Liverpool FC CEO admits club is in ‘holding pattern’ over Anfield Road Stand
Liverpool FC are in a "holding pattern" around the reopening of a redeveloped stand after their contractors ceased trading.
Work on the Anfield Road Stand was halted after the Buckingham Group announced it had filed a notice to appoint administrators, and while administration has not yet taken place the entire upper tier still to be completed.
Liverpool had previously said there would be a phased opening of the £80million upgrade due to delays in the work schedule and that is likely to continue into October at least.
Now Chief Executive Billy Hogan as admitted the club are in a “holding pattern” and have no time frame on when the stand will open.
“Effectively major work stopped on the site on Thursday morning,” Hogan told the club’s website.
“Timing, obviously, is incredibly fluid right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty around where we are and obviously in time that will become more clear.
“It’s important that we don’t want to set any false expectations.
“We are in a bit of a holding pattern right now based on the news that we got on Thursday and that needs to reach its conclusion before we can truly start to take the next steps.
“But if Buckingham does enter into administration then we’ll need to address any delays that may arise from completing the new stand as a result of that.
“Obviously we talked about having the stand fully open in October, clearly we have discussed the uncertainly that this announcement creates.
“We are still aiming for October but what we’re working through now is to put a plan in place.
“I know this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating.”
Just the lower tier of the Anfield Road Stand was open for Liverpool’s first home match of the season against Bournemouth, meaning capacity was reduced to 50,000 and a long way short of the 61,000 expected when it is fully operational.
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