Re: Liverpool Thread 2012
As a liverpool fan , this news is bit disheartning , we all know what a new stadium means to us , hicks and gillet promised us one and failed to keep the promise and ther paid for it , this was a huge factor in their departure
When FSG arrived , we were happy enough to be out of hands of those yanks , even it meant new yanks but we trusted FSG , mainly due to their reputation with boston red sox
However , on stadium issue , FSG never said , even once guranteed a new stadium , they only said they will find a solution considering both options of expansion and a new build and last 18 months was all about it
What they said was , a new stadium will cost us 300m considering we build a 60k one with future expansions possible , but it also means that we are paying 300m for a extra 15k seats (anfield has 45k capacity) which is unfeasible without a new naming rights partner , FSG have said , once we find a partner with a considerable offer (150m+) we will build a new stadium without a doubt , and names were aired , like air china and riyadh air/bank , but it was all only in media
However , As a fan , i think the best option would have been a new stadium with a capacity of around 70-75k , which is 10-15k more than what a redeveloped anfield will give us , redevelopement will be a tough task as anfield is very poorly placed with all stands having houses behind them which makes redevelopement very tough , moreover there are traffic issues around it as well which limits its ability to be redeveloped , and while it will be redeveloped , anfield will work at a reduced capacity which inturn will affect our matchday income even more , also , there wont be many corporate boxes which gives a major portion of income
Some say we may not fill a 75k stadium which i find amusing , we officially have around 30k season ticket holder with 30k+(a guy on our forum is at 32k) Waiting list , this sums upto 60k alone (all this data is not false , you can search is elsewhere)
So point is why redevelop anfield which once redeveloped cant be further expansed and only serves the purpose for next 10 year?
we can have a new 75k stadium which we can fill with 55-60k st holder (as explained above) and few more modern corporate boxes + normal seats
It seems more common sense in bulding a new stadium But what john henry was saying that what we thing was not so , he says with a new stadium , we wont earn like 3m a matchday arsenal earns , which is due to the fact that liverpool cant charge its fans what arsenal charge (which is ridiculously high) liverpool is rather poorer city than london and we cant sell season tickets at 1900£ like arsenal can , which inturn is a fair point
However i think redeveloping anfield only serves temporary needs , as in 10 years time , chelsea , city , tottenham will have 60k+ stadiums with them and will be very profitable with it and we won't be able to build a new stadium if we redevelop anfield now , thats the point
