The upcoming match at Anfield Road for Liverpool could gather a record number of spectators. Everything depends on the success of tests scheduled for Monday evening, which will determine the possibility of opening the upper tier of the Anfield Road Stand.

Decisive tests with fans

On Monday evening, 7,500 people gathered at Anfield to watch a mini-match organized by the LFC Foundation and participate in a Q&A session with manager Jurgen Klopp. During this event, testing both the upper and lower tiers of the Anfield Road Stand was crucial to obtain a safety certificate to open additional seats in the upper part of the stand.

We will ask them to use the toilets and all facilities. We will also use the fire alarm. Representatives of the City Council must give us permission to open the stand, so these are essential procedures, said Paul Cuttil, Liverpool's deputy stadium director, in an interview with This Is Anfield.

The results of these tests and the opinion of the authority issuing the permit to increase capacity are not yet known, but they are expected soon, as the match against Manchester United is scheduled for next Sunday at 17:30.

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Highest attendance in over 50 years

If all goes according to plan, an additional 7,000 seats will be made available for this match, meaning a total of 57,000 fans will be seated in the stands. This will be the highest attendance at a league match played at Anfield in over 50 years. In April 1973, during a match against Leicester City, 56,202 fans were in attendance.

As Paul Cuttill emphasizes, bringing about the opening of another part of the Anfield Road Stand was "really difficult": Billy [Hogan, CEO] said it would probably only happen in 2024, so it's a bit of an early Christmas present that really encourages us to come to the match against United. It was a lot of hard work and sheer perseverance.

Some reports suggest that without opening the upper stand, Liverpool could lose around £750,000 per match. Considering that 11 matches have been played this season so far, this means a revenue loss of over £8 million.

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Full capacity in January?

The next stage also involves opening the stand for away team fans (2,000 seats) and making minor adjustments at a lower level. 2,500 seats out of 4,000 allocated for VIPs will not be available for a few more weeks. Also, the last two rows of the lower tier have not yet been equipped with seats. These works are expected to be completed next month, and then Anfield's capacity will increase to 61,000, as planned in the redevelopment of The Reds stadium. Everything indicates that the attendance record at Liverpool home venue will be broken in January. The highest number of people in history appeared at Anfield in February 1952: 61,905 fans attended the match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup.

Initially, the £80 million renovation was planned to be completed before the start of the season, but financial problems with the previous contractor, Buckingham Group, forced the club to look for a new company to complete the reconstruction.

Opening the full capacity of the stadium does not mean the end of the redevelopment of Anfield. Improving visibility from the Road Stand will continue until the end of the season, and work is also required in the corner of the main stand at a lower level, such as the cladding of the roof from the inside. A "fan park" is also planned to be created under one of the stands, but for now, there is a large construction site.

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