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It dominates the skyline on the drive up Oakfield Road.

A huge, imposing structure which has transformed Liverpool Football Club’s iconic home.

Some 20 months after construction company Carillion got to work with 5,000 tonnes of steel and 1.8million bricks and blocks, the impressive new Main Stand is getting ready for its big unveiling.

Friday’s official opening, attended by owners Fenway Sports Group, will be followed by Saturday’s eagerly-anticipated first home game of the season against champions Leicester City.

With the extra 8,500 extra seats lifting capacity to in excess of 54,000, it will be the club’s biggest attendance for nearly 40 years.

Holding 20,500 supporters, the new Main Stand is one of the biggest all seater single stands in European football. This is a world class facility which finally drags Anfield into the 21st century.

A 17-year wait...

It’s been some journey to get here - a tale of false dawns and broken promises spanning nearly two decades.

It was 1999 when Liverpool chairman David Moores first spoke about the need to either upgrade Anfield or build a new ground. Opinion among fans was divided about the best way forward but everyone agreed that maintaining the status quo simply wasn’t an option.

After an exhaustive feasibility study overseen by chief executive Rick Parry, Liverpool concluded that expanding Anfield would be too problematic and in 2002 they sought planning permission for a new stadium in Stanley Park.

The initial search for a new home was sparked by Moores’ realisation that Liverpool were no longer able to compete financially with their major domestic rivals and were in danger of being cut adrift.

And it was his inability to finance such a move which led to him selling up in 2007 and subjecting the club to the damaging and divisive reign of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. They bought the club in February 2007 in a deal which valued Liverpool at £218million.

For all the Americans’ bold talk of ‘a spade being in the ground within 60 days’ and the release of expensive futuristic designs of a 73,000-capacity stadium, it didn’t happen. All Liverpool ended up with was a bill for £59million. An eye-watering sum of money had been thrown down the drain.

How different things might have been had Dubai International Capital’s proposed takeover gone through before Moores sold up to Hicks and Gillett.

A bid was accepted in December 2006 and Moores and chief executive Rick Parry had discussions with them about putting in a £10million steel order. Anfield officials were keen to crack on amid talk of a new stadium still being built and ready for 2009.

However, despite their deep pockets, DIC continued to drag their heels during due diligence and at the end of January the board’s patience with them finally ran out. By then Gillett had returned to the negotiating table with Hicks on board as a business partner and they got the deal done.

From H&G to FSG

Following their takeover, Hicks insisted upon having the previously approved stadium plans redesigned and getting planning permission again. However, each delay was followed by another and as they failed to deliver on their pledges, the European Union grants which had been secured to help with the regeneration of the Anfield area were withdrawn.

Hicks and Gillett blamed the credit crunch for being unable to raise the £400million required, but they had already heaped more and more debt on the club by re-financing the loans they had taken out to buy the club initially.

From the moment FSG bought Liverpool in October 2010 there was pressure on them to bring the sorry saga to a swift conclusion.

Principal owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner refused to be rushed as two exhaustive studies were carried out on the merits and potential pitfalls of building a new stadium and refurbishing Anfield.

The latter always looked the most likely outcome. Just months after the takeover, Henry spoke glowingly about visiting Anfield.

“The Kop is unrivalled,” he said.

“The atmosphere, I was really surprised because we’ve heard so much about needing a new stadium. It would be hard to replicate that feeling anywhere else.”

Spending upwards of £300million on a 60,000-capacity stadium in Stanley Park just didn’t make financial sense.

It would have been a huge outlay for 15,000 extra seats. FSG were never going to build it out of their own pockets and the interest on loans taken out to subsidise the development would have impacted on squad investment.

Henry had inherited a similar situation when FSG (then New England Sports Ventures) bought Boston Red Sox back in 2002.

Just as at Liverpool, there were plans in place to build a new stadium. They took three years to assess their options before in 2005 announcing that they would stay put and modernise the iconic Fenway Park. A $300million programme of improvements was undertaken - history and tradition respected in a state-of-the-art modern facility.

Achieving something similar at Anfield proved a lot more difficult to negotiate.

Henry admitted in 2011 that the preferred option of redevelopment had run into trouble because there were “so many obstacles”.

Expansion plans infringed on the ‘right to light’ of home owners, while there were also problems regarding the loss of capacity and revenue while work was carried out.

But with the support and assistance of local residents, Liverpool City Council and Your Housing Group they found a way.

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2,863 days later....

It was on the second anniversary of their dramatic takeover in the High Court that FSG announced that Anfield would be redeveloped by transforming the Main Stand and Anfield Road End.

Finally, in December 2014 - some 2,863 days after Gillett’s infamous declaration about a spade going into the ground in Stanley Park - contractors Carillion set about their task.

Over the course of 2015 the steel stucture rose up behind and above the old Main Stand before in May this year the demolition team moved in. The rate of progress over the past four months has been astonishing with Carillion working around the clock in preparation for this weekend.

Temporary dressing rooms will be in operation until the final work inside the stand is completed around Christmas time.

Phase one, the Main Stand has been built courtesy of a £115million loan from the owners which is virtually interest free. With the new facility expected to generate between £20million and £25million extra per season it will have paid for itself within five to six years.

A decision over when to carry out phase two, the Anfield Road End has yet to be taken - that would lift capacity close to 60,000.

For both economic and sentimental reasons, redeveloping Anfield was the right option.

Crucially, it has also ended a period of immense frustration and uncertainty for the local community with the stadium improvements a key part of the £260million regeneration of the Anfield area.

FSG vowed to find a solution to the stadium dilemma when they bought the club six years ago and they have been true to their word.

The setting for so many unforgettable nights and glorious chapters in Liverpool’s illustrious history has had a much needed makeover.

Jurgen Klopp breathed new life into the place following his appointment last term. He energised the place and with 8,500 extra fans inside Saturday night promises to be some occasion.

This is Anfield - but bigger and better.