Liverpool FC - Anfield - Capacity: 43,400 All Seater
About Anfield The historical Anfield is now in the twilight of its life as a stadium, and plans are now firmly established to move the club to a new 70,000 seater stadium less than a mile away in Stanley Park, thus bringing an end to the 125 year history of the ground. Today the stadium is one of the most atmospheric in European football. It is a UEFA 4 Star stadium, and has regularly hosted internationals including games played by Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
The stadium was originally home to Everton FC who moved here in September 1884, and played here during the inaugural Football league Championship in 1888. Three years later a row over rent led to Everton leaving Anfield and setting up home to the north of Stanley Park at Goodison Park.
Liverpool then became sole owners of the ground and started developing it, adding a main stand in 1895 and completing the Walton Breck Bank in 1897. This stand was renamed the Spion Kop in 1906 in memory for those British servicemen who lost their lives on the Spion Kop hill in the Second Boer War. At its peak this stand alone could hold 30,000 and was one of the single biggest stands in British football.
The stadium has undergone serious redevelopment over the past thirty years as the club have tried to upgrade facilities at the same time as expanding the capacity. The Main stand is the oldest surviving stand, dating back to 1973 although it now looks old and tired. The Centenary Stand was opened in 1992, replacing the Kemlyn Road Stand and providing the club which some state of the art hospitality and conferencing facilities. The Kop was converted to all seater in line with the Taylor Report in 1994.
In June 1996 the stadium was one of the venues for the European Championships, and hosted games between Italy, Russia and Czech Republic as well as the quarter final between France and Netherlands. Whilst the Millennium Stadium was being rebuilt in Cardiff, Wales played a number of games here as well in the Euro 2000 Championship qualifying tournament. Since the original Wembley Stadium closed in 2001, the stadium also hosted three England matches, the last one being in March 2006 when England beat Uruguay.
The stadium is very accommodating for fans, although the Main Stand suffers from a real lack of space both in the seating and concourse areas. Other areas of the stadium offer excellent views, and an opportunity to sit on the Kop is still one of the best match day experiences in football.
The club also offers regular tours of the stadium and the museum. It is essential that these are reserved in advanced by calling 0151 260 6677. The cost of the combined ticket is £9 for Adults and £5 for Concessions.
Who plays there? Anfield is home to England’s most successful club side Liverpool FC. The club have won more trophies that any other English club, and apart from Real Madrid and AC Milan can lay claim to more European Cup victories than anyone else as well.
The club were formed in 1892 as an offshoot of the Everton football club after a row about the rent due on the ground at Anfield. They were elected into the Football League Second Division in 1893. They went through the following season unbeaten, winning the division before claiming their first First Division Title in 1901.
However, it wasn’t until the appointment of Bill Shankly in 1959 that the club started to make a real impact on British football. He was responsible for building a team that in 1962 won promotion to the First Division again, where they have remained ever since. IN 1964 they won the Championship again, which started a run of success that took in FA Cup final victories and the UEFA Cup in 1973. In 1974 Shankly retired and was succeeded by his assistant Bill Paisley. Paisley continued this success with 7 League Championships, 4 League Cups – in fact the club went undefeated in this competition for 5 years, and three European Cups. In fact it was in Europe where their dominance was seen with victories over Monchengladbach and FC Brugge in 1977 and 1978 respectively.
Paisley handed over the reigns to Joe Fagan in 1983, although his tenure will be remembered for the wrong reasons as he was in charge for the European Cup final in Brussels against Juventus on the night of the Heysel tragedy. Fagan stepped down after this match, and was replaced by the legendary Scottish centre-forward Kenny Daglish as Player Manager. In his first season he captured the domestic double. Three years later the club were involved in tragedy again when the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough witnessed the death of 95 Liverpool fans due to overcrowding in the Leppings Lane stand.
The club won their last championship in 1990, and then went through a period of internal upheaval as managers such as Ronnie Moran, Graeme Souness and Roy Evans failed to deliver anything apart from a FA Cup win against Sunderland in 1992.
It took the arrival of ex-French coach Gerard Houllier in July 1998 to start the Anfield revolution. He built a team that was on the verge of breaking the Manchester United monopoly on the Premiership. In 2001 the team won an unprecedented 5 major honours after capturing the FA Cup, Carling Cup, Community Shield, UEFA Cup and European Super Cup – a feat that has never been repeated.
Houllier could not deliver the title though, and after a serious health scare in 2003 he stepped down at the end of the 2004 season. He was replaced by Rafael Benítez who revamped the team, bringing in new talent such as Xabi Alonso, John Arne Riise and Pepe Reina to play alongside Anfield legends such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. In his first season the club won the Champions League by coming back from 3-0 down against AC Milan in Istanbul to win on penalties. In 2006 the team beat West Ham United on penalties again to capture the FA Cup.
Last season the team could not break the Chelsea / Manchester United strangle hold on the Premiership, but they did reach the Champions League final again in Athens, losing 2-1 to AC Milan in a repeat of the 2005 final. The 2007 pre-season has seen the club spend significant sums of the recently invested money from new US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet Junior. In has come players such as Fernando Torres, Andriy Voronin, Alvaro Arbeloa, Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun in what many see is Benetiz’s final attempt at winning the Premiership.
How to get there The stadium is not well served by public transport from the city centre. Bus number 26 runs from Paradise Street station to the found, whilst from Queen Square bus station you can catch routes 17B, 17C, 17D or 217. The nearest station is Sandhills station, which has a free Soccerbus link to the stadium on Match days. Lime Street station is around 2.5 miles away.
For an excellent overview of who plays where in Liverpool, go to Footiemap.comto access their comprehensive map page for the city.
Getting a ticket Unless you are a club member or season ticket holder then getting a ticket to see a match at Anfield is almost impossible at the current time. A very small number of tickets are held back for each game and you are able to take your chances in getting these. Exact details of how you can try and get your hands on them are displayed on the official website. You may have a better chance for cup games where season ticket holders may not take up their allocation.
Ticket prices range from £35 in the Main or Centenary Stands, to £28 in the Kop. Seats in the Main Stand are cramped and views can be obscured by the supporting pillars. To book a ticket then call 0870 220 2151.
Getting around The only real form of transportation in the city is Buses that run from a number of central places to the outlying areas. The long overdue Merseytram project is now back on the agenda after it was cancelled in 2005 but it will not be open in the next few years. A daily bus pass costs £2.40.
Train services run through Liverpool Lime Street Station, and since the upgrade in the West coast line, journey times to London have been cut to under 3 hours.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (formerly known as Speke) is located next to the River Mersey some 7.5 miles south of the city. It is one of the fastest growing airports in Europe with passenger numbers now up to 5 million per annum. The airport is currently served by FlyBe from Belfast, Jersey and Southampton and Ryanair from Belfast and Inverness. The majority of flights that come and go are chartered flights.
To reach the city centre catch one of the regular Airport Express 500 bus services that run to Liverpool Queen Street bus station, as well as Liverpool South Parkway station – a single ticket costs £2.. A taxi to the city centre should cost no more than £13.
