Originally posted by Tee
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Very mixed feelings about the stadium if true. 
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Why? Surely staying at Anfield is what we all want? We get to expand, save hundreds of millions and we get to keep our historic stadium. If they do choose to stay at Anfield, I'm sure they aren't just going to plonk 20,000 extra seats in somewhere. They'll do it properly, like they did with Fenway (which I went to visit a few weeks ago by the way, and is awesome!)K ris90210 -
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Get rid of the ‘new Barcelona’ tag and Kop can be Brendan Rodgers’ oyster
Tony Barrett
Published 1 minute ago
With Brendan Rodgers set to be introduced as the new Liverpool manager at 10 o’clock this morning, The Times examines five key areas for the 39-year-old to address as he takes his first tentative steps in one of English football’s most testing jobs.
Come to terms with the new chain of command
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool’s owner, is set to implement a strategy involving a sporting director but, at least in the short term, the role will be performed by an ensemble rather than an individual. Rodgers will be expected to work in tandem with a trio of technical, recruitment and administration specialists, but he will have the final say on transfers as the ultimate head of department. FSG sees this approach as the best way to ensure that a series of checks and balances are in place to prevent players being signed for fees that exceed their values. Rodgers has been able to appoint his own backroom staff, Colin Pascoe, Chris Davies and Glen Driscoll joining him from Swansea City — a trio of arrivals that will pave the way for Steve Clarke’s departure — but he will have no say over the more senior strategic appointments that will make up the football operations team.
Distance himself from the “man behind the new Barcelona” tag
If having your playing style compared to Barcelona was a blessing while manager of Swansea, it could be a curse at Liverpool. Expectation levels are rarely anything other than high at Anfield, so boosting them unnecessarily by being fêted as a purveyor of the kind of football associated with one of the greatest teams to grace the world game is likely to be a hindrance. Now is the time to nail a popular misconception, for reasons of self-preservation more than anything. Whereas Barcelona use possession to fuel their sense of adventure and allow them to hurt their opponents, Swansea under Rodgers monopolised it to exert control and stop their opponents from hurting them. Puncturing the myth may help to keep expectations in check and prevent Liverpool fans wondering what happened to the dazzling attacking football they thought they would be getting.
Do not judge Liverpool on their eighth-place finish
If the relative merits of the Liverpool squad were assessed solely on them finishing eighth in last season’s Barclays Premier League (17 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur), Rodgers would be forgiven for determining to rip it up and start again. But the bigger picture shows that Liverpool won more than 50 per cent of their matches in all competitions and suffered some misfortune — including a season-ending injury to Lucas Leiva, the Brazil midfielder — that prevented that particular statistic being healthier. Rodgers appears prepared to accept that not everything is in need of a shake-up, having made it clear that he will offer every player a clean slate, including Alberto Aquilani and Joe Cole, who are set to return from season-long loan spells. The squad Rodgers is inheriting may not be perfect, but there is more than enough evidence to suggest that it is better than their league form suggests.
Recalibrate the midfield
Only Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich had a superior pass completion rate than Swansea last season. This remarkable statistic was largely because of the ability of Leon Britton and Joe Allen to control the game in midfield with short passes that went sideways and backwards more often than forward. Liverpool do not have an abundance of midfield players in this mould. The natural instincts of Steven Gerrard, Charlie Adam and Jonjo Shelvey are to force the play either with driving runs or long, ambitious passes. Only if such impulses are curbed will Rodgers be able to impose his style on his new team.
Embrace the Anfield crowd, don’t fear them
Depending on who you listen to, the Liverpool fans are either too indulgent, impossible to please or both. Rafael Benítez and Kenny Dalglish, it was claimed, were given too much support, Roy Hodgson not enough. Revisionism has decreed that Hodgson was never given a chance, even though the man himself thanked those who would eventually turn on him for the positive reception they afforded him at his first game as manager. The chants for Dalglish to take his place began only once results, performances and style of football fell well below an acceptable standard. Rodgers is not Benítez and nor is he Dalglish, and he does not have legendary status, but, like Hodgson, he will be given two things by the Kop — a warm welcome and total backing. They want to see good football, which Rodgers has proved he can deliver, and they want good results. Should the former Swansea manager provide both, he will be taken to their hearts. Should he provide neither, he will be given the thumbs-down.
Thanks very much for being ‘This Mornings’ Farmer’Comment
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That would require some back-peddling from Ayre as he has already ruled out a naming rights deal for Anfield.Originally posted by Reece View PostComment
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That could be a thorny issue. I'm sure there are quotes from FSG/Ayre that if they renovate Anfield then there'll be no naming rights.Originally posted by Reece View PostJames Philip Milner Fanclub #1
Curtis Julian Jones Fanclub #1Comment
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Yes! Getting sick of hearing how he'll be ripped apart by our fanbase after a week, dont make a cunt of yourself like declaring a 2-0 battering by Everton as the "best performance of the season", have some sort of plan and he'll be completely fine. We back our managers, much more than most in this country.Originally posted by Shaggy View PostComment
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Stick another 15k on Anfield and improve the corporate facilities and we've got ourselves a big enough stadium and we don't have to leave Anfield.
Surely every fan wants that?James Philip Milner Fanclub #1
Curtis Julian Jones Fanclub #1Comment
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People often forget that Anfield is one of the original stadia used on the opening day of the oldest football league in the world in 1888. It's historically important to the city and I'd be ecstatic to see it remain.I have one word to offer - honesty. I couldn't be devious if I tried. Joe Fagan.Comment
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You'd think so, as nice as it'd be for us to have a brand new stadium. Nothing beats walking up the stair of the Kop before kick off, special feeling no matter how many times you go.Originally posted by Rich View PostVive la FranceComment
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Just looking at Rodgers' history. His wiki reads like he spent 12 years at Reading as a youth team coach before he got a job at Chelsea.
That's some apprenticeship...
I reckon he was a bare knuckle fighter on the QT.James Philip Milner Fanclub #1
Curtis Julian Jones Fanclub #1Comment
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Where's that link to the Rodgers tactical style? The one with the LFC update?Comment
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Don't know.Brandt - Keita - Van Dijk - SessegnonComment
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Liverpool poised to ditch new stadium in favour of Anfield expansion
Liverpool, having decided on Brendan Rodgers as their manager, are expected to announce within weeks they intend to stay at Anfield, not build their long-planned new stadium on Stanley Park. Under plans drawn up by Liverpool city council and revealed to local residents, houses would be demolished to enable the club to expand Anfield's main stand.
At a meeting on 15 May attended by Ian Ayre, the Liverpool managing director, residents living in neighbouring streets to Anfield were presented with three worked-up options involving knocking down rows of houses. The council's assistant director for regeneration, Mark Kitts, told the Guardian that Liverpool have confirmed, in discussions with the council, that the demolitions would meet the club's requirements.
"We have been working with the club very closely," Kitts said, "and they have said this will accommodate their needs if they stay at Anfield and refurbish the current stadium."
Kitts said homes would be given "an open market valuation" – which he suggested could be upgraded to reflect an area in better condition – plus a 10% "home loss payment" and removal costs. Liverpool will not have to negotiate directly with residents or buy their houses. Kitts said the council has the option of applying for compulsory purchase powers, to force residents to sell, if necessary. Some home-owning residents are fearful that they will not receive enough to pay for a similar home elsewhere.
Liverpool's principal physical obstacle is not enlarging Anfield's footprint – their plan is understood to involve adding an extra tier, plus corporate facilities, to the Anfield Road and main stands. Doing so, however, would block the "right to light" of those neighbouring houses. Kitts said he believed the demolitions would "solve the right to light issues".
The plans, presented to a neighbourhood "stakeholders meeting", including the Rockfield Residents Association, all propose knocking down the row of terraces closest to the main stand, on Lothair Road. The second two options, more favoured, involve demolishing two additional rows of houses – both rows on Lothair Road, and the first on the next street, Alroy. The remaining houses are planned to be refurbished: one option suggests replacing the demolished houses with a commercial development, possibly a hotel.
Liverpool are still maintaining they are keeping open both their options – to expand Anfield or proceed with the new stadium on Stanley Park. However, the demolition plan, on which Kitts said the council hopes to begin work as soon as this summer, has convinced many local people that this is to facilitate Liverpool staying at Anfield. The council still favours the new stadium but Liverpool's owners, John W Henry's Fenway Sports Group, has made it clear since it bought the club that it would prefer to enlarge Anfield, mainly because it is cheaper.
Liverpool declined to comment on the revelation of the housing demolition blueprint, saying: "The private discussions and plans that Liverpool Football Club has or may have with residents or other stakeholders are, in our opinion, exactly that: 'private'."
Last week Ayre said Liverpool would "need to convince" residents if the club were to stay at Anfield, and said: "We're having some great dialogue with them."
However, Ros Groves, chair of the neighbouring Salisbury Residents Association, said she "hit the roof" when she read that. Her group has also been presented with demolition plans, for a corner opposite the main stand and Kop, which the club could develop commercially. But she said Liverpool have held no meaningful discussions with residents.
"I cannot see how it can be called 'great dialogue' when Ian Ayre has been to one meeting with one residents group," Groves said. "Everybody can see which way this is going now. We just want Liverpool football club to be open with us." Many houses around Anfield have been blighted for years – a significant number bought by the football club and left empty, a source of great resentment among residents left coping with the area's decline.
Some who own their homes, Groves said, fear were worried that that the money they would be paid by the council who will demolish them, will would not be enough to buy a similar home elsewhere.
"Everybody wants a solution to this area's problems," Groves said. "But people who have paid off their mortgages, and long-term tenants, are very concerned about the impact on them."
Liverpool was sold in 2007, to the Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett, specifically so that finance would be found to build the new stadium on Stanley Park. After they failed to progress the new stadium, Martin Broughton, the chairman conducting the Liverpool sale, said any buyer would "have to accept" building a new stadium. But after FSG bought Liverpool, Henry always made it clear he favoured remaining at Anfield.
Link: The GuardianComment
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Was pure guess work anyway.
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