NewsNew images show Anfield Road Stand expansion coming to life
New images have been released that reveal the impressive progress from inside the Anfield Road Stand expansion.
As the end of the 2022-23 season is fast approaching, it marks a huge milestone in Liverpool FC’s history, with just one more home game - against Aston Villa on May 20 - to be played in front of the old Anfield Road Stand.
Work started in September 2021 to increase the stadium’s capacity to 61,000, bringing in 7,000 more fans, and following the drone fly-through released in March, this latest update from the construction site shows further progress.
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The images give fans the opportunity to see the new concourses coming to life, revealing the interior details of paintwork and tiling, exterior details of glazing and brickwork, plus the brand-new, upper-level seating and a glimpse of what the view will be like from the new stand.
With major work set to continue until the end of July, the first game of the 2023-24 season has been requested to be played away; the club is still awaiting confirmation of this. The same request was approved by the Premier League for the opening of the Main Stand.
Following the final game of this season, it will be all systems go to remove the old roof. In order to carry out this operation, two 500-tonne crawler cranes will travel into the stadium between the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand and the Kop and position themselves on the pitch.
The turf will be protected, with rigorous testing carried out last year at Anfield and on pitches at the AXA Training Centre in order to ensure best practice and factor in full recovery time.
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Paul Cuttill, vice-president of stadium operations, said: “With just one home game left to play this season, it will be a huge moment for the club to say goodbye to the old Anfield Road Stand.
“From September 2021 until the last game of this season, we will have held 50 men’s games, one women’s game, three LFC Foundation legends matches and three concerts – all in the middle of a working building site.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work and has been logistically challenging but we have managed to keep capacity, so fans haven’t lost seats during the build. We are on track to be ready for the 2023-24 season and looking forward to 7,000 more fans being able to experience this incredible stadium.”
Once complete, the expansion will also directly create 400 additional jobs, growing the average matchday workforce to 2,800 people, with 95 per cent of those directly employed locally.
This is the third major capital build project undertaken by LFC in recent years, following the build of its fantastic new Main Stand in 2016 and the opening of the state-of-the-art AXA Training Centre in November 2020.