Liverpool Football Club Stadium Delayed By Credit Crunch

Liverpool Football Club has confirmed it has delayed construction work on its new 60,000-seater stadium, despite Laing O’Rourke starting site works in June.

A short statement from the football club said that the stadium construction, “Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas” was affected by the “global market conditions..Our commitment to building a new world-class Liverpool Football Club stadium is undiminished. Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions and as such work on the project will be delayed in the short term. We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats."

There has been widespread speculation that Liverpool’s owners, US tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks, have been struggling to raise funding for the £400m stadium.

The statement added that the football club would use the extra time to develop proposals to increase the capacity of the stadium, designed by Ryder HKS, to 73,000.

Steven Gerrards Planning Controversy

A two-storey building being constructed for Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard near his home has been labelled a "monstrosity" by some nearby residents.

The copper and glass structure, which includes a gym and according to reports cost £350,000, was granted planning permission by Sefton Council in October last year despite some people living near the location in Freshfield, Liverpool, objecting to the plan. The gym that has been built in Steven Gerrard’s back garden is so big that it has a different postcode from that of the footballer’s house.

The building has taken over eight months to complete and will now be filled with state-of-the-art exercise equipment for the midfielder and WAG wife Alex Curran.

Some of the player’s neighbours argue that the modern, flat-roofed design is out of place among the properties that characterise the area. Cecil Crossley, who lives nearby, said: “I cannot begin to understand why anyone would want to build an eyesore like this in their back garden. It is not in keeping with the properties in this area: it’s like building an Asda supermarket in the middle of a beauty spot.”

Liverpool FC Stadium Redisgn

Architects HKS and engineer Ramboll Whitbybird’s improved design has been selected for Liverpool’s new football stadium. Having secured a £350 million financing package, led by The Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia Bank NA the new owners of Liverpool were able to finally approve plans for the stadium.

Tom Hicks and George Gillet, the co 0wners of Liverpool FC said the new designs were more cost effective and supporter-friendly than the initial ones, which went £50m over budget. The new 71,000-seater stadium is set to open in August 2011.The new stadium will feature enhanced amenities for the Club's supporters while preserving the history and traditions of Anfield and the Club itself. It will be anchored by an expanded 18,500-seat standalone KOP, an increase of more than 5,000 seats.

Tom Hicks, co-owner, said: “HKS has developed a more efficient design that, at the same time, is just as stunning as its original design...“Liverpool supporters should have high expectations for the future: a premier sporting experience at their new stadium at Stanley Park and a winning club on the pitch for years to come.”

KUD International was appointed project manager and Laing O’Rourke contractor.

Football Stadium Survey

A new football stadium survey by property consultants Drivers Jonas shows that Anfield, Home of Liverpool FC, has the best atmopshere of any ground in European.

Celtic's Parkhead stadium was second with Portsmouth's Fratton Park in third place in the poll.Barcelona's Nou Camp Stadium was the highest-placed continental ground at fourth place on the list.

The Fans poll showed that for best food you should visit Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, Delia Smith's home cooking pushed Carrow Road, Norwich City's ground into third place

In the category of best overall ground Old Trafford came out on top, although there was mixed news for Manchester United with their home being declared the worst ground for food.

Tottenham Hotspurs home, white hart lane finished bottom of the pile for worst oublic transport links and accessability.

Here are some of the Results of the 1100 poll of season ticket holders who could not vote for their own team:

ATMOSPHERE

1 Liverpool
2 Celtic
3Portsmouth
4 Barcelona
5 Newcastle United

BEST STADIUM

1Manchester United
2 Arsenal
3 Barcelona
4 Newcastle United
5 Manchester City

BEST FOOD

1 Arsenal
2 Barcelona
3 Norwich City
4 Kilmarnock
5Wigan Athletic

WORST FOOD

1 Manchester United
2 Rangers
3 Celtic
4 Tottenham Hotspur
5 Chelsea

BEST TRANSPORT

1 Manchester United
2 Arsenal
3 Barcelona
4 Ajax
5 Bayern Munich

WORST TRANSPORT

1 Tottenham Hotspur
2 Crystal Palace
3 Middlesbrough
4 Celtic
5 Galatasaray

BEST SECURITY

1 Barcelona
2 Ajax
3 Bayern Munich
4 Real Madrid
5 Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Liverpool FC Reveal New Stadium Design

Liverpool Football Club yesterday unveiled stunning new designs for their stadium in Stanley Park, coinciding with the submission of the official planning application to Liverpool City Council.

Scheduled to open in 2010, the 60,000 seat stadium has been designed to allow for future expansion which could see the capacity increased to the high seventies dependent on improvements to the local transport infrastructure.

American architects HKS are responsible for the designs and it will feature a stone base on the north, west and east sides, with mainly glass facades above. The south side will be metal-clad, and the south-east and south west corners will be open.The central importance of the Kop has also been recognised with a hugely increased capacity to 18,000 seats in a single tier stand.

Chief Executive Rick Parry said: "It was always the aim of the Club, with the backing of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, to be world class both on and off the pitch. When they took over, the first thing Tom and George wanted to do was review the stadium both in terms of the design and the capacity. This is the immensely impressive result of their deliberations.

The stadium represents an investment of around £300 million by the Club in North Liverpool