We’ll keep the Kop at new ground – Parry
Mar 1 2007
By Liverpool Echo
LIVERPOOL chief executive Rick Parry insists the club are fully committed to ensuring the Stanley Park Stadium incorporates a distinctive Kop End.
Designs for the new arena reveal that, unike the current Anfield, there won’t be one larger stand eclipsing the others, which has prompted some fears the impact of the current Kop won’t be replicated.
The Reds chief says both the current hierarchy and the new owners have been considering several alternative ways to ensure the most famous stand in football is recreated within the modern stadium.
George Gillett and Tom Hicks are in the process of analysing what minor improvements can be made to the current design, but there will be no compromise on preserving the The Kop End.
"The plan is to have a single tier Kop. There’s no question of that. That’s one of the priorities we don’t want to change," said Parry.
"In terms of whether one stand will be bigger than others, that’s difficult. When you’re designing a new stadium that’s not particularly logical. But all of us at the club know that making The Kop distinctive is very important. George and Tom absolutely understand that. There are a variety of different ways we can do that, but we don’t have any specifics to discuss at the moment."
Parry is also acutely aware of the need to preserve the unique Anfield atmosphere likely in the forthcoming fixtures against Manchester United and Barcelona, while also supporting fans’ efforts to enhance the noise levels at less high profile games.
One theory is that if the facilities in the Stanley Park Stadium are good enough, more fans may be encouraged to arrive at the ground earlier, which tends to build an atmosphere prior to kick-off.
However, Parry recognises changing the match going routines of Liverpool supporters is easier in theory than practice.
"We can certainly improve facilities and if we do that well, perhaps we can encourage more people to congregate in the stadium earlier.
"But changing habits is difficult," he said.
"If we can provide more football related pre-match entertainment which isn’t marching bands or dancing girls, there must be ways of doing it. But that has to come from the fans. We want to listen to them and hear ways of making that difference.
"We have a dialogue with the fans involved with the Reclaim The Kop camapaign, but we know they’re not an exclusive voice on these issues and don’t necessarily speak for everyone.
"But with the Reclaim The Kop campaign we respect that someone is trying to take the initiative and take positive action. That should be applauded and we’re always keen to hear more ideas."
Gillett and Hicks will bring their own matchday experiences from the United States, but there is clearly a different culture separating American and English sports fans.
Parry added: "With American sports, the whole event is much longer. In all their sports there are more time-outs and breaks, so for an hour long ice hockey match you’re there three hours. Baseball is even longer, so there’s a lot of stop-starting which couldn’t be the case here.
"You also have car parking for 12,000 people so there’s more picnic areas and the like. It’s completely different here. The reason people went to the ground earlier in football grounds in the old days is because you didn’t always have a seat and needed to queue up to get in.
"Nowadays people have their seat in advance."
Mar 1 2007
By Liverpool Echo
LIVERPOOL chief executive Rick Parry insists the club are fully committed to ensuring the Stanley Park Stadium incorporates a distinctive Kop End.
Designs for the new arena reveal that, unike the current Anfield, there won’t be one larger stand eclipsing the others, which has prompted some fears the impact of the current Kop won’t be replicated.
The Reds chief says both the current hierarchy and the new owners have been considering several alternative ways to ensure the most famous stand in football is recreated within the modern stadium.
George Gillett and Tom Hicks are in the process of analysing what minor improvements can be made to the current design, but there will be no compromise on preserving the The Kop End.
"The plan is to have a single tier Kop. There’s no question of that. That’s one of the priorities we don’t want to change," said Parry.
"In terms of whether one stand will be bigger than others, that’s difficult. When you’re designing a new stadium that’s not particularly logical. But all of us at the club know that making The Kop distinctive is very important. George and Tom absolutely understand that. There are a variety of different ways we can do that, but we don’t have any specifics to discuss at the moment."
Parry is also acutely aware of the need to preserve the unique Anfield atmosphere likely in the forthcoming fixtures against Manchester United and Barcelona, while also supporting fans’ efforts to enhance the noise levels at less high profile games.
One theory is that if the facilities in the Stanley Park Stadium are good enough, more fans may be encouraged to arrive at the ground earlier, which tends to build an atmosphere prior to kick-off.
However, Parry recognises changing the match going routines of Liverpool supporters is easier in theory than practice.
"We can certainly improve facilities and if we do that well, perhaps we can encourage more people to congregate in the stadium earlier.
"But changing habits is difficult," he said.
"If we can provide more football related pre-match entertainment which isn’t marching bands or dancing girls, there must be ways of doing it. But that has to come from the fans. We want to listen to them and hear ways of making that difference.
"We have a dialogue with the fans involved with the Reclaim The Kop camapaign, but we know they’re not an exclusive voice on these issues and don’t necessarily speak for everyone.
"But with the Reclaim The Kop campaign we respect that someone is trying to take the initiative and take positive action. That should be applauded and we’re always keen to hear more ideas."
Gillett and Hicks will bring their own matchday experiences from the United States, but there is clearly a different culture separating American and English sports fans.
Parry added: "With American sports, the whole event is much longer. In all their sports there are more time-outs and breaks, so for an hour long ice hockey match you’re there three hours. Baseball is even longer, so there’s a lot of stop-starting which couldn’t be the case here.
"You also have car parking for 12,000 people so there’s more picnic areas and the like. It’s completely different here. The reason people went to the ground earlier in football grounds in the old days is because you didn’t always have a seat and needed to queue up to get in.
"Nowadays people have their seat in advance."
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