Anfield stadium redevelopment: Liverpool close to biggest crowd for 50 years as test event goes ahead

The biggest crowd that Anfield has seen for more than 50 years could be in attendance when Liverpool host Manchester United on Sunday, provided a test event being held this season sees the green light given. Having seen the plans to open up the redeveloped Anfield[1] Road End in time for the start of this season thrown into disarray back in August when the previous contractors, Buckingham Group, collapsed into administration[2], the Reds were handed the task of finding someone else to take over the project and deliver it both quickly and safely. The GBP80m project will see an additional 7,000 seats, seeing the capacity of the stadium raised to 61,000 by the time it is fully operational.

The increased capacity will greater satisfy demand for tickets and push Liverpool closer to the GBP100m per year mark[3] when it comes to matchday revenue.

Monday evening will see a test event for Phase One of the project take place, where '7,000 to 7,500' fans will head to Anfield to use the stand as they would on a matchday, except the action on offer will be an LFC Foundation game and a Q&A session with Reds manager Jurgen Klopp[6]. In order for the club to obtain the necessary licences from Liverpool City Council, a test event must be held with a limited number of fans in the stand, where such things as fire evacuation must take place to ensure everything is fully compliant and safe.

Should the test event go to plan this evening and permission be granted, a capacity of 57,000 will be allowed, with the upper tier of the Anfield Road End open to supporters for the visit of Manchester United this weekend. Phase Two of the opening will take place in January with regards to the hospitality spaces. Should a crowd close on that figure make the visit for one of the Reds' most eagerly anticipated fixtures of the season, it could be the highest attendance for a game at Anfield in more than 50 years.

On April 28, 1973, a crowd of 56,202 watched Liverpool[7] draw 0-0 with Leicester City at Anfield on the final day of the First Division season. While not the highest crowd to have witnessed a game at Anfield, that being the FA Cup[8] fifth round clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers in February 1952 that drew a congregation of 61,905, it is the game that represents Liverpool's highest home attendance of the past half century. To get to this point has not been easy for Liverpool, who moved quickly to engage Preston-based Rayner Rowen in early September after Buckingham's stadia division failed to be bought out and collapsed into administration.

"It's been really challenging," explained Paul Cuttill, vice president of stadium operations at Liverpool, during a tour of the stand prior to tonight's test event. "When what happened to Buckingham's happened it changed the course of the program. I'm really proud of everybody; the Liverpool staff and the construction team at Rayner Rowen in terms of getting us to where we are now.

"Our priority was to get fans back in the stadium as soon as possible, safely. Billy (Hogan, Liverpool CEO) said back in October said it was likely not going to be until 2024 before we opened, so to get ahead of that and for the Man United game is a bit of an early Christmas present. "It has been through a lot of hard work and sheer persistence.

I think a lot of contracts might have taken a lot longer if I'm honest with you. We took the decision to do this as a phased approach, so this is Phase One, the opening of the upper tier of the GA (general admission). Phase Two will come next year in terms of the hospitality spaces.

"Phase Two, we are aiming to be fully open. We are looking at the end of January. It will be a limited opening in terms of what the experience will be.

You have to appreciate that with the games we have got now with the Christmas period, whether we have any domestic cups, home draws, or we continue, hopefully, in our European cup run as well, it limits the time we are able to do the construction. The program will depend a lot on fixtures, but as soon as we get into next year and we've got a bit more clarity on that we'll be able to look at what that program looks like. "There's been some real challenges.

We wanted to make sure we kept as much of our partners on board in terms of the contractors with Buckingham's before and brought them back in to get this delivered. "The aim is that everything will be done by the end of the season. The fan zone will be towards the end of the season."

The aim of the test event is for fans to use the facilities as they would on a matchday, including concessions kiosks and toilets, in readiness for what they hope will be a bumper attendance on Sunday for the visit of Manchester United. Said Cuttill: "We hope about 7,000/7,500 people will be at the test event. "We asked the fans to turn up and work with us.

They'll have to follow some instructions on the evening. "They'll have to be here at 6pm, there will be a small mini LFC Foundation game on the pitch. We want people to use the toilets, use the concessions, all the things you'd do in a game.

It ends with Jurgen doing a Q&A on the pitch and we simulate a fire evacuation at the end and we get inspected by the City Council to make sure that we achieve everything that we need to do to make the stand safe." Cuttill, who revealed that the club were looking into enhancing the concessions and concourse experience in the lower tier in time, said that the true cost of the project and the financial impact of the delays would not be known until the end of season, praising Rayner Rowen for their ability to come on board at short notice and lead the project through to completion. "They (Rayner Rowen) had experience in that world before and that's why we approached them and came on board with them," said Cuttill.

"I think that they hit the ground running. They have helped us get to where we are now, which is fantastic to get us doing what we are doing for the Man United game. "What it has cost is the amount of time its taken.

It is going to be very difficult to understand what those costs are until we get towards the end of the season.

Obviously being able to bring people in earlier is a massive benefit to us, and that's been the big success.

But we won't really know the true nature of what the cost will be until we get a proper program in place towards the end of the season."

References

1. ^ Anfield (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
2. ^ collapsed into administration (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
3. ^ push Liverpool closer to the GBP100m per year mark (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
4. ^ Liverpool could make 10 changes with two players finally back from long-term injury (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
5. ^ What really happened when Milner clashed with furious Klopp in dressing room (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
6. ^ Jurgen Klopp (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
7. ^ Liverpool (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
8. ^ FA Cup (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)