These are the first pictures of Liverpool's new 60,000-seat stadium, with Steven Gerrard admitting he is 'blown away' by the plans for the £300million development. The club today submitted a planning application to Liverpool City Council for the ground, which is scheduled to open in Stanley Park in 2010.Anfield holds 45,000 but the new ground will be, along with Arsenal's which also holds 60,000, the second biggest in the Premiership behind Manchester United. The capacity could be expanded by 10,000 in the future while the new single-tier Kop will house 18,000 fans.
Skipper Gerrard said: “To be honest I knew the stadium was going to be great but after spending five minutes looking at the plans I was just completely blown away by it. "It's so different to any other. We will have our own identity stamped all over this stadium and that's how it should be. “The ground was one of the major factors in me signing a long-term deal [until 2011] and I just hope I'm still around when the day comes for us to play our first game in it.”
American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, in conjunction with architect HKS, have radically redesigned the original plans and Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said: “We're creating a stadium that not only the club and supporters can be proud of, but something the whole city can be proud of.”
It's been a busy summer for Liverpool with the club spending heavily in the transfer market on players such as striker Fernando Torres, signed from Atletico Madrid for £20m.
Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho believes the pressure will now be on Liverpool to deliver the goods this season to justify their huge outlay. Mourinho, whose side face Feyenoord in a friendly in Rotterdam tonight, said: “You could say the pressure is a bit higher on Liverpool because, at this moment, they cannot point at other people. "In other years they could say, 'Oh, these guys, they've spent a lot of money so they have to win'. This season, they have to talk differently."
