On Thursday, Liverpool fans were met with some massively disappointing news, and that’s before any of their players take to the field for international duty during the current pause to the club season.
CEO Billy Hogan told liverpoolfc.com that, due to delays regarding the redevelopment works on expanding the Anfield Road Stand, the upper tier will remain closed to supporters until January at the earliest.
It means that the Reds will end up playing at least half the season with their stadium at a reduced capacity and marks the latest setback in the project, following the demise of previous contractors Buckingham Group.
In light of today’s news, we’ve picked out the most important points which’ll be of concern to Liverpool fans.
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What’s happened since Buckingham Group went into administration?
Thankfully, Liverpool didn’t have to wait too long for new contractors to pick up the project, with Rayner Rowen stepping in to continue the works.
Photos taken from inside Anfield prior to its most recent match, the Europa League clash against Union Saint-Gilloise last Thursday, showed that many of the seats in the upper tier have now been installed.
The club had previously indicated the home fixture against Everton on 21 October as a projected date for the partial opening of the redeveloped stand, and had sold tickets for the game on that basis, but today it was made clear that this now won’t be happening.
Anfield awaits #LFC #LIVUSG 🔴 pic.twitter.com/MlUQmDnNRt
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) October 5, 2023
What did Hogan say on the matter on Thursday?
The CEO told the club’s official website that, following the emergence of information which has only now materialised following the contractual handover a few weeks ago, ‘we’re going to have to maintain the status quo for the remainder of the calendar year, essentially meaning capacity at Anfield will remain the same as for the previous home games that we’ve seen this season’.
In short, the upper tier won’t open to supporters until 2024.
Hogan also stressed the importance of giving Rayner Rowen the scope to gather the necessary information in order to accelerate the project and is reluctant to ‘set the wrong expectation’ for Liverpool supporters.
The CEO was at pains to emphasise his and the club’s frustration over this latest delay to the redevelopment works.
How does it affect supporters who bought Anfield Road upper tier tickets for the Everton game?
In direct response to that question, Hogan said: “It means ultimately we won’t be in a position to be able to provide seats for those fans who have purchased those tickets in the upper tier.
“Our team has identified who those supporters are and they will be reaching out directly to those supporters next week.”
He added that ‘supporters who have purchased these cancelled tickets will not lose their credit for that purchase’ and asked those fans affected not to contact the club’s fan services team, as they’ll get in touch with those supporters ‘directly as it relates to each match in the run-up to the end of December’.
How many matches will be affected by today’s news?
At present, the Liverpool men’s first team will play nine more fixtures at Anfield before the end of 2023:
- Everton (PL), 21 October
- Toulouse (UEL), 26 October
- Nottingham Forest (PL), 29 October
- Brentford (PL), 12 November
- LASK (UEL), 30 November
- Fulham (PL), 3 December (TBC but will be probable date owing to Europa League game the preceding Thursday)
- Manchester United (PL), 17 December (TBC but will be probable date owing to Europa League game the preceding Thursday)
- Arsenal (PL), 23 December (subject to change for live TV coverage)
- Newcastle (PL), 30 December (subject to change for live TV coverage)
There’s the possibility of another home match in the week commencing Monday 18 December if the Reds win at Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on 1 November and get a home draw for the quarter-finals.
If Jurgen Klopp’s side don’t have any home fixtures in domestic cup competitions in January, their first game at Anfield in 2024 will be against Chelsea, which is currently scheduled for 31 January, a full month after their preceding match at the venue.
What has the fan reaction been like?
Judging by online reaction gathered by the Liverpool Echo, many supporters are naturally quite angry over this latest delay to the redevelopment of the Anfield Road Stand.
Such frustration is justified given initial hope that the expanded stand would be open for the start of the current season, and also that many supporters have been (and will continue to be) discommoded by the closure of the upper tier.
The sense of disappointment is amplified by having some of the highest-profile home matches of the campaign played at a reduced capacity, such as the Merseyside derby and the visit of Man United.
Conclusion
As anyone who’s been involved in the building of a house will testify, construction projects can often be subjected to delays.
That’s even likelier to be the case for public large-scale developments such as the Anfield Road Stand expansion, but to now not have the upper tier open until January at least (following initial projections of August this year) is difficult to excuse.
Of course safety must be the priority and the stand mustn’t open until that can be guaranteed to the public, but the latest setback nonetheless comes as a real kick in the teeth for supporters.
We fervently hope that Hogan’s next update on the project will be a positive one, and that it won’t be long in coming.
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I hope the club look after the season ticket holders people who have games recorded on their accounts as these are the people who are longstanding supporters and deserve to be looked after properly