Liverpool stadium plan ditched for more 'ambitious' expansion

A third tier was added to the Main Stand at Anfield in 2016

Plans to redevelop Liverpool's stadium will be "allowed to lapse" in favour of more "ambitious" proposals to increase Anfield's capacity to over 60,000.

The original scheme, part of the Main Stand's redevelopment, included adding 4,800 seats to the Anfield Road end.

The new Main Stand, which opened in 2016, added a third tier and increased capacity to 54,074.

A "new planning application for a larger scheme" will be submitted in due course, the club said.

Liverpool's chief operating officer Andy Hughes said: "The progress that has been made during ongoing feasibility studies has resulted in us being in a position to allow the outline planning permission to lapse."

He said the club was committed to working with local residents and planning officials to "focus on the detail" behind any proposed redevelopment and consider "alternative options".

The £100m expansion work on the Main Stand was part of a wider £260m regeneration of the Anfield area of the city.

Two public spaces near the stadium were renamed 96 Avenue and Paisley Square in memory of the Hillsborough victims and former Reds manager Bob Paisley.

The history of Anfield

The old Main Stand at Anfield in 1965

• Anfield opened in 1884 with a capacity of about 20,000 and was originally the home of Everton FC, until a row over rent saw the Toffees move across to Goodison Park and the newly formed Liverpool FC take up residence in 1892

• The famous Spion Kop opened in 1906 and a redesign in 1928 gave it a capacity of 30,000

• Anfield's highest attendance came in 1952, when 61,905 saw the Reds take on Wolverhampton Wanderers

• The introduction of seating on the Kop and redesigns of the Anfield Road, Kemlyn Road (Centenary) and Main stands in the 1970s, 80s and 90s brought the stadium to a capacity of just over 45,000

• Liverpool officially opened the stadium's new Main Stand in 2016, increasing the overall capacity to 54,074

Source: Liverpool FC