THE SECRETARY’S PAGE LIVERPOOL F.C. SUPPORTERS CLUB - NEW YORK Welcome to another edition of your supporters club OUR FOUNDING MEMBER MOVES TO fanzine. Several events affecting our club have taken PASTURES NEW! place since our last issue, so we’ll get right to it with LFCSC-NY sadly breaks the news that our founding 25TH25TH OFOF MAYMAY the details. member, the man whose vision led to the formation of Hank our club, is leaving our American shores for the Issue 25 August 2000 green pastures of Europe. Yes, Sean Woods, our spiritual leader, without whom we would not have a AGM - MAY 19 2000 NYC Liverpool club, is moving on to Brussels, along Our annual meeting took place at the Kinsale Tavern with his lovely wife, MaryBeth and their adorable son on the eve of the FA Cup final. The following took Ian. Sean’s guidance made our organization grow into place. what we see today. Many thank to Sean for all he has The pieces are in place Club Officers for season 2000-2001: ! done, and we will try our best to carry on in his President – Daragh Kennedy absence. Best of luck to our good friend and if we Secretary – Hank Edwards ever hear of a new supporters club in Belgium, we all Treasurer – Tommy Kelly Now we drive to glory!!! th will know who the brains behind it is, won’t we ! “25 of May” Editors – Eddie Keane, Dave Brenner Kinsale Tavern Liason – Davy Lane T Shirt Person – Helen Turner LFCSC-NY T SHIRTS Phone Hotline – Dave Oettinger The latest model in LFCSC-NY T Shirts remain Website – Dave Fulton, Dave Brenner available for sale. We have a choice of two colours, All of the above members were agreed upon by all grey or red, both with the Liverbird & the NYC present at the AGM to carry on their functions on skyline over the breast, and the name of our home The behalf of our club for next season. We thank every- Kinsale Tavern, in gaelic font, on the back. Sizes are one above for volunteering to help out with running Large and Extra Large. Prices remain as follows: the supporters club, as no one gets paid for any of the $ 14.00 within the US (checks payable to T. Kelly) work that they do. Our support of LFC and the friends $ 20.00 overseas or 10 pounds/punts (cash only) we have made within LFCSC-NY is the inspiration $ 10.00 if purchased at the Kinsale during a match. for donating our time and energy. Thanks again to all involved. LFCSC-NY, PO BOX 7071, FDR STATION, NEW YORK, NY 10150 ANNUAL ANFIELD TRIP Hotline (212) 971-1959 Daragh Kennedy, will once again be running e-mail: [email protected] the supporters club trip to Anfield. Preliminary http://www.columbia.edu/~djb3/lfcny.html plans, which are subject to confirmation, are New York for us to visit Liverpool for the October 28 match against Everton. If possible, a UEFA cup match, if scheduled at home around the same time, would also be on the agenda. If Benfica, Sat Aug 5, 10 am at the Kinsale this second match falls through, a possible trip to Dublin might be in the cards. Any Arsenal Away, Mon Aug 21 3 pm at the Kinsale (+ evening tape delay) members interested in going on this trip, please contact Daragh as soon as possible at Check the Hotline / Website for other games [email protected]. Supporters Club ANFIELD FOR EVER?? The swelling opposition to club expansion by local residents led in 1999 to the release of plans drawn up by THE BACKGROUND the local council and the club, in secret, for a major regeneration of the ground and the area around the ground. The expansion of Anfield, our home for all 108 The plans, called the Anfield+ plans, were developed in secret mainly because of the local council and the seasons of our club history, has often been a clubs desire to develop a comprehensive, co-ordinated plan that would diffuse the hostility of locals towards hot topic over the last 40 years. As the Shankly era began, and the club was slowly elevated to the club and not allow the build-up of organised opposition to the plans if they were released in a piecemeal the status of one of the major clubs in the manner over time. Unfortunately for the club and the council, the plans were released early, before the club footballing pantheon, the club has had to look had finalised their plans for the remodelled stadium. The council was lambasted for developing public policy towards updating the ground to the point when in secret, much to the paranoia of local residents, and the club, once again, were accused of attempting to run the ground could match the burgeoning status roughshod over the wishes of the people of Anfield. of the club. A series of upgrades, was made to the dishevelled ground that Shankly inherited in THE PLAN 1959, mainly due to Shankly’s passionate fight As the Anfield+ project slowly withered on the vine, the new Chief Executive of the club, Rick Parry, put with the club for the facilities they had forward another plan earlier this summer, this time almost entirely driven by the club. This plan was the most promised when he joined the club from revolutionary agenda to come out of Anfield since Shankly’s suggestions of 30 years ago. The proposal was to Huddersfield Town. A series of minor upgrades build a new purpose built 70,000 capacity stadium on public land at the southern end of Stanley Park, removing was made to the Kop end and finally the Kemlyn Stand, which was completely re-built, upon promotion to the the club from the stranglehold of terraced houses around the current stadium. In return for taking public land, first division in 1962/63. Minor upgrades and extensions in capacity were made during the 1960’s as the songs the club would give the land used by the current stadium to the city, which would be remodelled into a park and of the Kop started to earn fame around the globe. During the early 1970’s, the Club tore down the old wooden public sports complex for the use of local residents. The plans didn’t stop here. The ground would be built on Main Stand and replaced it with a 8,771 capacity stand, and after that upgrade, the famous old stadium was to top of an underground car parking complex, which could handle 15,000 cars, reducing the parking problem remain untouched during the glory years of the 70s and 80s. The 1990’s saw major changes to the infrastruc- around the stadium. Whilst the plans did not contain any solid proposals for extending the road infrastructure ture of the ground, both as a result of the Hillsborough tragedy and the changing demographics of the around the ground, there were also proposals for the club to operate a park and ride scheme, utilising a disused Liverpool support. First to be upgraded was the old Kemlyn Road stand, which was extended in the clubs rail track running close to the new ground. The plans were received enthusiastically by Liverpool fans and centenary year and renamed, not unsurprisingly, the Centenary stand. The Kop stood unchanged for years until most city residents. It kept the club within a few hundred yards of its spiritual home whilst meeting the needs being demolished in 1994 as a result of the Taylor Report and replaced with a fully seated stand holding of fans facing up to a two year waiting list for season tickets. 13,000 fans.. Last and unfortunately least (see later), the Anfield Road stand was extended by building a second tier in 1997. Nothing now remains of the stadium that Liverpool inherited in 1892. THE OPPOSITION A few days after the release of the plans, dissenting voices to the plans started to be raised, firstly by a group Re-building of the stands to accommodate LFC’s burgeoning support has been a long-term effort on the clubs of fans and secondly by local residents. The fan opposition was led by Liverpool writer and internet journalist part, but the thought of moving to a purpose built ground has had almost as long a history. Shankly, ever the visionary, was the first to propose a move, suggesting in 1969 a move to a purpose built 100,000 seat stadium Alan Edge, whos pro-anfield argument appeared on the unofficial LFC website, Koptalk. Alan put forward the in Aintree on the outskirts of the city that could be shared with local rivals Everton and would rival the great following anti-move agenda: continental stadia of Lisbon, Milan, Barcelona and Madrid. The topic of a shared stadium was cautiously · Anfield is the clubs spiritual home. The club and the ground are one and the same; explored again in the mid-1980s as the fortunes of the two local clubs were at their Zenith, but a mixture of · The club doesn’t need an expansion in capacity to such levels and can’t support a 70,000 capacity; apathy from their great rivals in Walton and a lack of enthusiasm from the support of the two clubs led to the · Moving is not an option, as the tradition of the club and its ground make it unique; plan being sidelined. · The ground is the most famous ground in the world; · Capacity is no longer crucial for the club, as other forms of income outstrip gate receipts.