I am not a money man or have no clue about stadium design or cost or such. I just want to say that as a lifelong fan i would love it if in my lifetime if the club had a state of the art stadium befitting of all our traditions. Ideally that would be staying at Anfield, but as we all know, it is hardly modern and is not the kind of stadium any longer that in my view will attract any new fans to it. The concourses are cramped, the facilities are adequate at best and for those who have been on the tour, or have seen around the ground, it is clear that a lot of money is needed to bring it up to scratch.
I was originally one of the "cant leave Anfield at any cost" brigade, but my mind has been changed due to how far we seem to be falling behind the top 4 or 5 teams now, both on and off the field. There is a lot to be said that get things right off the field and the onfield stuff will come with it, i used to look at it the other way round. There is a real nagging concern though, that should we start to perform on the pitch are we ready to maximise that potential off it. I believe in terms of getting people into the ground and learning about the club, it is a resounding no. There is argument that we could have a bigger stadium as we stand now, with relative little success at the club compared to our pomp.
If Anfield as a whole can be completely updated and modernised, and the capacity raised to whatever the threshold is, 55k or 60k then of course the majority would go for that. However, IF the current ground is going to cost a lot of money and hassle to update then maybe it is worth spending 300 mill on a brand new ground that will stand us in good stead for decades to come. Again, i am not clued up with the costing of these things, but with a naming rights partner and other sponsorship funding the bulk of any potential new stadium, would it therefore not be prudent, and more practical to build new? What would be the ongoing impact and cost of updating Main Stand and Anfield Road, as well as adding the necessary corporate boxes, seats?
I would class myself as a "traditional" fan, i would love to stay at Anfield but the more time moves on, more and more emphasis is placed on football stadiums being more than just for football. People want to use it for other events, concerts etc and other sporting occasions. Anfield is currently falling way behind in that, as well as being quite a fair way down on matchday revenue. The Bootroom cafe and one or two other things are a sign of what i think we can expect, what we need, but in a new ground that will attract visitors for other reasons than football.
I appreciate it is not as black and white as i make it, but, for me, if the correct people can be brought on board to partly finance it then a new stadium would be my choice, purely to help us catch up off the field and to allow the next generation of young reds to watch football in a decent environment.
