Easy to say when it's not your money.
There's nothing guaranteed about any stadium development. In fact there's pretty reasonable evidence that the 'new stadium effect' tends to be negative:
Also note that of those teams that did better - Juventus, Espanyol and Schalke moved to smaller stadiums and Bilbao is still just over 53k http://www.thestatszone.com/articles/changing-stadiums-does-it-affect-your-form
Thanks for that Peter, I pretty much know all that and I have done loads of business cases etc, so that's not my basic point. I respect your expertise on this, and I know that factually you are right, but I'm from an old school having followed us since 1960's and I don't want to compare us to Bilboa or Espanyol (for many, probably obvious reasons and not to look down on those great clubs.) I also sort of feel it is "my money" or "our money" since I'm the customer in the end and I spend a load of money and time, as many others do, on Liverpool. So I'd call it our collective money.
It's more about where the game might be going, especially in England. I hate many aspects of this by the way, especially how Sky drives this pattern. - Anyway, seems that ability to generate income is a differentiator now and there becomes a separation from the haves and the have nots. West Ham, Spurs etc try to bridge this gap or keep up, Arsenal have done already. Meanwhile we always seem to on breadline and conservative in our outlook. I hate that if we finish 4th we are borderline unseeded for CL. You might say that's nothing to do with stadia, and I can't prove you wrong, but we are smaller time, careful thinkers and it's not where I want us to be.
To be clear, I like that we stayed at Anfield so I am not talking about new stadium, more a great ARE is realistic and also a bit daring, a bit of a statement, a bit energetic and positive. I feel we are not where we need to be and we can't stay still just now - I think we will either go forward or backward.
This needs to be considered not about ROI only, but also risk and reward. We should be consistently spoken about in same breath as Madrid, Munich, Juve (I agree). It isn't only about the stadium, for sure, but there is a reason City push on, even though their ROI (if we could even compare like for like) must be unrealistic. There is a reason Utd pushed on 20 odd years ago, and now, even if they are in a strange rut, they have the machine in place to crawl back.
The have's and have nots are separating (sadly) and we risk getting left further behind. It has been slowly happening for years and I watch it with frustration. I know that's for many reasons (non stadium related also obviously) and I also know many reasons why we take it carefully, but we must push on.
In the end I would just love to see a load of kids coming in and bringing life and soul and energy back. In today's Anfield this (seemingly) can't be done because we need to fully maximize the tourist dollar etc. (and I know this could/will still be the case at 65K) but it's more scope to work with.
If we only discuss on the math then you will always sort of prove me wrong (and I am sure you know exactly what I mean) - In the end we need your type of expertise and I would never leave such a decision to myself for example. FSG need to take a mix of investment and emotional/risk based gamble, this is not (just) a spreadsheet decision.