The problem is not increasing capacity at Anfield by another 15 or 20,000, that is feasable by expansion, what cannot be done is increase the commercial activities (and income) to compete with the Mancs, Chelsea and Arsenal. The new stadium will provide five to six times the number of private boxes we have now and will give opportunities to increase commercial revenues on match days by similar amounts.
The average punter may not like this, but even a 65,000 capacity redesigned Anfield full of season ticket holders would only generate at total of £40m of annual gate receipts (from league matches). When you look at the Mancs turnover of £200m+ it begins to make sense that commercial match day income is now a vastly important revenue stream. The new stadium is targeted at providing £40m a year commercial match day income in addition to gate receipts, something our present stadium could never hope to provide.
The soul may be always at Anfield but football is big business and we are desperate for those revenues that the new stadium will provide.