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Progress on building a giant new Main Stand at Anfield is ‘staggering’, according to Ian Ayre.

As the club's accounts for the last year were revealed, Mr Ayre said Liverpool FC’s owners have been impressed and delighted by the pace of that progress.

He told the ECHO: “We are making fantastic progression.

“It feels like early days but the pace it is moving at is staggering really, especially when you realise it will be only just over a year or so and we’ll be moving the furniture in, so to speak.

In Pictures: Anfield redevelopment in progress

“So it is a very rapid process we have to go through and things will move very quickly.

“The owners were here recently and we are very pleased with progress.

“It is testament to them that we have achieved a lot of what we have achieved because of their investment, not least on the stadium.

“It is down to their patience and support in finding the right outcome that was right for the football club.

“But I think they were blown away by the scale of the work; how quickly the demolition had gone on - and the concrete poured and foundations laid.

“And I think I’m right in saying that by the time we come back for next season - the start of the season - the frame of the building will have started to appear or will appear out of the ground. So when people come back for next season you’ll really be able to see this thing and then of course we’ll have 12 months or so to get it finished.

“It is very exciting because as we said we want to be the best we can be and continuing to improve Anfield while, it is still being uniquely Anfield, is a big part of who we are.”

Watch: Drone footage of £260m Project Anfield redevelopment

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Mr Ayre said the club was based around the idea of everyone pulling together.

He added: “We’ve always said we are one team.

“Brendan says that and I say that. And we genuinely mean it. And when everybody contributes to success, that’s what we mean.

“When we say it’s about success on and off the pitch, it really is about everybody doing their piece. And these results start to show that that is working.

“We’d always expect to improve and I think I’d be confident in saying that we’ll improve our position in this current year.

“But it is about each individual part and as we saw last year when we didn’t have European revenue, which these results today reflect, those years are much tougher.

“We have to build our business on the basis that that may or may not be there in any particular season. And when it is there, it is a bonus, if you like.

“What is important to say is that when we get that additional revenue, be it from Champions League, Europa League or from finishing in different positions, the one thing about this ownership group is that they have never taken a single penny out of the football club.

“So it all goes back into the team or the club.

“We have been very fortunate to enjoy those additional revenue streams this year - but it goes straight back into the pot.

“It is all going in the same place. Brendan, myself, the owners - everyone wants to achieve as much as they can achieve and it will be reinvested.”

“When we talk about a financial prudency and managing the football club in the best way we can with what we have got, then that does mean investing in younger players some of the time that will cost less money to buy but give us better long term value.

“We can’t compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets. But if you go about it the right way - and get the right result - then we can still be successful.

“You know the nicest thing about the process was that if you talk to football people - and by that I mean coaching staff, scouts and others who are in and around the team at Melwood - then one of the things that somebody observed to me was that at some football clubs, when the results don’t start to go your way, you can start to see the cracks appearing among players and staff.

“Right throughout this season we were regularly being told that that wasn’t the case at Liverpool.

“And I think the comments from players in the media told that story as well.

“People were trying to knock them - but they were all together. If they tried to knock an individual player or they tried to knock them as a team or tried to knock the manager, they were just all there together.

“That’s what we want from a team - and long may it continue.

“Because there is a real sense of togetherness and that’s by design - not by default.

“If you have been in and around the club for the past few years then you’ll know everything we have talked about is one club - and getting back to the values that this football club was built upon.

“Having people in this football club whether it is players, staff, owners, management, that believe in that, is vital. And I genuinely can say that there aren’t any egos here any more - that’s so important.

“When you are a team you need to feel you have a part in it, just like everyone else does. It is always very telling when players score and celebrate and they are all in it together - because they really are all in it together.

WATCH: The Shankly Gates being removed for safety at Liverpool FC's Anfield Stadium