“The shovel needs to be in the ground in the next 60 days.”
It was February 2007, at the unveiling of new Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, where the latter infamously made the above claim about a new stadium for the Reds.
“We are going to build the finest stadium for the finest team in the Premier League and that is Liverpool,” Hicks joined him in declaring.
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Yet those 60 days came and went with no ground broken. It would be the first of many broken promises from Liverpool’s despised former owners.
The Reds originally started plans to replace Anfield over 20 years ago in May 2002, with the initial proposed capacity standing at 55,000 and later increased to 61,000. Two years later Liverpool were granted planning permission to build a new stadium on Stanley Park, with the City Council then handing the club a 999-year lease on the land of the proposed site in September 2006.
But it wasn’t until Hicks and Gillett’s takeover that this new stadium felt like it could soon become reality, albeit only briefly. Original stadium plans were redesigned before being approved by the council in November 2007, with construction due to start early in 2008. Scheduled to open in August 2011, this new stadium would have a capacity of 60,000 - a significant increase on Anfield’s 44,742 capacity at the time.
With Old Trafford the biggest club stadium in the United Kingdom, Liverpool had seen fierce rivals Manchester United’s ground size increase from 61,000 to 68,217 and then 76,212 as they dallied on their own plans. Meanwhile, they had seen Arsenal move to the 60,260 Emirates Stadium in 2006 with ‘60,000’ the magic number for the Reds’ new stadium throughout their years of plans.
As we know now, Hicks and Gillett’s financial troubles, having bought the club with loans, ensured they would never finance the estimated £500m to build on Stanley Park. Deadlines were missed after the American duo were ousted in favour of FSG in October 2010, having taken the club to the brink of administration, plans for a new stadium were scrapped with the Reds’ new owners preferring to redevelop Anfield instead.
Sure enough, John W. Henry and co. delivered. In April 2014, plans for a redeveloped £260m Main Stand, which involved adding a new third tier, were revealed. Adding 8,500 seats to take the stadium’s capacity to 54,742, work began the following December with the aim of being ready for the start of the 2016/17 stadium.
Officially opened for the first home game of the season as Liverpool beat Leicester City in September 2016, 14 years on from their first plans to leave Anfield and the Reds’ capacity had finally been increased - even if that magic 60,000 number still evaded them.
Yet now the club are just 12 months away from, finally, owning a stadium with this long-desired capacity. Such a total when first concocted would have left their home as the second-biggest club ground in England behind Old Trafford. Now, it’s just the going rate with Tottenham Hotspur’s rebuilt Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, standing at 62,850 and West Ham United’s London Stadium, boasting a 62,500 capacity, also bigger than Anfield along with the Emirates and Man City’s Etihad Stadium (55,017).
After expanding the Main Stand, the second phase of Anfield’s redevelopment was to redevelop the Anfield Road stand, with the initial planning permission received in 2014 granting them to add 4,825 seats to give Anfield a total 58,000 capacity. However, the club allowed such permission to lapse ahead of submitting new plans to increase their capacity to over 60,000.
Having spent the second half of 2019 finalising plans and consulting local residents, planning officials and other stakeholders, Liverpool belatedly announced they would be moving forward with the project in December 2020, having initially been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Plans were approved by Liverpool City council in June 2021 to add 7,000 seats with the £60m redevelopment seeing Anfield a total capacity of 61,000.
Set to be ready for the start of the 2023/24 season, work officially commenced in September 2021 with the first sod being turned by manager Jurgen Klopp. With the redevelopment focussing on the upper tier of the stand, construction work took place behind the existing stand ahead of being connected to the lower tier.
And having seen such work take place throughout the 2021/22 season, without affecting Anfield’s overall capacity, the club have used the current close-season to make real progress on the project.
Stunning drone footage from prolific YouTube producer Mister Drone UK , who has been publishing weekly updates from around the stadium, has shown how construction work has now reached the next level , with the first section of steps now in place in what will be the Anfield Road End's new upper tier. Also revealed, thanks to a tip-off from a channel subscriber - is the construction of the roof truss, which is being put to together in a nearby car park, ready to be lifted onto the stand by a crane.
Sporting a feel very similar to that of the redeveloped Main Stand, such work will continue throughout the upcoming season ahead of the redeveloped Anfield Road stand’s scheduled opening next summer. Once complete, their new 61,000 capacity will see Anfield leapfrog Man City’s Etihad Stadium as the fifth-biggest club stadium in England.
So once such work is complete, the inevitable question remains what comes next? The desire for further development is inevitable, with demand greater than ever as Klopp's continue to compete for every major honour and continue to establish themselves as one of Liverpool's greatest side.
With The Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand or the Kop next on the agenda, any further extensions would likely see Anfield break its long-standing record capacity of 61,905 (against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1951/52 FA Cup). Meanwhile, they'll also overtake rivals as the club chases down Old Trafford as the United Kingdom’s biggest club stadium.
Anfield was an intimidating prospect for away sides already, when standing at 44,742 and currently at 54,742, with that fear-factor in the face of the Reds roar only going to increase. Everyone's heard of Anfield's famous European nights, well they're only going to get more special.
Now, 20 years on from their original plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium and Liverpool are finally on the verge of hitting that long-desired number. For one of the very best sides in the world, with the best supporters, it's not before time.
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