Monday’s News Round-up: Stadium Latest

Well at least you’ve made it back to This Is Anfield after yesterday’s, quite frankly sickening, result at Anfield. The season goes on and here’s what’s been hitting the news today…

Club chief executive Rick Parry has made a statement regarding plans for the new stadium, amid rumours that the recent unsettlement in the Liverpool board room had put the plans on hold.

Parry has reassured fans that the stadium will be ready in time for the 2011/12 season, but that two designs are currently being considered for the 70,000 seater construction.

He said, “The new stadium will be a significant improvement on the original plans and a slightly different version of the new ones.

“And it will be a massive improvement on where we were 12 months ago, if not quite as dramatic as the plans unveiled in the summer.

“The single tier Kop remains fundamental to the design and we are not expecting any delays ‘“ it should be on schedule for 2011.”

Manager Rafa Benitez believes his side are not out of the title race yet despite two consecutive Premier League defeats, leaving the Reds ten points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Speaking after yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at home to arch rivals Manchester United, the Spanish boss remained positive ahead of the festive fixture list.

He said, “It’s too soon to say we are out of the title race because there is still a long way to go. It will be harder after this game but we have to keep going and think about our next game.”

And after positive peace talks between Benitez and club owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, Gillett has come out to publicly support Benitez’s reign as manager.

Gillett says, “Rafa is the one we want as manager further on, and we have faith in him.

“I’ve been married over 40 years and have first hand knowledge about how to solve an argument. We concentrated on getting an overview over the situation, and I felt we accomplished that.”