Will not do the Henry money joke
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Liverpool ramps up Anfield Square redevelopment with acquisitions
18 March 2025 13:38
Dan Whelan
The long-awaited regeneration of a vacant plot of land in the shadow of Liverpool FCâs stadium has taken a step forward after the city council acquired Your Housing Groupâs remaining land interests.
Liverpool City Council has paid ÂŁ381,000 to housing association YHG for 18 leasehold and freehold titles remaining from when there were still houses on the 2.5-acre Anfield Square site.
The plot has been cleared and the YHG deal will allow the authority to move towards being able to market the site with a clean title and âenable the realisation of the long-term regeneration vision for this siteâ, the council said.
The city council intends to bring the site to market alone after failing to agree a business case with YHG for the redevelopment of the plot and turning down an approach from the football club to deliver a hotel there, according to council documents.
The authority wants to deliver a âbest-in-class development comprising a mix of leisure, entertainment, and employment uses, encouraging public interaction and providing essential public amenitiesâ, the documents state.
An options analysis is currently being undertaken to design a development brief for the redevelopment of the site.
Last October, Place North West reported the council is looking at short-term uses to activate the site before a longer-term solution is drawn up.
The meanwhile use could be brought forward in partnership with the football club, the council confirmed last year.
The authorityâs Anfield Spatial Regeneration Framework refers to the site as âa significant development opportunity capable of accommodating a range of uses to improve the vibrancy and economic potential of the areaâ
Some of the comments by the locals :-
Let consultation merry go round begin!
March 18, 2025 at 1:44 pm
By Anonymous
Move Wallton Breck Road so the Kop can be expanded, this infrastructure project could have the backing of the Government so as to provide the catalyst for more housing and job opportunities plus an expanded Anfield stadium, or is that only applicable to Manchester and itâs ambitions for OT?
March 18, 2025 at 3:30 pm
By Liverpolitis
Please consider investment that will benefit the residents and encourage visitors to spend with local businesses outside of the football season. The neighbourhood see Airbnb all year round and these visitors need to be encouraged to spend locally
March 18, 2025 at 6:49 pm
By Anonymous
Ironic they want a âbest in classâ development when one of the reasons funding was pulled from the nearby Homebaked Oakfield Terrace scheme was that the specs for the houses (zero-carbon refit) was deemed too expensive for the land values in the area.
âBest in classâ as long as its only working class eh?
March 19, 2025 at 8:01 am
By Anonymous
âThe council looking at short-term uses before a long term solution is drawn upâ, and thatâs why thereâll be no Government involvement cos they donât really have a clue what they want to do in the next 5 years.
March 19, 2025 at 9:02 am
By Anonymous
They have totally ruined the whole area over many years, itâs disgraceful and nothing is ever said about it.
March 19, 2025 at 11:05 am
By John
Expand Merseyrail and have an underground station with the entrance in the âsquareâ perfect for fans but more so for local people to be better connected and help job growth.
March 19, 2025 at 1:21 pm
By GetItBuilt!
Liverpolitics â Areas around many sports stadiums have benefited from some public money including: Man City, West Ham, Everton to name a few, Iâd also be amazed if some public money hasnât already gone into the regeneration of the Anfield area near Liverpool FCâs stadium. Public/Private partnerships often makes the development world go around.
March 19, 2025 at 3:06 pm
By Anonymous
Wish someone would do something about the parking chaos every matchday, people parking everywhere grass verges the lot, build a car park.
March 19, 2025 at 7:28 pm
By Lin
Both LFC and EFC should be made to do more to help the areas around them â they make enough money from their stadia and their fans! And both are in areas that could really do with a lot more help!
March 19, 2025 at 10:21 pm
By Bob Dawson
@ Bob Dawson. donât you think Everton and Liverpool are doing plenty already to help the local economies around their stadiums. On each match day the pubs and cafes are full to bursting and obviously on European match nights at Anfield the air b&bâs are in great demand. Now consider the silly parking restrictions that the City Council have imposed on and around the new Everton Stadium and these are already harming the local businesses.
March 20, 2025 at 12:46 pm
By Anonymous
Why turn down a proposal from the club?
March 20, 2025 at 2:15 pm
By Observer
When will the penny drop around the need to open a train station nearer to the stadium serving the wider Anfield, Breckfield and Everton areas?
March 20, 2025 at 10:25 pm
By Anonymous
Why doesnt the club get the land, offer to build a church and new properties to relocate the ones behind the kop (as part of a mixed use scheme, small boutique hotel?) And work with the council to demolish behind kop and move the road, put a small roundabout at petrol station to reduce car speeds
March 22, 2025 at 4:08 pm
By Jay
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Some of those comments remind me that this comet their talking about might be a relief.
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As though geopolitical events werenât sufficient, eh?
The Boysâ Pen in the 1970s was a caged area located in the upper right-hand side of Liverpoolâs famous Kop. It was where young Liverpool fans would serve their âapprenticeshipâ before graduating to become full-time Kopites or Anny Roaders.It was an unforgiving place, populated by kids from some of the toughest areas of Merseyside. The red half of Transalpino spent his time there from 1974 to 1978, and nearly 50 years later, he is still friends with the kids he met back then.
Dare I say somethings are best left in the past.
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Latest on Liverpool plans for Anfield expansions and âcreativeâ solutions after rival projects
A look at what could come next for Anfield as Liverpool continue to explore their options to increase revenue while rivals find themselves at opposite ends of stadium development timelines
At a time when Manchester United are mapping out a blueprint to bring their ÂŁ2billion New Trafford into existence and Everton are putting the finishing touches on Bramley-Moore Dock, it would be only natural if Liverpool were assessing what the future of Anfield might look like.
The clubâs two most historic rivals find themselves at opposite ends of stadium-build timelines. For United, their 100,000-seat venue that co-owner Jim Ratcliffe believes will be âthe worldâs greatest football stadiumâ has the backing of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, while use of the cityâs Ship Canal has steeled a belief that what should be a 10-year project can actually be complete inside five.
Conceptual images released by architects Foster + Partners last month revealed a monument to the future, with its three masts and a giant canopy almost giving it a circus-style appearance. Quite fitting for some of the performances turned in this season at Old Trafford, some on Merseyside have quipped.
United said the regeneration of the Trafford area could deliver 17,000 new homes and had the potential to create as many as 92,000 jobs, but quite how the ambitious venture will be funded exactly, remains something of a mystery. Ratcliffe has become infamous in recent months for the scale of his cost-cutting at United barely a year into his time as co-owner.
Nearly a quarter of the clubâs workforce were made redundant last year when 250 people were let go, while further redundancies âof approximately 150-200â, according to Ratcliffe, may also follow on. Staff no longer receive hot meals in the training ground in an effort to clamp down on outgoings and the proposal of a new stadium at ÂŁ2billion is in stark contrast to the reality of what is happening at United right now.
Across Stanley Park, Everton are into their final weeks at Goodison and will hold the third and final test event before the new Premier League season gets underway at Bramley Moore and a bright new era begins for the Blues.
The decision to leave Goodison was understandably taken with a heavy heart and an acceptance that a bigger, more modern venue was integral to Evertonâs future in the Premier League and the long goodbye to their current home has been underway for quite some time.
Liverpool once flirted with the idea of moving from their Anfield home but have no such issues to wrestle with anymore. Over ÂŁ200m has instead been spent on renovating one of the most famous stadiums in world football over the last decade or so and any pondering on what comes next will centre around adding to the infrastructure already in place.
Perhaps, for all the success enjoyed under the managerial reign of Jurgen Klopp and the mouth-watering potential of Arne Slot era - that could include a Premier League title triumph this term - the true stamp of Fenway Sports Group tenure will be the work done to turn Anfield into a thriving hive of match-day activity for over 61,000 supporters.
First came the Main Stand, which officially opened its doors for the visit of Leicester City in September 2016. The ÂŁ110m redevelopment enabled Liverpool to take the overall capacity from 45,000 to 54,000 and the biggest crowd since 1977 saw the Reds run out 4-1 winners over the then champions. A total of 53,075 packed themselves into the ground to watch the game itself as Kloppâs side ran riot.
A consultation period with local residents, which lasted for six weeks, was undertaken for the Main Stand back in October of 2014 after Liverpool City Council had unanimously approved the application to rebuild.
In-house research further alerted Liverpool to the power of their sprawling fanbase, with an estimate suggesting the club had as many as 580 million supporters across the globe. It made the expansion of the ground something of a no-brainer as they explored avenues to increase revenues sustainably.
âThat size of fanbase means thereâs a tremendous amount of opportunities out there for the business," CEO Billy Hogan told the ECHO at the time. âWeâve got an international fanbase and supporters come from across the world because they want to visit Anfield.â
Renaming of Anfield itself had never been on the agenda but senior figures did briefly consider naming rights for the Main Stand before it was established that revenue could be raised through the individual hospitality boxes within the stand instead.
âItâs about having high quality partners that enables the club to keep moving forward,â said former commercial director Olly Dale in August 2017. That is a rule of thumb that endures at Liverpool as they continue to work with an ever-increasing portfolio of commercial partners. For example, their agreement with Japan Airlines, which was struck last year, has been key behind the decision to visit Hong Kong and Japan later this summer.
Naming rights had been considered for the Anfield Road development project, which was officially started in September 2021 at a âgroundbreakingâ ceremony featuring Klopp and a smattering of legendary figures.
In 2016, Hogan flew to China to meet different companies whose interest on becoming naming partners for the Main Stand was strong. Liverpool were eager to find a partner who could commit to a 10-year deal worth between ÂŁ70-ÂŁ90m but itâs unclear if the CEO did similar before the Anfield Road was reopened. The club have taken the decision to keep the name as it is.
Initial consultation for the Anfield Road expansion project began way back in November 2019 with media, that included the ECHO, invited to learn more about the proposals on the morning of a Champions League meeting with Napoli.
The club distributed over 5,000 leaflets to people who live around the area to gather feedback on the proposed expansion of the stadium. The plans were designed for local residents, businesses and supporters to learn more about the aim of increasing capacity.
Plans were inevitably shelved in April of 2020 as the ramifications of COVID-19 started to become more obvious and officials placed a 12-month pause on the work in the hope they would be better placed to navigate their way through further down the line. The pandemic came at a cost for Liverpool. The building of the additional seats were initially slated to cost ÂŁ60m before eventually rising to ÂŁ80m.
Contractors Buckingham Group going into administration was far from ideal for Liverpool but work resumed through Raynor Rowen, allowing the build to be complete in time for a visit from Manchester United in December of 2023, after a test event had been held beforehand to obtain a safety certificate.
One thing Liverpool have done expertly in an effort to make their home as close to a 365-day operation as possible is the introduction of events that play host to major musicians. Last summer, Taylor Swift performed three sell-out nights at the stadium as part of her Eras Tour, which was followed by two dates played by Pink in the weeks that followed.
This year, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey will all take to the stage, while Billy Joelâs much-anticipated tour has been pushed back to 2026.
According to estimates, Swiftâs three nights are believed to have earned Liverpool between ÂŁ7m and ÂŁ9.5m, including a rental fee for promoters AEG, while around ÂŁ1.2m was pocketed through merchandise sales. The club are permitted to host a half-dozen events each year by Liverpool City Council.
âWe had roughly 250,000 people that came to those [Taylor Swift] concerts and I think you just have to think about what that does for the city and the local economy," chief commercial officer Ben Latty told the ECHO last summer.
Itâs estimated that the gigs of last summer helped Liverpool bank more than ÂŁ10m, highlighting the importance of what are now well-established annual events.
Having already increased capacity through the Main Stand and Anfield Road developments, expanding the Kop seems to be a project that would prove too difficult to achieve, given the venue is in a residential area. So Liverpool are having to get creative in their attempts to drive match-day revenues further.
Fan areas have been introduced in recent years, with live music, food-and-drink stalls and big screens all part of the package, while a family zone, located in the Anfield Road stand, has been designed more recently to help supporters enjoy the match-day experience some hours before kick-off, keeping them on the grounds for longer.
Last month, Liverpool submitted an application for planning permission to refurbish their flagship retail store, located outside the stadium. The proposals could see the store size increase by just under 4000 square feet as the club aim to extend the mezzanine floor and revamp the store ahead of the 2025/26 season.
The current store welcomes, according to Liverpoolâs figures, over one million people per year and the expansion is part of adding a âworld-class shopping destinationâ to the grounds that will include the widening of the existing entrance, the expansion of the mezzanine floor, relocation of the staircase and escalator to improve accessibility.
âThe plans to expand the store will make a huge difference to the overall fan experience and suit the needs of our largest retail store,â Lee Dwerryhouse, senior vice-president, Merchandising at Liverpool said.
âOur flagship store needs to lead the way in the shopping experience for our fans and the new-look store concept will meet the demand for the additional matchday crowd since the stadium capacity expanded to 61,000.
âThis world-class shopping destination will include new digital touchpoints, storytelling and will also fully incorporate the new LFC brand theme, elevating the fan experience and improve engagement even more.â
If the application is successful, the work will commence in mid-May for a reopening in August, in time for the new campaign that could yet kick-off with Slotâs Reds as champions of England. Itâs a mouthwatering prospect for Anfield chiefs as they look to exhaust every possible revenue stream to stay on top.
Liverpool, according to the latest accounts published last month, made ÂŁ102million from match-day revenue last term, which was fourth-highest in the Premier League behind Manchester United (ÂŁ137m), Arsenal (ÂŁ131m) and Tottenham (ÂŁ105m).
In the figures published in 2020, the clubâs match-day figure stood at ÂŁ71m and was ÂŁ13m down on the previous year and explained as being down to four fewer Premier League home games. Five years on the figure has risen significantly, but there is still work to be done when judged against their Premier League rivals.
Last summer Hogan said there were no plans to expand further as things stood but it will be interesting to hear if that stance has softened when he likely chats to the media on the clubâs tour of the Far East later this year.
âI know that there are some moments where there is some criticism when we donât invest, but this club has always invested, just slightly differently,â Klopp said back in 2021 as he placed the first spade in the ground on Anfield Road.
âSince Iâve been here and not because I am here, but since I am here, a lot of things have happened and with all the great history of this club. Everybody is really about building the future of this club.â
Liverpool need only look at their closest rivals to see how they are planning for their own respective homes and the next steps towards âbuilding the futureâ at Anfield, however they manifest, will be fascinating.
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TLDR: There is no plan for stadium expansion, but the clubs shop might get bigger.
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I really wish you would say where you find these random articles, @sandsoftime . Some of them reek of AI.
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Yeah no problem⌠Local reporter for the local newspaper - One would think there is some substance, and an element of truth in what he is supposed to comment onâŚ
I know the article is a lot like âwho shot Johnâ⌠but even the smallest snippet holds an interest to some fans, hence, the reason it was postedâŚ
Liverpool Echo
Paul Gorst Liverpool FC correspondent
12:09, 12 Apr 2025Updated 16:00, 12 Apr 2025
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I went to that game 
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Quite possibly. Reach who now publish the Echo, have used AI for a while. The seed was probably stories that the real journalist posted some time ago:
Incidentally, my terse response wasnât a pop at @sandsoftime, itâs just that I had just wasted 5 minutes reading the same guff on the Echo Facebook page. At least here, you donât get their damn adverts crashing your browser.
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Yeah no problem with the reply @RedWhippet âŚ
The way I see the forum sometimes⌠There are plenty of overseas fans on here that are not privvy to some of the mundane stuff; shall we say; into local news etc⌠without a lot of time consuming digging on the internetâŚ
In posting this âfree of chargeâ service :0) - to me anyway, is akin to at least having something to peruse (or not), just like the days before mobile phones, of walking into a waiting room of a doctor or dentist⌠and you end up reading any old shite from âdog-earedâ magazines, or lo and behold⌠The Readers Digest :0)
If an article is there⌠then other posters have a choice of reading it or not⌠If nobody bothers posting anything, it takes that choice away..! It is the simple view I follow anyhowâŚ
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All my posts are created by AI. You can tell because theyâre very generic and dull. Itâs brilliant! Thank you AI, or, as I like to call you, A1, because you are the A1 top of the class super helpful digital tool!
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Al is just a bloke in a data centre called Alan bluffing his way through life.
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You can call him Al 
Or Alphonso, if youâre not into the whole brevity thing.
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haha @ZinedineBiscan
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And he can call you Betty.
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The AI is resembling you in real life then?