Liverpool Football Club have announced that the upper tier of the new Anfield Road stand will not open this year.
The developer Buckingham Group went into administration in August and Raynor Rowen stepped in to help complete the £80m project, but the delays continue.
Next weekend’s Merseyside derby was supposed to be the first game played to a full stadium of 61,000 fans, but it will be 2024 before we can hope the expansion is completed.
“We’re going to have to maintain the status quo for the remainder of the calendar year, essentially meaning capacity at Anfield will remain the same as for the previous home games that we’ve seen this season,” said LFC CEO Billy Hogan. “The lower tier of the stand remaining open and the upper tier remaining closed until the end of the calendar year.
“We are really disappointed to have to deliver this news,” says Hogan. “And really sorry for all those supporters who are impacted. You can see the games coming up on the fixture list, not just the derby but as you run through it to the end of the calendar year.”
He added: “This is a really complex and deeply frustrating situation. We’re all really disappointed to have to deliver this news, we know the impact of this news on many supporters.
“But our team here and the consultants, as well as Rayner Rowen, are working incredibly hard to ensure that we’re doing everything that we possibly can to progress the project as quickly as possible.”
