Liverpool´s new stadium delayed again

Liverpool's plan to build a new stadium suffered another blow on Friday as the Premier League club announced the project has been delayed again.

Work on the new ground, which would be built adjacent to the club's current Anfield home, has already been put back several times while the Stanley Park scheme was redesigned.

Now Liverpool's American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are struggling to raise funds for the 400 million pounds (490 million euros) development while the global credit crunch takes its toll on their finances.

“Our commitment to building a new world-class LFC stadium is undiminished. Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions and as such work on the project will be delayed in the short term,” the statement read.

“We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats.”

The latest blow comes just a day after it was revealed that European Union grants to fund re-generation of the Anfield area had been withdrawn.

The cash is not a huge amount of the great scheme of things at Anfield, but it was a significant blow to the credibility of the Americans' plans.

The money had been earmarked by the European Regional Development Fund for a community partnership centre as part of the new stadium.

But the timescale involved meant the money had to be re-allocated last November and the stadium centre will now have to be fully funded by Liverpool FC.

It is also believed that the club have yet to officially sign the lease from the council for the Stanley Park site, and contractors have also yet to sign formal agreements.