Liverpool FC’s Anfield Rd stand top tier to remain closed for rest of the year

The top tier of Liverpool FC’s newly-expanded Anfield Road stand will remain shut for the remainder of 2023, the club confirmed today (October 12).

Buckingham Construction Group, which was carrying out the expansion as part of an £80m development to increase Anfield’s capacity to 61,000 seats, collapsed into administration in early September.

The club appointed Rayner Rowen Construction, along with a number of other contractors, to resume the final works on the project, which had already faced delays to the anticipated opening schedule, meaning only the lower tier of the Anfield Road end has been open so far this season.

The club had hoped to complete work on the upper tier and open the stand some time this month, and has even sold tickets, including for the upcoming derby game with Everton, set for Saturday, October 21.

But in a video Q&A this morning, club chief executive Billy Hogan said it won’t be until next year, 2024, that the Reds will be able to fully open the Anfield Road stand extension.

He said: “So, at this point, as everyone knows, what we have effectively been operating with is the lower stand being open over the course of the early part of the season, which is allowing Rayner Rowen to continue the analysis of the project.

“However, what I would say is over the course of the last few days it has become clear that in order to complete a thorough assessment of that project completion timeline, it’s going to take longer than really we first thought.

“Ultimately, what that means for supporters is that until we have visibility of all the information needed, 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. The lower tier of the stand remaining open and the upper tier remaining closed until the end of the calendar year.

“Ultimately this is a decision that was made in order for us to give time for ourselves, for, as I mentioned, external consultants as well as for Rayner Rowen to continue with the assessment of the project and ultimately to finalise the project timeline.”

He added: “What’s become clear in the last few days is there’s just more work to be done in order to get a full project completion plan for the stand, which means unfortunately, as I said that, the upper tier is not ready to partially or fully open until the end of the calendar year.”

He acknowledged: “It means, ultimately, we won’t be in a position to be able to provide seats for those fans who have purchased those tickets in the upper tier. Our team has identified who those supporters are and they will be reaching out directly to those supporters next week.”

And he said: “Lastly, 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.

“Rayner Rowen really needs the time to complete the information gathering before we commit to any new project timeline. There’s a lot of different, various factors that are going into this discussion and into this review, so many pieces of the jigsaw that we need to pull together so it’s just not possible at this point to put a new timeline in place.”

Buckingham Group stopped all work on the stand on August 17, when it ceased trading and announced a notice of intention to appoint administrators.

In August, Mr Hogan, admitted the club was in a “holding pattern” regarding the scheme.