A big future for Anfield

IAN AYRE believes Liverpool will be more financially secure in the future after the club decided not to pursue the idea of building a new stadium. Liverpool’s managing director announced yesterday that they will remain at Anfield, rather than build at a plot on Stanley Park. The price of renovating Anfield, the club’s home since 1892, will be around £154million — half the cost for a new build. But Ayre says it is crucial to increase the ground’s capacity to 60,000 or they risk being left further behind their rivals. ‘We need a much-increased capacity and it has to be right for the club going forward,’ Ayre said. ‘We could have achieved that in a new stadium but the cost would have been at least double what we expect to spend by staying put. We would have been making very big payments for very many years.’ The decision was made on the back of Liverpool City Council announcing extensive plans for a regeneration of the Anfield area.