I don’t believe the corporate hospitality at Anfield will be constrained by redevelopment. There is enough room for all the hospitality facilities and boxes we need. The main reason for moving from Highbury was the value of the land on which it stood.
The stands at Anfield can be kept with new tiers built up behind and no disruption to income. Every year there would be extra income instead of waiting four more years for a new stadium to be finished.
The hotels and all can still happen in an Anfield Plaza on Walton Breck Road (similar to around Fenway). Possibly a more sustainable development than knocking Anfield down and rebuilding in the park.
Not a mess, just look at how successfully it’s been done elsewhere. I agree the kop isn’t the kop of old for us (I'd still rather have my foot on the bar even now) but it is for the younger generation.
Peter - fair comment - from what I've read it is possible to do it and for many it is preferable - I just dont have the sentiment for it - I'd rather we moved on - even if we redevelop Anfield it wont be the place I remember - sounds bonkers but even now the way the shadows fall, the way the sun shines, the different kick off times, the sounds bouncing off the metal roof its all changed anyhow
I think most are scared we'll lose the atmosphere of old ., we'll lose tradition they need more faith - we provide the atmosphere and we'd do it wherever we are -I've tried to think what Shanks's view would have been - I think he'd have opted for change if he thought it would give him an advantage - so it'd come down to would we be better off on the pitch at anfield or in the new ground and to be honest I dont know. Easy thing to do when you can't decide, is do nothing but that doesn't make it right.
ye you could add a tier to the centenary but I'm not sure about the light impact on the surrounding area - has this been checked out? - Is it possible to do this over a summer break - remove the roof, raise the stand, integrate it with the existing facility and get it through H&S? Can't see it myself, not in 3 months.
and then you could develop at the back of the anfield road end but the stand itself doesn't get favourable reviews as it is - again would this be possible over a summer without disrupting access to the ground - I can't see how. Then you have the issue of where you shove the away support etc - its possible but you'd have to allow more time than 3 months and you'd be missing a trick in not redesigning that end and building in Corporate facilities. Of course we could go to the FA and ask to postpone a large chunk of home games and play away games only for a few months as a fall back, still the chances of disruption are very high.
Think you'd want to de-risk the whole thing and do both of these as single projects, so that would be 2 seasons down the line and you've implemeted 2 developments both with risks but increased capacity - not sure how much of that capacity will be taken up mind
Then you are left with the main stand - imho it needs completely ditching and starting again and thats no small show, the pillars, the facilities they just aint up to snuff, it may suit the 80 year olds that inhabit it but it aint great - you'd presumably could get a run at it, if you started at the same time as the anfield road dev - but its going to take 12- 24 months minimum - ok you've potentially increased capacity to what we have now with the other changes in place but this is the big money earner - this will house the clever stuff that earns the ackers - and it'd be completed roughly at the same time as the stadium.
Would you sell the stadium name to raise extra cash - if so would you get the same for a refurb as a new stadium - I doubt it. There would be no sell off of anfield turf or artefacts, there'd be no squeaky new ground to get punters to buy a brick or new 5 year season tickets and all the other sales patter that would go with it - the refurb would be a harder sell than a new ground - doesn't mean you couldn't raise the same funds but just like the actual construction it would be harder.
Three separate developments each with risky deadlines and disruption to the overall logistics for match days - do-able maybe but preferable - certainly not from a project management perspective - I'm not sure what the ongoing maintenenace would be but I'm guessing any new dev would be cheaper to mantain?
Presumably the plaza developments could still happen - but what sits where the stadium was going to be, that was the focus of the re-development - do Everton build their new stadium there for example? So we have a cobbled together hotch poth of stands whilst the Evertonians have a state of the art modern bowl - its possible our kids will thank us for it but I think the mememememe generation would prefer a shiny new toy to play with -
We would only need a 60k stadium at max - can't see why that couldn't be done in 3 years rather than 4 and the club makes a fresh start - just written that and it sounds like heresy and maybe its just the despondency I'm feeling at the moment and I'll regret it in the morining when its too late but i think I'd like a new start and a break with the past
