Thousands of Liverpool fans will have noticed an email from the club in their inboxes on Monday which could be a concern ahead of the new season.
Supporters who had entered the members’ ballot for match tickets for the first half of the 2023/24 campaign were today meant to be informed whether or not their applications were successful.
However, as Phil Dutton (Vice President of Ticketing and Hospitality) explained, that has been put back by two weeks due to uncertainty over the permissible capacity of the Anfield Road Stand for the first home game of the season, with redevelopment work ongoing at the stadium.
An excerpt from the email reads (via Liverpool Echo): ‘We were planning to inform you today with the outcome of the Members’ ticket ballot for the first half of the season. We have decided to postpone those results and the ticket sale itself for a few more weeks while work continues on our fantastic Anfield Road Stand build.
‘To avoid any potential disruption to you, we wanted to wait until we have confirmation of the total stand capacity from Liverpool City Council’s licencing team.
‘The ballot results will now be published on Monday 31st July 2023 with the full Members’ sale starting from Tuesday August 8th 2023.’
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This message from the club may be concerning for Liverpool supporters who may be hoping the Reds’ first home fixture of the new season – against Bournemouth on Saturday 19 August – will still go ahead as scheduled.
However, with that match now just 33 days away, there could be fears that the redeveloped stand won’t be opened in time, which might potentially see a repeat of seven years ago when the home clash against Burnley in August 2016 was switched to Turf Moor due to ongoing work at Anfield’s Main Stand.
It was only in recent days that Luton confirmed their scheduled first home match as a Premier League club – coincidentally against the Clarets on 19 August – will be postponed rather than reversed, with a new date to be confirmed in due course.
It might also be frustrating for Liverpool fans who are eagerly awaiting the results of the ballot so that they can proceed with purchasing tickets for games and, subsequently, feeling the excitement of making a trip to Anfield for a matchday.
However, the safety of match-going supporters must always be the first priority, and it’s only right that the redeveloped stand isn’t opened until such time that it’s received the necessary sign-off from the City Council.
A two-week wait for the results of the ticket ballot isn’t ideal, but it can be classed as a minor inconvenience when evaluating the bigger picture.
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