Former Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton has revealed that he took John W. Henry to the Emirates Stadium, as a way to show the new owner of the Reds why we should stay at Anfield.
As reported by Telegraph, John Hicks and George Gillett had outlined plans to build a new 60,000 seater stadium in Stanley Park.
After some issues with getting permissions the plans for the new Stanley Park Stadium were put on hold and there were some doubts it’d even get done, but as per the Mirror it was confirmed by Rick Parry that the plans were still going ahead.
The plans were still in place when Fenway Sports Group took over the club, but these blueprints were later scrapped after an intervention by Sir Martin Broughton.
MORE: Liverpool will increase Anfield to 61,000 by 2022 if unveiled plans get go ahead
“That was the most important decision – to do that rather than go for an Emirates style stadium in Stanley Park,” Broughton told the Telegraph.
“We organised a trip for John (Henry) to the Emirates for a game and the feedback was always how everyone loved the stadium except the Arsenal fans.
“They could instantly see why would you throw away ‘This is Anfield’? The Emirates in Stanley Park just did not feel right.
“If he had had to build another stadium he would have, but his determination was to do everything to stay at Anfield which was important.
“Fenway had proven they could do it with the Red Sox as previous owners had bought land next door to build a new arena. Fenway said: ‘Why would you throw away all the tradition of the Green Monster?’ The similarities were clear. They got it through and returned it to former glories. Now they have done the same at Anfield.”
We’re glad that Liverpool still play their football at Anfield – it’d didn’t go to plan for Arsenal at the Emirates as they’ve not seen anywhere near the success they enjoyed at Highbury.
So much history has happened at our home, and it would be a shame to leave that behind us and move somewhere else.
This season looks like the return the most elusive trophy in recent history for the Reds, and we’ll be glad to see the Anfield faithful celebrating inside out historic home.