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Liverpool’s chief executive Ian Ayre has admitted the club struggles to get 12 or 13 year old fans into Anfield under the current ticketing structures.

The Reds boss was speaking at a major “soccer” event in New York’s Brooklyn district known as Blazer Con.

Taking part in a question and answer session with American author John Green, Ayre spoke about the issues facing the club.

Justin Block, associate sports editor at the Huffington Post, quoted several of Ayre’s responses from the stage on his Twitter feed, as did other delegates.

Ayre is quoted as saying: “We have the enviable position of selling out every game but not having the route in to have a 12 or 13 year old come. Local supporters groups want to discriminate against travelling fans to get more Scousers back in Anfield. Stadium renovation could help.”

Ayre also said the club were looking at initiatives to bring more young fans in like getting them to fill any empty seats after kick-offs.

Liverpool’s Main Stand redevelopment will bring around 8,500 more seats into Anfield next year.

Being a Liverpool fan is about more than football

Addressing the expansion, Ayre said: “We’re one of the biggest football clubs in the world and we should look like we are.”

He also appeared to recognise that there is a major attraction to supporting Liverpool which stretches beyond what is happening on the pitch.

“We feel like the culture (of Liverpool FC) has a bigger effect (on fan growth) than the football,” he said.

On the Liverpool Way, he added: “Being a Liverpool fan is more than football, it’s about being part of a family.”

Ayre told his audience that he was surprised at Liverpool’s lack of commercial activity when he arrived at the club.

“I was surprised about how underdeveloped commercially and how little there was for foreign fans.

“LFC didn’t seize the opportunity of the ‘Phoenix rising from the ashes’ of Istanbul.”

Ayre said that Istanbul was the best moment of his life, notwithstanding his wedding and child births and said every time he watches it “I still think we will lose”.

He also joked that his best memory of Liverpool was choosing them “instead of Everton” and said he would address the issue of fans leaving early by “locking the gates”.

Addressing Manchester United’s big following in America, he suggested convincing “all Manchester United supporters in America to get a vasectomy.”

At one point host Green simply suggested to Ayre that Liverpool “win the league!”

Ayre said: “I think people genuinely want to see LFC get back there. Anyone who thinks we don’t have the burning ambition to win the league is wrong.”

But he said that every game in the Premier League was difficult now because of the huge amount of money floating around the teams.

“There genuinely are no easy games now... With the money coming in.”









Ayre suggested that the strength of the Premier League was one possible reason why English teams are hurting in the Champions League .

“European football is a secondary product for us,” he said, which may surprise fans who have been brought up on a diet of European success.

But Liverpool’s senior administrator has clearly been impressed by Jurgen Klopp since his arrival at Anfield.

Ayre said he saw parallels to Shankly’s work and said he believed the German could continue the “good to great” model of player development.