Supporters' Committee meets club's owners

The discussion included an update on the proposed stadium expansion, the owners' attendance at meetings, and ticket prices and initiatives for families.

Bob Humphries (chair), Jeanette Dodd (vice-chair) and James Benson (Merseyside fans representative) from the Supporters' Committee put the points to John W. Henry, Tom Werner and Linda Pizzuti.

The Supporters' Committee, which is made up of 12 members who represent all of the major fan constituencies, meets with senior club staff four times a year - but individual members also meet with club staff on a more regular basis to discuss more timely issues.

Whenever the owners are in Liverpool, there is always an appetite to arrange a meeting to give members of the Supporters' Committee the opportunity to raise fans' points first-hand.

The committee opened the meeting with its first topic around the commitment from the owners to attend, where possible, the wider group meetings. The committee also rose that it was concerned that fans were not aware of the work they do with the club.

The owners reaffirmed their full commitment to the Supporters' Committee and said that it's not always possible to fit into the pre-arranged dates for the meetings. However, they are committed to meeting up and engaging whenever they are in Liverpool.

The owners also agreed to the club providing further support to help the committee provide more visibility of the work they're doing with the club.

The committee then asked for an update on the proposed stadium expansion. Principal owner Henry confirmed that he was pleased with progress but there is still a lot of work to be done which is out of the club's hands.

"We remain supportive of Liverpool City Council's and Your Housing Group's Anfield Vision, which was launched in June last year, to transform the Anfield area," said Henry.

"Since then, a tremendous amount of work has been done by the club around the feasibility of any proposed stadium expansion. Any final decision continues to be based on certainty.

"Certainty that we can obtain the necessary land around the stadium to facilitate any expansion; certainty that there is demand for any future expansion; certainty that we have home owners' support; and certainty that we will be able to navigate the complex planning landscape.

"We are very positive with the progress to date and will continue to be fully supportive of the regeneration project."

The final topic was around ticket prices in general and in respect of families and young people being able to attend matches.

This topic covered some of the initiatives that the club has introduced recently, including reducing the junior season ticket to £200, reducing Category C games for juniors to £5, and improvements to the Family Park which adds value to the matchday experience.

Whilst the committee acknowledged that some improvements had been made on ticket prices and season ticket price freezes, they were keen to emphasise that the overall costs of supporting the team is now becoming prohibitive to some supporters and the view among some fans was that ticket prices are too expensive.

Emphasis was given to the fact that prices are by far the most emotive issue for fans and the one raised most frequently with the committee. They encouraged the club to look at every opportunity given to build revenue from other sources in an attempt to help with the price of tickets.

The committee also referred to ticket prices compared to those in Germany, the pricing of tickets in the Barclays Premier League and non-classification of games.

The owners reiterated the points that influence around ticket prices, including the desire to compete at the highest level, Financial Fair Play and having a fair tier structure throughout the stadium.

After the meeting, Henry added: "We had a really good discussion today. The Supporters' Committee is an excellent platform which enables us to listen and debate some of the key topics that fans are raising.

"We will again review everything we talked about today and look to schedule time so we can attend future meetings.

"If any fans do have points that they would like to raise with me or the club then I would urge them to contact their respective member of the committee."

The Supporters' Committee's next meeting with club staff will be on Sunday, February 9, 2014. If fans would like to contact the committee, please click here.