Premier League club Liverpool’s expensive Anfield stadium rebuild is “still far from complete,” as it has “already been delayed multiple times due to the collapse of the construction firm, Buckingham Group,” according to Evans & Buckingham of THE ATHLETIC. Replacement contractor Rayner Rowen is "working hard to deliver the project as fast as possible” for Liverpool’s owner Fenway Sports Group. But it is a "far from ideal situation on the back of delays” which Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan described as “really complex and deeply frustrating.” Lost revenue is “racking up and with 11,000 seats unavailable and the stand’s upper tier still closed," Liverpool are finding it "increasingly difficult to relocate supporters who had purchased tickets in the unfinished section of the stand all the way up until the New Year.” At the time of its collapse, the firm “owed more than” $131M after “suffering ‘significant and increasing losses incurred on key sports and leisure contracts due to inflation pressures.’” The “costly troubles and lengthy delays” to Fulham’s Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage -- a job Buckingham Group started in 2019 but was "unable to finish -- was understood to be a major contributing factor.” But with Rayner Rowen’s cranes “moving again and a site now back to full function with 80 per cent of the initial sub-contractors still in place,” the next steps towards completion “are underway.” Sources suggest that work is "likely to continue well into 2024,” meaning Liverpool "will play more than half of their home games this season in a half-finished stadium” (THE ATHLETIC, 10/26).
Liverpool will play more than half of their home games this season in a half-finished Anfield stadium amid delays in the rebuildGetty Images
