These are the first pictures of Liverpool's new 60,000-seat
stadium, with Steven Gerrard admitting he is 'blown away' by the
plans for the £300million development. The club today submitted a
planning application to Liverpool City Council for the ground,
which is scheduled to open in Stanley Park in 2010.
Anfield holds 45,000 but the new ground will be, along with
Arsenal's which also holds 60,000, the second biggest in the
Premiership behind Manchester United. The capacity could be
expanded by 10,000 in the future while the new single-tier Kop will
house 18,000 fans.
Skipper Gerrard said: To be honest I knew the stadium was going to
be great but after spending five minutes looking at the plans I was
just completely blown away by it. "It's so different to any other.
We will have our own identity stamped all over this stadium and
that's how it should be. The ground was one of the major factors
in me signing a long-term deal [until 2011] and I just hope I'm
still around when the day comes for us to play our first game in
it.
American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, in conjunction with
architect HKS, have radically redesigned the original plans and
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said: We're creating a
stadium that not only the club and supporters can be proud of, but
something the whole city can be proud of.
It's been a busy summer for Liverpool with the club spending
heavily in the transfer market on players such as striker Fernando
Torres, signed from Atletico Madrid for £20m.
Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho believes the pressure will now be
on Liverpool to deliver the goods this season to justify their huge
outlay. Mourinho, whose side face Feyenoord in a friendly in
Rotterdam tonight, said: You could say the pressure is a bit
higher on Liverpool because, at this moment, they cannot point at
other people. "In other years they could say, 'Oh, these guys,
they've spent a lot of money so they have to win'. This season,
they have to talk differently."
