Anfeld Redevelopment Plans ‘making really good progress’ says Ayre

Plans to redevelop Liverpool’s home, Anfield are still well on track according to managing director Ian Ayre.

Last October, the club announced that they would no longer be going ahead with plans to build a new stadium at neighbouring Stanley Park. 

Principal owner John W Henry has made it a priority to keep Liverpool at Anfield, saying last year he felt it was a “myth” that the club needed to move to a new ground to improve their financial prospects. 

Ayre told Sports Illustrated that an announcement on the next stage of the redevelopment could come as soon as May. 

“In order to extend Anfield, we need to acquire a bunch of privately-owned property around the stadium,” he said. “We’re making really good progress with that. 

“We have a meeting coming up in the next few weeks with the city council and ourselves and stakeholders. We said some months back it would take several months to improve that property acquisition situation. We’re definitely on target so far. 

“The No. 1 priority is to stay at Anfield, but there are two or three hoops to go through. The first is property acquisition, the second will be planning and the third will be to build the thing. I would guess our next announcement on it will come sometime in May or June.” 

Liverpool had been pursuing a new stadium at Stanley Park since 2000, but estimates suggested that building it would have cost around twice as much as redeveloping their current home. 

In addition, Henry and chairman Tom Werner were attracted to Anfield’s atmosphere and history because it reminded them of the 1912-built Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, which they also own. 

Ayre said: “We’ve always said the preference was to stay at Anfield. It’s the heart of the football club. 

“I remember the first time John and Tom came to look at Liverpool before they bought it. I was the person showing them around. When we went into Anfield, John said to me: ‘This is like Fenway. It’s the same feeling. Why would we want to build a new stadium?'”

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