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Henry is right to question the sense of just 15K extra seats

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Image for Henry is right to question the sense of just 15K extra seats

In a revealing interview with the Daily Telegraph at the weekend, John W Henry talked about how the stadium issue was progressing:

“We would love to expand Anfield, but there are enough local and regulatory issues to keep that avenue stalled for years with no assurances that once begun it would bear any fruit. If Anfield cannot be expanded, a new stadium is wonderful choice. But the fact is we already have 45,000 seats. If a new stadium is constructed with 60,000 seats you’ve spent an incredible sum of money to add just 15,000 seats. If the cost is £300m for an extra 15,000 seats, that doesn’t make any sense at all. Liverpool isn’t London, you can’t charge £1 million for a long-term club seat. And concession revenues per seat aren’t that much different at Emirates from Anfield. That’s why the search is on currently for a naming-rights partner. And that could very well happen.”

The most obvious fact to be taken from this interview is that redeveloping Anfield looks dead in the water. The years of delay that Henry is talking about on this front is not realistic for FSG and Henry mentions in the same interview that one of the biggest aims for FSG at Liverpool is to “need to build our revenues” in light of the UEFA Financial Fair Play which comes into effect next summer. One of the biggest ways to build revenues of course, is to improve the stadium, meaning this will need to be done as quickly as possible, necessitating a move to Stanley Park.

It looks as if Henry and FSG have followed through this thought process and are now actively seeking naming rights for a new stadium. So if this decision as to where Liverpool play has seemingly been decided upon, the next question for FSG is what to build.

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17 comments

  • Alan says:

    Yes it needs to be at least 70,000 if it’s a new stadium. Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan all have very big stadiums – because they’re very big clubs.

    So are Liverpool. And any new stadium should reflect that in it size.

  • Mu says:

    Liverpool should build at least an 80 000 seater stadium if not more and one that’ll last for ages to come.
    Otherwise we might as well stay at anfield

  • RedT says:

    If LFC have ambitions to be the Biggest club in the world (both on and off the pitch) then they should make a bold statement of their ambitions by building the largest capacity ground in England. Imagine the Mancs now aspiring to be as big as us? …and the huge psychological blow that will deal them ?
    There is plenty more value to the Liverpool FC Empire and Brand in building an 80,000+ stadium.
    If the Mancs can fill their stadium every week then why can’t we?…to quote from the movie “Field of Dreams”…
    “Build it and (He) they will come !”

  • LFC4LIFE says:

    Greater Manchester holds population of 2,6 million. Liverpool and surrounding areas hold 816 000 inhabitants… Mancs have over three times our population. Maybe that’s why they can fill their stadia in every game.

    • Dave Powell says:

      Where do you get your numbers from?
      Merseyside a metropolitan county in North West England,has a population of 1,365,900.

    • DaveWestAus says:

      I don’t know where you get your figures from? Bolton,Bury,Stockport etc;are just a few towns that are in Greater Manchester!Maybe Warrington and Wigan also! Manchester itself has a lesser population than Liverpool – FACT! It is common knowledge that LFC have something like 60,000 names on the ‘season ticket’ waiting list! Fans come to Anfield from the likes of Ireland and Norway etc!

  • redbirds92 says:

    LFC needs a bigger stadium to generate more revenue both from ordinary tickets, but more importantly from “VIP” offerings. Arsenal have “only” 60.000 seats, but generates a lot more revenue per matchday than us because of all the offerings in addition to ordinary mathc tickets.
    Why bring in the local population? Liverpool is a club with massive appeal outside of Merseyside and could easily fill a stadium of 60′ or 70′. 80′ could be a stretch. But the challenges is the size of the local industry and commerce, will LFC be able to extract enough “VIP” revenue?

  • RedT says:

    I still believe we have the fanbase to fill an 80,000
    stadium ….There is a huge waiting list at present for season tickets alone …and if we envisage that we can presently fill a 60,000 stadium regularly through present day demand,then why not be more ambitious and aim higher, and build for the future ? It may seem like a huge jump… but in some situations.. you simply cannot bridge a chasm with many small steps.

  • Saj says:

    If we aim for mediocre we’ll get mediocre.

    As others have said we need 80,000 at least. There are thousands of Liverpool fans all over the UK (and world) who would happily come if they knew they were guaranteed a ticket.

    Manure have plans to 96,000. If we get 70k, we’ll again be nearly 30,000 behind every week.

    We need 80,000+. We are the most successful club in britain, more succesful than manure, intermilan and even barcelona. We just need to start believing in ourselves.

  • Alan says:

    I agree with many of the posters; we need to show real ambition in any new stadium. It has always been the Achilles heal of Liverpool FC. A global club yet run with the limited ambition and foresight of a club like Everton.

    However, an 80,000 seater would only be full by winning championships and attracting world stars. Until we do that we won’t fill 80,000. Neither would Manure if they hadn’t been winning non stop for nearly 20 years.

  • abdulah says:

    it looks that you all forgot the poor duo ( hicks& gillette ) planned to build a 80000 seat stadium. why shouldnt we expect that from henry ?

  • RedT says:

    Going back to the original question…Why should Henry spend 300 miilion for 15,000 extra seats?
    I absolutely agree …what responsible businessman would consider this sort of ROI
    When he could theoretically spend the same amount with a further injection of 300 million for naming rights, and get a stadium nearly twice the size of current capacity.
    FSG are doing the sbsolute right thing at the moment by investigating every possible scenario and making sure at the end of the day, they make the right and best decision for the club and the fans.

  • ches says:

    I think 75000 most is ideal for lfc. Its expensive running a huge stadium,so 30000 more seats should be ideal. In henry we trust! YNWA

  • longchalk says:

    we cant fill a ground thats only 45 thousand now!
    so how can we fill a 70,80 plus ground?

    man utd fill every week as the demand is there, it is a big ask for a club struggeling on the pitch to bank on fans coming in such high numbers.

    Its no use grumbeling we are not sucsescful right now, even when we finished 2nd with rafa and won the cl in 05 we still couldnt fill anfield every game!

    thats a cold fact
    and Im lfc born and bred

    • DaveWestAus says:

      Approximately?-45,000 is the present capacity! That is never reached because some people would need eyes that can see through ‘iron girders and posts’. According to local knowledge LFC have over 60,000 names on the season ticket waiting list.Therefore they would not have a problem filling a much larger stadium!

  • percy says:

    if the new owners don’t end up building the new stadium, they will just be the same as the yanks they took over from & will just be looking to make a quick £ without investing into anything substantial & of any real long term value into our club!! Is it just me who realises that a new stadium is more than just 15000 added sits !! Its about the community benefitting from new & developed infrastructure, new jobs & a whole lot of other stuff the community can benefit from in turn LFC benefitting as a result!!

  • Andrew says:

    I agree with above, it’s not just about the number of seats. Yes we want to keep the heritage and history and memories of anfield. But it’s impossible to expand there.

    A new stadium would mean so much more than seats too, the surrounding area could use an ecconimical boost. And tbh Alot of the other features of anfield could do with modernising. The club shop..isn’t worthy (not talking about it’s content) , the restrooms, the food..whilst good you can’t even pay with a card. It could all use a major updating, arguably the scoreboard too.

    I say a 75k stadium would be ideal . Nice big incease. We can ensure further exspansion is possible. I think that way if the stadium wasn’t full it would be there abouts most of the time, and Europe defiantly . I like the cheaper prices idea too tho, I must admit a huge stadium 90k plus, fill cos every that wanted To go could afford to go would be such a great message to the world . However I think 75 k is about right , don’t forget more people in the ground is more merch/food/programs bought and increases
    Sponsorship value.

    I trust henry to do the right thing 😀

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