It is an often-used cliche that Anfield’s roof came off, usually heard in moments like Steven Gerrard’s Olympiakos goal, full-time against Chelsea in 2005, or after Divock Origi made it 4-0 against Barcelona. Later this month, however, the roof really will come off at Anfield as Liverpool’s home enters the final stage of its redevelopment. When the Reds’ 2022/23 final home game against Aston Villa ends on May 20th, the club will have 24 hours before the cranes move in and the existing roof of the Anfield Road Stand begins to be demolished. This process is similar to the summer of 2016 when the old Main Stand was ripped out internally, its roof removed and the old stand connected to the new stand to add almost 10,000 extra seats to Anfield’s capacity. This time, the new upper tier of the Anfield Road Stand will add 7,000 more seats, taking the overall capacity to around 61,000 with the potential for a few extra seats once the steel is removed that currently connects the existing roof at either end to the Main Stand and Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand.
The work, which began in September 2021, has been going on impressively behind the scenes without impacting Anfield’s capacity. Everything is on schedule and Liverpool anticipate playing their first home game of 2023/24 in front of the completed new stand. The Reds have requested to the Premier League that their opening game of the season be played away from Anfield to give an extra week, especially as cranes will have been on the pitch for the roof removal in June. There will not be any pre-season friendlies at Anfield due to the work taking place. A ‘test’ event will be required, but this will be more similar to when the women’s team and academy players took part in an open training session for the Main Stand. This Is Anfield were part of a small group of journalists who were invited to take a look inside the new stand ahead of the big activity later this month.
The new stand will offer superb views out over Stanley Park and will include an under-cover fan zone area with two large access points for fans to enter what will be a large space with food and drinks outlets. The internal work to fit out the new kiosks, bars, hospitality areas and internal concourses has been completed and those visiting in the Lower Anfield Road Stand will have much larger concourses and improved facilities, much like the Main Stand. The estimated cost of the expansion is £80 million and it will hold 15,967 supporters with 1,000 new season tickets and 3,000 general admission tickets available. There will also be a new young adults section in the lower tier.