Moore The Merrier

The upturn in the club’s fortunes under manager Jurgen Klopp comes at a key time for the club, with massive investment going into infrastructure in and around Anfield stadium, plus a new training complex.

The new Main Stand cost a reported total of £114 million, but is already paying dividends. It has boosted capacity to 54,074 and added around £1 million in additional match day revenues per game, mainly through increased hospitality sales.

Moore insists that just as importantly as revenue, the new stand is bringing a world-class match day and non-match day experience for fans, adding:  “These days you have to also think of the non-match days. Stadiums are massive fixed costs and they are very important places for fans to visit, both locally and from around the world. We will continue to invest in Anfield. As a club we have to look at how we can better facilitate visits to make them even more special than they currently are.

“Revenue is critically important, but so is the continued modernisation of Anfield. We will continue to look at the feasibility for any proposed Anfield Road expansion over the coming months and years.

“It is important for us to be able to get more fans in the ground. But no matter what we do there, it won’t satisfy demand. We have outline planning permission that is good for another year and a half and if we change our views on what we want to do, we can always resubmit another planning application.”

Moore also reveals the club now has potential to improve the use of Anfield on non-match days.

“A lot of our colleagues in the Premier League use their stadiums to great effect in the close season as concert venues. When one thinks of Liverpool and its linkage to music and other sports, it would make sense to look at longer-term options to be a part of that.

“Some further work would need to be done on the stadium to make the case for what we call ‘Destination Anfield’, which is to make this very special place a place people not only want to visit 365 days a year, but also to make it a venue for non-football events, as and when they become available.

“Work would need to be done to make it a little bit more friendly for bringing in concert stages. The last major concert here was Paul McCartney (in 2008) when they had to drop the stage in with cranes over the top of the roof of the stands. Obviously that is not ideal.

“Access to the stadium becomes critical for anything like this to enable us to compete. We now have a hybrid pitch, put in at the start of the season, which is durable and not only able to withstand more games, but also allows us to hold events other than football matches.”

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