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Reds start work on stadium

Construction has begun on Liverpool's new stadium despite the club still not signing a lease to gain control of the publicly owned land.

Liverpool council said it allowed the Reds to carry out “enabling work” under a license until September in a short-term arrangement while negotiations over the 999-year deal continue with the Premier League club.

Liverpool’s feuding owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr announced that building had begun at Stanley Park in their first joint statement this year on the Liverpool Web site — a sign of the thawing tensions between the two.

Legislators in Liverpool granted approval for a 60,000-capacity stadium, adjacent to the existing Anfield, but it will accommodate up to 73,000 depending on future planning permission being granted.

“This is a significant milestone for the club and I am delighted that the design received full planning consent and that we are now on site,” Gillett said. “We have been working very hard over the last six months to move the details of the design along, but this is the first tangible evidence for fans that a new LFC Stadium will be built.”

A total of £10.3 million (US$21 million) was written off by Hicks and Gillett when plans for a new stadium were ditched.

The stadium, being built by Laing O’Rourke, is scheduled to open in August 2011 and will feature an 18,500-seat single tier stand for the Kop, which hosts Liverpool’s most vocal supporters.

Central to permission being granted is developing the surrounding area.

“We recognize the importance of a new LFC Stadium as part of the wider regeneration of the local area,” Hicks said. “I am pleased that now the club has received full planning permission it can join the regeneration process with the commencement of enabling works.”

Also on Tuesday, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez denied reports that he had ordered the co-owners to give him £50 million to spend on new players.

“The stories are ridiculous. Total rubbish,” Benitez said. “They have me trying to sign Daniel Alves, who already has an agreement with Barcelona, so how could I be trying to sign him? I am working hard with [chief executive] Rick Parry, who is in regular contact with the Americans, and there are no problems.”
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