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Liverpool
Anfield
The Ground
Walking up to the ground alongside Stanley
Park, I have to say, that from a distance, Anfield is not particularly
impressive. Inside though,
the ground is wonderful and only the most critical of visitors would find
fault with it. The
famous Kop Terrace at one end of the ground, has been replaced by a huge stand designed to emulate
the old Kop, hence it's odd shape (kind of semi circular) and single large tier. The other
end, the Anfield Road Stand, part of which is given to away supporters, is the most recent
addition to the ground. It has boosted not only the overall capacity of the
stadium, but
has given Anfield a more balanced and enclosed feel as all corners are now filled. On one side of the
stadium is the large, two tiered, Centenary Stand, where the
front tier leg
room is the tightest I have ever known. Opposite is the Main Stand, the oldest in the ground and
looking
its age with a number of supporting pillars. This stand has a TV gantry
suspended beneath its roof. In the corner between the
Kop & Centenary stands is an electric scoreboard, which surprise, surprise,
shows the match score in bright red letters.
Around the outside of the ground, there are the Bill Shankly Gates on Anfield Road. These wrought iron gates have the legendary Liverpool
phrase 'You'll Never Walk Alone' displayed above them. There is also a
statue of the great man, Bill Shankly near the Club shop. Also along
Anfield Road, there is the moving memorial
to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, which always has flowers
adorning it.
Future Developments
The Club have received planning permission to build a new 60,000 all seated
stadium, to be located in nearby Stanley Park. It was hoped that preliminary work
would commence on building the new stadium during 2008, but this has now
been postponed by the Club. It is now unclear whether the scheme will in
fact go ahead. If it does then the soonest now that Liverpool could move
to the new stadium would be for the start of the 2011/12 season. It is
intended that the stadium will feature an
18,000 capacity, single tier kop stand. Images of its futuristic design can
be found on the
BBC Liverpool website. |
