LIVERPOOL will make a decision on their new stadium early in the new year after ditching their most recent plans because they were too expensive.
Chief executive Rick Parry today insisted: “The objective on day one in building the new stadium was to generate more cash to fund the team and we must never get away from that objective.
“We remain confident we can achieve that and still produce a very impressive solution.”
Tom Hicks and George Gillett are now considering plans submitted by two rival firms of architects, both of which offer a cheaper and more viable option.
Dallas architects HKS – handpicked by Hicks for the original design which was unveiled with great fanfare in July this year – have revisited their initial submission and scaled it down in a bid to make it more cost effective.
Meanwhile, Manchester firm AFL – who came up with the design for a 60,000 capacity stadium which Hicks rejected as “obsolete” after taking over the club – have submitted a new set of plans which are also under consideration.
The fact that plans for a 76,000 stadium have now been shelved is a blow to Hicks and Gillett who had pledged to create “a world class stadium” to help Liverpool to “compete with the Manchester Uniteds, Real Madrids and Barcelonas of the football world”.
But club insiders insist the decision was taken for all the right reasons as costs threatened to spiral out of control and had Hicks and Gillett refused to go back to the drawing board it could have burdened Liverpool with a stadium which was not cost effective.
Having launched their revised plans with such fanfare in July the decision to abandon them now is something of an embarrassment for the Americans but the ECHO understands it was the only sensible option left open to them as the costs threatened to rise to more than £450m.
When it became clear that the club was not in a position to pursue the HKS design, Hicks asked the Dallas firm to come back with a revised set of proposals which were within the club's budget.
AFL were also commissioned to come up with an improvement on their initial 60,000 capacity stadium plans and they have done so.
Both sets of plans are for a stadium with a capacity of around 70,000 and the club will make a final decision on which option they wish to pursue early in the new year.
Chief executive Rick Parry today insisted: “The objective on day one in building the new stadium was to generate more cash to fund the team and we must never get away from that objective.
“We remain confident we can achieve that and still produce a very impressive solution.”
Tom Hicks and George Gillett are now considering plans submitted by two rival firms of architects, both of which offer a cheaper and more viable option.
Dallas architects HKS – handpicked by Hicks for the original design which was unveiled with great fanfare in July this year – have revisited their initial submission and scaled it down in a bid to make it more cost effective.
Meanwhile, Manchester firm AFL – who came up with the design for a 60,000 capacity stadium which Hicks rejected as “obsolete” after taking over the club – have submitted a new set of plans which are also under consideration.
The fact that plans for a 76,000 stadium have now been shelved is a blow to Hicks and Gillett who had pledged to create “a world class stadium” to help Liverpool to “compete with the Manchester Uniteds, Real Madrids and Barcelonas of the football world”.
But club insiders insist the decision was taken for all the right reasons as costs threatened to spiral out of control and had Hicks and Gillett refused to go back to the drawing board it could have burdened Liverpool with a stadium which was not cost effective.
Having launched their revised plans with such fanfare in July the decision to abandon them now is something of an embarrassment for the Americans but the ECHO understands it was the only sensible option left open to them as the costs threatened to rise to more than £450m.
When it became clear that the club was not in a position to pursue the HKS design, Hicks asked the Dallas firm to come back with a revised set of proposals which were within the club's budget.
AFL were also commissioned to come up with an improvement on their initial 60,000 capacity stadium plans and they have done so.
Both sets of plans are for a stadium with a capacity of around 70,000 and the club will make a final decision on which option they wish to pursue early in the new year.
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