Friday, October 8, 2010

Stanley Park Still A Doubt At Merseyside

Liverpool City Council has hinted that they would make plans to develop Anfield difficult for Liverpool Football Club and its new owners.
Should the pending deal from New England Sports Ventures go through next week in the High Court – where current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are contesting the sale – the new American owners want to spend £100million on increasing capacity at the club’s current stadium.
This is a change of plan to the idea of building an entirely new stadium at nearby Stanley Park, an idea that would also involve a much needed regeneration of the L4 area of the city.
But councilor Joe Anderson, who has welcomed NESV’s £300million purchase of the club, says the city would favour a new stadium over redevelopments.
“I would discourage them [NESV] from redeveloping Anfield and would encourage them to stick to the commitment that is already in place because I think that is the best solution for everyone – for the club and the city,” he told the Guardian newspaper.
“Those plans haven’t been held up entirely by the stadium situation and it would be wrong to say that they have.
“But they have had an impact and we just want to be in a position where we have a clear sign that the stadium issue will be resolved one way or another, something Hicks and Gillett failed to do despite the string of promises they made.”
The club hope to start work on either increasing Anfield’s capacity to 60,000 or a new stadium very shortly after the sale is completed.

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