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**Please note: Since writing
this article the club has announced that the plans below have
been shelved. Financial constraints have been cited with
the downturn in the American markets affecting the amount of
money the club can borrow to finance the new stadium. New
plans are due to be released by the end of January 2008.
Personally we feel the whole situation has been poorly managed
by the owners and Rick Parry, who should not have promoted the
stadium plans until the financing was fully in place. We
wait with baited breath for the new plans, which are according
to Tom Hicks "just as amazing as the last design, just scaled
down slightly". We shall see??
As most fans will now be aware
Liverpool Football Club intends to build a new stadium to
replace its current home, Anfield. Although Anfield is the
clubs spiritual home, and has been witness to some of the clubs
greatest triumphs, the stadium is now beginning to show its age.
This slow deterioration coupled with the lack of available space
for expansion or renovation, has left the club with no choice
but to build a brand new stadium.
Liverpool FC originally began
considering plans for a new stadium as far back as 2000.
When the club first announced the scheme it was intended that
the new stadium would hold 70,000 people, and would be built in
time for the 2004-05 season. This plan proved to be
unrealistic however, and when official plans were released in
May 2002, the design had been scaled down to 55,000.
Over the next couple of years
the proposed capacity fluctuated between 55,000 and 61,000.
During this period the City Council made several attempts to
convince Liverpool and Everton to ground-share the new stadium.
Although neither club was particularly interested in the scheme,
the Council favoured the idea, and was prepared to back the
scheme with public money, if an agreement could be reached.
Eventually the ground-share idea
put forward by the Council was scrapped, and Liverpool forged
ahead with their own plans to build a new stadium in Stanley
Park, just 300 meters from Anfield. The new stadium was
first put before the Council's Planning Office in February 2005,
where the plans were approved. Although this meant the
club could start work on the new stadium, a lack of financing
forced the club to put the plans on hold.
By April 2006 no further
progress had been made and work on the new stadium had yet to
begin. The plans were once again approved by the Planning
Office and in September 2006 permission was granted for a 61,000
seat stadium and Liverpool FC were granted a 999 year lease for
the property.
In early 2007 the plans were
once again suspended, to allow the takeover of the club by
current Chairmen, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The new
owners first piece of business was to review the proposed
stadium plans with their own design team, after which further
revisions were made. Working alongside Architectural firm
HKS Inc, with whom the new owners had developed several sports
stadiums in North America, the stadiums design was radically
altered and the proposed capacity raised to 76,000.
By the end of 2007 works were
continuing on the new stadium, with building work scheduled to
start in early 2008. The stadium has been designed to
allow for future expansion, allowing the builders to expand the
stadium during the construction process, should planning be
granted for the increased capacity of 76,000. At the
present the club are unlikely to be granted planning for the
increased capacity, unless improvements are made to existing
road and rail networks to cope with the increased number of
people attending games. However, the club is hopeful that
with these improvements the stadium will open in time for the
2011-12 season with the expanded capacity of 76,000. The
club expects the new stadium to cost in the region of
£300million.
Images of the proposed new
stadium
 
For a virtual tour of the new
stadium please
click here. Please note you will be taken to the
Official club website to view the video.
New Stadium Timeline
The following timeline shows the
progression of the new stadium, from its initial proposal to its
completion.
| Mid
2000 |
Idea of new stadium
first considered by club. |
| May
2002 |
Plans for new stadium
announced by the club. |
|
2003-2004 |
City Council proposes
ground-share scheme between Liverpool FC and Everton
FC. |
| Feb
2005 |
Planning granted for
55,000 capacity stadium in Stanley Park. |
| Apr
2006 |
12 month review passed.
Planning again granted for 55,000 capacity stadium. |
| Sep
2006 |
Approval for 61,000
stadium granted and 999 year lease granted to club. |
| Feb
2007 |
Work on new stadium
suspended whilst takeover of club completed. |
| Apr
2007 |
New owners Hicks and
Gillett employ architects HKS Inc. to review plans. |
| Sep
2007 |
New stadium design by
HKS Inc shown to public for first time. |
| Nov
2007 |
Final approval granted
by City Council allowing work to commence. |
|
Dec 2007 |
New stadium plans
released in September 2007 scrapped for financial
reasons. |
|
Jan 2008 |
Yet more plans to be
unveiled?? |
|
Early 2008 |
Building work for new
stadium set to commence.. |
|
June 2011 |
New stadium scheduled
for completion. |
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