Stanley Park was a proposed
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in
Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and Coal ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
that if built, would have become home to
Liverpool Football Club
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...
, replacing their current stadium
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
. The stadium had a planned capacity of 60,000 (potentially expandable to 73,000)
all-seated.
There were two designs that were given planning permission. One was designed by architects AFL with a capacity of 60,000, the second was a more expensive futuristic design by Dallas-based architects HKS, which would originally seat 60,000 with capacity for further expansion to 73,000.
As of January 2012 only small site preparation work had been completed. A change in owners resulted in the plans for Stanley Park Stadium being reexamined. In October 2012 new owners
Fenway Sports Group
Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC (FSG), is an American multinational sports holding conglomerate who own Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, Premier League club Liverpool F.C., and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.
FSG wa ...
announced their decision to redevelop and expand the current club stadium
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
(in a similar way that they redeveloped
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...
for the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
) rather than proceed with the planned new stadium.
Stadium
The stadium was initially scheduled to open in 2006 with a capacity of approximately 55,000 seats. This was designed by Manchester-based architects AFL. A subsequent redesign of this stadium brought the capacity to 60,000, and planning permission was granted for this in 2003. Construction on this never progressed past the ground works due to a lack of funds.
Under the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillette, Dallas-based architects HKS were asked to present a plan for a 60,000 seater stadium that could be easily expandable to over 73,000 in the future. They came up with a futuristic design with an 18,500 seater single tier kop. The design was estimated to cost £400m, and the club were granted planning permission for this stadium. Work never started on this as the owners Hicks and Gillette couldn't raise the funds.
In January 2008, AFL presented Liverpool FC with another redesign of their 60,000 capacity stadium. This was dubbed "New Generation Anfield" and would seat 73,000 with 18,500 in a single tiered kop, similar to the HKS capacity. The stadium would also include two Wembley-style arches. It would cost £290m to build. Planning permission has not been sought for this project however.
In January 2012, the Telegraph reported that the new club owners
Fenway Sports Group
Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC (FSG), is an American multinational sports holding conglomerate who own Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, Premier League club Liverpool F.C., and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.
FSG wa ...
had decided to ditch the HKS design on the basis of cost and practicality and focus on working with AFL's "First Generation Anfield" plans. They would modernise the now decade-old design, and include a single tiered kop. It was thought that at least £150m in sponsorship money would have had to have been raised before construction could begin. The current owners announced the expansion of Liverpool's current stadium. Work began on the project in 2015.
History
Liverpool F.C. were approached by
Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards.
The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...
to become a tenant on the flagship
King's Dock project. The club however rejected the offer because the site would only be suitable for a 50,000 capacity stadium.
At the same time, Merseyside rivals
Everton F.C. informally inquired about building on North West section of
Stanley Park, Liverpool
Stanley Park is a park in Liverpool, England, designed by Edward Kemp (landscape architect), Edward Kemp, which was opened on 14 May 1870 by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joseph Hubback. It is significant among Liverpool's parks on account of its lay ...
but were deterred when told that a Victorian
covenant
Covenant may refer to:
Religion
* Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general
** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible
** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...
was in place. Liverpool's then CEO,
Rick Parry
Rick Parry (born 23 February 1955) is the current chairman of the EFL, the former chief executive of Liverpool, the original CEO of the Premier League and a board member at New York Cosmos.
Career
Rick Parry was educated at the Kings School Ch ...
threatened to move Liverpool into a neighbouring borough on
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
because the only other site he considered viable was to become a residential estate in
Garston.
The City Council then offered Everton F.C. the opportunity to become tenants of King's Dock. Everton agreed to this as they would only need to raise £30million for a 55,000 capacity stadium and the rest would be paid for with public money by the council.
Sensing an opportunity, former chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool City Council that Liverpool F.C. wanted to build on the South East area of Stanley Park and that they were considering leaving the city boundaries and taking millions of pounds of income that would usually be paid to the council with them. The City Council reluctantly agreed to Parry's demands and Parry told the press that the solution was "under our noses all along".
At the time, Everton chairman,
Bill Kenwright
William Kenwright, CBE (born 4 September 1945) is an English West End theatre producer and film producer. He has also been the chairman of Everton Football Club since 2004.
Kenwright was born in Liverpool and attended Booker Avenue County Prima ...
chose not to contest the reasoning because they were being given financial support from the public sector. Plans to build on Stanley Park were resisted by local residents and Friends of Stanley Park who did not want to lose parkland for a football stadium.
The stadium designed by AFL was given
planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
in February 2003. Construction was expected to be finished in 2006.
Hicks & Gillett Era
In February 2007 the club was bought by American owners
Tom Hicks
Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...
and
George Gillett Jr. The new owners stated that a new stadium was a priority and that work would begin soon. However the pair failed to secure funding for the stadium, and the AFL plans were replaced by newer and more expensive HKS ones. The HKS stadium was given final planning permission on 19 June 2008 and minor site preparation began on 24 June 2008.
On 15 May, Carlsberg stated their interest in a sponsorship deal of the stadium name, proposing Carlsberg Anfield. No official deal was signed however, and thus no major financial backing was secured.
Former Liverpool Chief Executive
Rick Parry
Rick Parry (born 23 February 1955) is the current chairman of the EFL, the former chief executive of Liverpool, the original CEO of the Premier League and a board member at New York Cosmos.
Career
Rick Parry was educated at the Kings School Ch ...
announced on 5 October 2008 that although the stadium would still be built, work would be delayed until economic conditions improve.
Fenway Sports Group Era
By mid-2010 the club were in serious financial trouble with huge debts. This prompted the takeover of the club by a consortium led by
John W Henry
John William Henry II (born September 13, 1949) is an American businessman and investor and the founder of John W. Henry & Company, an investment management firm. He is the principal owner of Liverpool Football Club, the Boston Red Sox, ''The B ...
in October 2010. The group known as New England Sports Ventures (now
Fenway Sports Group
Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC (FSG), is an American multinational sports holding conglomerate who own Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox, Premier League club Liverpool F.C., and the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins.
FSG wa ...
) announced that the club wanted to expand stadium capacity, and that they would reexamine all options, including redeveloping Anfield. FSG permanently ditched the more expensive HKS stadium designs in favour of a revised AFL design that would conform with the original planning permission.
[
In October 2012, BBC Sport reported that the owners of Liverpool FC had decided to redevelop their current home at Anfield stadium, rather than building a new stadium in Stanley Park. As part of the redevelopment the capacity of Anfield was to increase from 45,276 to approximately 60,000 and would cost in the region of £150m.
]
Groundshare with Everton FC
It was reported that, should funding prove sufficiently difficult to acquire, there was a possibility that the stadium would be co-financed by Everton FC
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
, who were also looking into the possibility of a new stadium in Kirkby, although this had been strenuously denied by Liverpool's former co-owner Tom Hicks
Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...
. Due to the government's rejection of Everton FC
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
's stadium project and financial problems at Everton FC
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
, there had been speculation in the media as to a joint stadium project. Such a project received support from the leader of Liverpool city council and the chief of Liverpool's bid to host matches as part of the failed English 2018 World Cup bid. Despite media rumours, Liverpool FC always maintained that a ground sharing situation was never on the agenda. This idea was quashed once Liverpool F.C. completed their new Main Stand, removing the need for a potential new stadium.
Access
Anfield Railway Station
In February 2008, it was revealed that Liverpool FC were looking to build a new rail station. Three locations have been looked at; Utting Avenue, Stanley Park Avenue and Pinehurst Avenue.
References
External links
Club's official website page on the proposed stadium
BBC report stadium approval in September 2006
Planning Application (07F/2191) at Liverpool.gov.uk
{{Coord, 53.4339807, -2.9596138, type:landmark, display=title
Proposed buildings and structures in Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Unbuilt football venues in England
Redevelopment projects in Liverpool