‘Shows the psychology’ - finance expert makes FSG claim about Liverpool’s Anfield Road expansion

The decision for Liverpool to only increase the number of season tickets by 1,000 amid their Anfield Road stand expansion ‘shows the psychology’ of owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG). That is the verdict of Kieran Maguire, speaking on his podcast The Price of Football.

The Reds are in the process of upping the capacity of their famous stadium from 54,000 to 61,000. However, the opening of the stand has been delayed after the Buckingham Group, who were overseeing the build, entered administration in August.

Rayner Rowen Construction has taken over the job and there had been hope that the Anfield Road stand would be opened for Saturday’s Merseyside derby against Everton. However, Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan confirmed last week that there were further delays and fans’ tickets bought for the game had to be cancelled.

Anfield’s capacity dropped to 51,000 at the start of the 2023-24 season and will remain that way for the rest of the calendar year. Maguire, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, has still encouraged those who attended to travel to the city to do so even if they’re now without a ticket. But he suggested how FSG have structured the new ticket system shows they would rather fans from outside of Merseyside attend games rather than those from the local area.

Maguire said: “Liverpool did put forward proposals and had a construction deal but the construction company itself has gone into administration. They’ve had to therefore get new contractors. The Anfield Road Stand would have taken Anfield's capacity to 61,000. That would have been an increase of 7,000. Although, if you look at the breakdown, I think it shows the psychology of FSG as an ownership group.

“There were going to be 2,000 hospitality seats, which are very lucrative, 4,000 seats going to members and Liverpool have got a very successful membership scheme in which there are thousands and thousands of members where you have to pay and that is effectively a lottery ticket. Then on two occasions during the year, tickets go on sale, there is a bun fight and you end up with a ticket for such and such a match. They are hugely oversubscribed and that's due to the success of Liverpool, we've always said Jurgen Klopp is very personable, the club is riding on a high and the football is excellent.

“Only 1,000 of the additional seats were going to season tickets. Liverpool probably has the lowest proportion of tickets available to season-ticket holders of any club in the country and that's a deliberate policy because if you are a Liverpudlian and have a season ticket, how often do you go to the megastore, once a year? Are you likely to get to the ground 2-3 hours before kick-off and spend more money on programmes, catering, and merchandise? The answer is no.

“That's the reason why they were not keen to significantly increase the number of season-ticket holders. Because they were having some work-in-progress, they've had to reduce the capacity to 51,000. The intention was to have the stadium open for this weekend, it's a Merseyside derby, a critical match.

“The tragic thing is some people have purchased tickets for the expansion and Liverpool have had to get in touch with them. This isn't a nasty comment at all, Liverpool is a global club with a global fan-base. Many of those would have made travel plans for that weekend - they would have paid for accommodation and travel plans and are now going to have to watch the match in a pub or at home. I'd still say to them come to the city of Liverpool because at weekends it is great.”