Liverpool owners warned over stadium changes

LIVERPOOL’S new owners have been warned not to jeopardise the regeneration of the inner-city area around their proposed new stadium by making major changes in the project.

With US sports moguls Tom Hicks and George Gillett on the brink of completing their takeover of the club, they seem intent on increasing the planned 60,000 capacity.

Now Liverpool City Council officials have demanded more talks with the pair, at the same time as manager Rafael Benitez has asked for further discussions over the long-term future of the club.

The honeymoon period for Hicks and Gillett appears over as they stand on the brink of buying up the few thousand shares that stand between them and final completion of their £470 million (€687 million) takeover.

Earlier in the week, Benitez made it clear that when Hicks and Gillett return to Britain to watch the home game with Arsenal on March 31, he will want to talk about the future progress of the club.

Benitez said: “It is important that I talk to the American owners. I have spoken to them once when they first came to the club. I want to hear about the plans that will improve the club, not just about money for players.”

And since those remarks from Benitez it has been confirmed current new stadium plans are being reviewed, angering council and community leaders.

The club insist that they do not want to submit new planning applications after a torturous battle to get the Stanley Park scheme approved.

And it has now emerged that the main thrust of the revamped plans could be to allow for future development rather than major changes now.

As one Liverpool source pointed out: “When the club started these plans, Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground held around 65,000. Now that figure is closer to 80,000.”

Liverpool hope that any changes to their new stadium plans can be achieved within the same timescale and planning “footprint” already outlined.

Chief executive Rick Parry revealed: “A review is in progress, but the new owners are very aware of the current planning approval and its link with the regeneration of the surrounding area.”

Parry took almost five years of discussions with council and community leaders to get current proposals through the planning process, and the club have no wish to open up the debate again after so much opposition and appeals.

The whole scheme only won approval because it was part of a major EU backed scheme to improve the area around the stadium.

More spectators would mean major discussions with regard to the infrastructure, parking and roads network around the Stanley Park scheme, and that would prove very time-consuming.

Suggestions of an immediate increase to an 80,000 capacity stadium have been dismissed by Parry. He said “We are planning that the stadium would be completed within two or three years, and we do not want to alter those plans.”

Hicks and Gillett are looking to tweak the current plans, but are aware of the need to stay within the constraints.

They believe there is some scope to add more seating now and more in the future, and part of that idea is one already voiced by the US moguls, to explore the possibility of underground executive boxes, a familiar part of stadiums in the US.

If Hicks and Gillett can get maybe another 5,000 to 10,000 into the stadium now, that would be the very top level being considered. But they would want in place provision to extend the stadium at a later date.