Nottingham Forest will play Liverpool in front of a smaller-than-expected crowd at Anfield later this month, after the Merseyside club’s decision to postpone the full completion of the new Anfield Road stand until next year.
On Sunday, October 29 (2 p.m. kick-off), Forest will travel to Liverpool to face Jurgen Klopp’s team in the Premier League. It was originally planned that the new stand would be ready by then, but that will no longer be the case.
Complications emerged after original contractors Buckingham Group went into insolvency a month ago, but a phased reopening was planned after bringing Rayner Rowen Construction on board, with the home game against Everton earmarked as the stadium’s first prospective full-capacity 61,000. Not only is that game scheduled to be played with the top tier of the stand closed, but all home games through the end of the year will also have a reduced capacity.
“Not having the upper tier open for the remainder of the calendar year is clearly significant,” CEO Billy Hogan said. “It’s simply not possible to create a new timeline at this time.” And, to be honest, we don’t want to establish the incorrect tone.
“What’s become clear is there’s just more work to be done in order to get a full project completion plan for the stand, which means the upper tier is not ready to partially or fully open until the end of the calendar year.”
Hogan apologized to fans who had already purchased tickets for the highly anticipated Merseyside derby when the sides returned from their international break. “The schedule we had been told was that ultimately the upper tier would be open in some capacity for the Everton game, which is ultimately why we went ahead with the ticket sales,” he went on to say.
“The reality is that we’re only now starting to get a clear picture of what the reality of the delays is.”
of what the truth about the delays is. We are extremely disappointed to have to give this news and deeply regret the impact on all of our supporters.
“I realize this isn’t much consolation. This is a really complicated and frustrating scenario.”
It means that the vital period coming up to and immediately following Christmas, when Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Chelsea all visit, will be played in front of smaller crowds.
Other home games impacted include Premier League fixtures against Forest, Brentford, and Fulham, as well as two Europa League matches against Toulouse and LASK.
