Liverpool Anfield expansion: State of play, £6m blow, further delays, watch drone of work going on

Liverpool are still awaiting completion of the Anfield Road stand as the Reds' famous old home prepares to become the fourth highest capacity stadium in the Premier League.

Over two years have passed since work got underway but the project has been beseeched by several delays and numerous issues that have caused a number of delays to the completion of development that will increase Anfield's capacity to over 60,000.

With the latest blow being revealed in recent days, what is the latest on a big development in L4.

The current state of play

The Liverpool Echo have reported a further blow has been delivered to the Reds as the Anfield Road expansion is now not set to open until the new year.

By that point, the Reds will have played 11 Premier League fixtures, three Europa League group stage games and two Carabao Cup ties in front of reduced attendances, meaning a drop in the expected matchday revenue that had been anticipated by the Anfield hierarchy.

Work on the development resumed last month after Raynor Rowen were contracted to complete the expansion that will see Anfield become the fourth biggest stadium in the Premier League with a newly increased capacity of 61,000. That will place the Reds home behind Manchester United's Old Trafford, West Ham United's London Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Liverpool FC chief executive officer Billy Hogan said: “Over the course of the last few days it has become clear that in order to complete a thorough assessment of that project completion timeline, it’s going to take longer than really we first thought.

“Ultimately, what that means for supporters is that until we have visibility of all the information needed, we’re going to have to maintain the status quo for the remainder of the calendar year, essentially meaning capacity at Anfield will remain the same as for the previous home games that we’ve seen this season.

“This is a decision that was made in order for us to give time for ourselves, for external consultants as well as for Rayner Rowen to continue with the assessment of the project and ultimately to finalise the project timeline."

Further delays

There were widespread reports the expansion had been hit by further delays when the contractors behind the development filed for administration.

MailSport revealed workers at Anfield had been sent home in early August after Buckingham Group Contractors 'filed a notice to appoint administration'. Work on the development of the Anfield Road stand had got underway in September 2021 and the initial aim was said to be to complete all work before the start of the current Premier League season.

Liverpool were given permission to start their campaign away from home, which they did with a 1-1 draw at Chelsea, but have been forced to play Anfield fixtures with reduced capacity in order to comply with Liverpool City Council requirements.

A club statement released after the contractors applied for administration read: "Buckingham Group has made us aware that it has filed for a notice of intention to appoint administrators. This filing does not impact the planned opening of the new Anfield Road Stand's lower tier on Saturday for the match against Bournemouth.

"Following the successful test events earlier this week, Liverpool City Council's building control team issued a safety certificate to operate the lower tier of the Anfield Road Stand and we look forward to welcoming supporters to Anfield for our first Premier League home game of the season against Bournemouth.

"We will work with Buckingham Group on the planned phased opening of the remainder of the new stand and will continue to keep supporters updated on arrangements for future games. Specifically, our intention is to update all supporters who have a ticket for the Aston Villa match at the earliest opportunity."

A £6m blow is delivered

Delays to the Anfield Road development meant Liverpool missed out on valuable matchday revenue during their first home game of the Premier League campaign.

Bournemouth were the visitors to Anfield on the second week of the season and there should have been a newly-expanded capacity of 61,000 inside the Reds famous old home for their meeting with the Cherries.

However, the delay in completing the work meant less than 50,000 supporters were in attendance, meaning Liverpool missed out on around £750,000 in matchday revenue according to football finance expert, Kieran Maguire. That has reportedly led to a total loss of over £6m so far this season.

Watch drone of current work going on

The work on the expansion is ongoing and KC Imageworks have provided recent drone footage of the progress that has been made in recent days. It can be viewed via their YouTube channel here.