Tom Doyle, the project director for the redevelopment of Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, has admitted the project has been a “rollercoaster ride” as the English Premier League football club prepares to play its first game at the new-look ground on Saturday.
Over the summer, Anfield’s Main Stand has undergone significant development work, with 8,500 seats being added to bring the ground’s total capacity to over 54,000.
Ongoing work led to Liverpool’s first three Premier League games of the season having to be played away from home, but the ground is now all but ready to host Leicester City in two days' time.
“It’s been hectic – a rollercoaster ride of a project,” Doyle told the club’s official website. “Once we received our planning permission in summer 2014, it all became very real very quickly. We appointed a contractor and have had to keep moving at pace ever since in order to get the stadium ready for action this season.”
Although the new stand will be unveiled on Saturday, work on the ground is far from finished.
“The work never stops,” Doyle added. “Whilst we are opening up the concourses, seats and hospitality areas, we are working on the players’, officials' and team staff areas to bring them up to a world-class standard, and this will continue during the season.
“It will be fantastic to see fans on the first match day, though, getting to know the new-look Anfield. It’s always been a legendary stadium, so adding an extra 8,500 fans into what will be one of the biggest all-seater stands in football just builds upon that hard-won reputation.”
Meanwhile, Anfield’s Hillsborough memorial and eternal flame returned to the ground yesterday. It followed the completion of a newly-designed garden, situated in front of the Main Stand, honouring the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
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