Reds prepare new Anfield stadium

Monday 17th July 2006
ANFIELD ONLINE LFC NEWS

REDS PREPARE NEW STADIUM

The new Anfield - slowly becoming a reality?

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry is insisting Liverpool's new stadium plans will not collapse as Rafael Benitez continues his search for new players.

It is believed that Benitez returned to Spain after Saturday's friendly win at Wrexham in an attempt to tie up deals and, back on Merseyside, Parry was intent on allaying fears over the club's new ground plans in nearby Stanley Park.

Doubts have been expressed over the scheme to replace Anfield with a 60,000-capacity stadium as the cost is claimed to have spiralled to nearly £190million.

Liverpool must also come up with proof they have raised the money for the new ground by the end of the month, or they could lose grants totalling almost £20million to cover the new stadium's outside infrastructure from the EU and the Northwest Development Agency.

Liverpool have been in lengthy negotiations to raise the capital from the private sector, and Parry - in a BBC Five Live interview - said: "There is a lot of work going on and the situation is coming to a head relatively soon.

"It is a hugely important project and we are certainly looking at a matter of weeks and it is still something we are determined to bring off, too much work has gone into it for us to fail at this hurdle."

Listen to the full interview with Rick Parry (RealPlayer audio)