‘No new stadium has set Liverpool back several years’ – managing director Ian Ayre

The Paisley Gateway of Anfield at Liverpool Football Club(Getty Images)

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Liverpool’s managing director Ian Ayre has hit out at the side’s former owners for failing to build a new stadium, saying the lack of a move has held the club back.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett promised to make building a new ground on Stanley Park a priority when they took over the club, but failed to even start the project.

The Americans have since been bought out by Fenway Sports Group, who promoted Ayre from commercial director at the end of last season.

Speaking to the Liverpool Daily Post, Ayre criticised Hicks and Gillett for neglecting their promise and said the club was lucky to be in as good a position as it is now.

“When you look at what we have done in growing the business, if we had started building a stadium in 2007 we would be in it by now,” he said.

“It could have been brilliant but we have probably set ourselves back several years.

“There was a great opportunity to maximise the value of the club and they Hicks and Gillett were right, it needed a new stadium and new people.

“Without the significant increase in revenues God knows how much of a mess we would have been in.

“What we have now is people who really understand how to own, operate and run a sports business.

“They are very honest about their objectives; they listen – that’s quite fundamental.”

Since the new Liverpool owners have come in to replace Hicks and Gillett, there has been an ongoing discussion about whether to build a new stadium or redevelop Anfield.

However, Ayre says no decision has been made yet and they will not be rushed.

He added: “Nobody is going to force ourselves or the owners to make a decision until we know what’s right for the club, because that was what partly went wrong before.

“Sometimes people won’t like that it takes a long time. That’s unfortunate but it’s the way we do it.

“Once a week someone will ask me what is happening with the stadium and the answer is ‘we don’t know’.

“The reason we don’t know is there are still the two solutions. They are a new stadium in Stanley Park or a refurbished Anfield – that obviously comes with all sorts of issues – and there are a million questions to answer.

“The new stadium in the park comes down to the economics; how do we pay it back? It needs a big naming partner.

“Until you get the answer to those questions it would be wrong and unprofessional for us to make a statement about what we are doing.”