When Liverpool hosts Manchester United next weekend, Anfield will break its Premier League attendance record with the renovated Anfield Road Stand. Liverpool has spent over $100 million to renovate the stands on the northeast end of the ground. In total, Liverpool is expecting 57,000 fans at Anfield when the Reds welcome the Red Devils.
Most of the work on the Anfield Stand came with a new upper tier that is adding 7,000 seats to the hallowed ground. To ensure the stand is ready to welcome thousands of visitors, Liverpool is hosting a test event with the LFC Foundation. Jürgen Klopp is attending a question-and-answer session at the stadium on Monday that will bring fans to the stand for the first time.
The game against Manchester United is Liverpool’s next home game. The Reds do have a game against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League group stage. However, that game is in Belgium. Previous games at Anfield in the Premier League and Europa League pulled around 52,000 in the audience. With that number going to 57,000 on Sunday, Liverpool will break its Premier League attendance record.
Liverpool to set another Anfield attendance record next month
While hosting 57,000 fans against Manchester United is a massive achievement for the club, it is not the end of the line. Anfield has other seats opening in about one month that will break the all-time league attendance record at Anfield. Currently, Liverpool’s league attendance record is 58,757. That happened in a draw against Chelsea in 1949. When total refurbishment finishes, the official capacity at Anfield will be 61,000.
It remains a possibility that Liverpool can break its all-time attendance record. That figure, which came in 1952 against Wolves in the FA Cup fourth round, is 61,905. Renovations to the lower part of the Anfield Road Stand end the drawn-out process to bring more people to Anfield.
Ending the construction and renovation dilemmas
The Manchester United game also signals the end of a lengthy process that needed delays to fix Anfield. Construction on the Anfield Road Stand started in 2021. However, the process took time as Liverpool played games while construction continued. Buckingham Group, the construction company in charge of the project, faced financial difficulties. That put more delays on the debut, which the club hoped would be the beginning of the 2023/24 season.
“Our priority was to get fans back into the stadium as soon as possible safely,” Paul Cuttill, vice-president of Stadium Operations, said. “Billy [Hogan, the chief executive] said back in October it would likely be 2024 before we would open so to get ahead of that for the Man United game is a bit of an early Christmas present.”
After the long wait, Liverpool gets to bring thousands of fans to a game against one of its biggest rivals. Then, not long after, Anfield will be the location for pivotal games against Newcastle and Chelsea in January. Later games in the season at Anfield include contests against Manchester City and Tottenham. The raucous venue could provide even more problems for visiting opposition in this Premier League campaign.
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