans speculated yesterday about the cost of tickets for the new stadium. But there was an overriding support for building it as big as possible to enable more fans to get into games.

Last night Les Lawson, secretary of the Merseyside branch of the Official LFC Supporters Club, welcomed the plans.

He said: “The current stadium fits 45,000. We have 30,000 season ticket holders and a waiting list of 53,000.

“A stadium with the capacity to fit more and more of these people in is just what the club needs.

“If we are going to rebuild, we need to get it right.”

Thor Zakariassen ©