Anfield Stadium Review

Ninety seconds before kick-off on a European night, sixty thousand people raise their scarves and sing You’ll Never Walk Alone, and for those ninety seconds Anfield is the most powerful place in English football. That moment is why supporters cross continents to sit in a ground that, in almost every other respect, asks more of a visitor than a modern stadium would.

There is no railway station beside it. The concourses in the old stands are cramped. Getting home can take longer than the second half. And on a quiet Saturday against mid-table opposition, the noise that made the place famous is mostly missing. Anfield is a study in what supporters will forgive for the sake of one feeling, and whether the trip rewards you comes down almost entirely to choosing the right night, the right stand and the right way home. This account covers all three, alongside the history that runs from Bill Shankly to the modern Champions League comebacks.

Quick Facts: Anfield at a Glance

Here are the essentials before the detail. These are the numbers and practical points useful to know before you plan a visit.

As the table makes clear, the defining practical challenge at Anfield is transport: there is no railway station beside the ground, which surprises people who assume a stadium of this profile would have one. The defining attraction, equally clearly, is the atmosphere, and the two are worth weighing against each other when you plan your day.

A Ground Older Than the Club That Made It Famous

Anfield opened in 1884, and its early history is unusual: it was built for Everton, who played there for eight years before a dispute over rent led them to leave in 1892 and move across Stanley Park to Goodison Park.

The ground’s owner, John Houlding, responded to being left with an empty stadium by forming an entirely new club to fill it. That club became Liverpool. So Anfield is older than the club most associated with it, and the two Merseyside giants share a founding story rooted in the same patch of ground. It is a piece of history worth knowing before you visit.

The Shankly Era and What He Built

No account of Anfield makes sense without Bill Shankly, who arrived as manager in 1959 when Liverpool were a struggling second-division side and left in 1974 having turned them into the foundation of a European power. More than any trophy, Shankly built the relationship between the club and its supporters that defines the ground to this day.

It was under Shankly that the Kop became a real phenomenon rather than simply a large terrace, and it was his sides that established the tradition of the crowd as an active participant over a passive audience. His famous, half-joking line about football being far more important than life and death is quoted so often precisely because it captures the intensity he instilled.

The boot room, a small storeroom where Shankly and his coaching staff met and plotted, became the symbol of a continuity of method that carried through Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan and produced a run of league titles and European Cups. Understanding that lineage is part of understanding why Anfield feels the way it does, and the Shankly Gates at the Anfield Road end, inscribed with You’ll Never Walk Alone, are the physical monument to it.

The Kop and Its Meaning

The Kop, the large single-tier stand behind one goal, was built in 1906 and named after Spion Kop, a hill in South Africa where many local soldiers died during the Boer War. For most of its history it was a vast standing terrace holding tens of thousands, and it became the emotional heart of the ground and one of the most famous stands in world football.

Following the Taylor Report, the Kop was converted to an all-seater stand in 1994, which changed its character but did not remove its role as the source of the ground’s noise. The pre-match singing of You’ll Never Walk Alone, with the whole Kop participating, remains the moment most visitors come for, and it is affecting in person in a way television never quite conveys.

Supporters in the Kop still stand for long stretches despite the seating, so if you book here, expect to be on your feet, and expect the singing to be at its most powerful because you are surrounded by the people driving it not watching from across the pitch.

The Hillsborough Memorial and Why It Matters

No visit to Anfield is complete, or should be undertaken, without pausing at the Hillsborough memorial, which commemorates the 97 Liverpool supporters who died as a result of the crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough. The memorial sits near the Shankly Gates, and it is treated with real seriousness by supporters.

The tragedy and the decades-long fight for justice that followed are woven into the identity of the club and the city, and the museum and stadium tour handle the story with appropriate care. Whatever your allegiance, a few quiet minutes at the memorial is the right way to begin a visit, and it provides essential context for understanding what the club means to its supporters.

European Nights: Why the Fixture Changes Everything

The difference between a European knockout night at Anfield and a routine domestic fixture is larger here than at almost any other ground in Britain, and if you are travelling to experience the atmosphere, this matters more than anything else in this review.

On a big European evening under the floodlights, the noise is sustained rather than occasional, and it has visibly affected visiting teams over the years. Several of the club’s most famous comebacks are attributed in part to the crowd, and while that is easy to overstate, the effect is real enough that opposition managers routinely talk about it. The ground seems to lift the home side and unsettle the visitors in a way that is difficult to explain until you have felt it.

A routine league game against smaller opposition on a Saturday afternoon is a different and much quieter experience. The ground is still atmospheric by the standards of most stadiums, but it does not sound like the clips people see online, which are almost always taken from the biggest nights. This is the single most common source of disappointment among first-time visitors, and it is entirely avoidable with the right fixture.

Derby matches against Everton produce a comparable intensity to the European nights, though tickets for those are extremely difficult to obtain. If a real Anfield atmosphere is your goal, target a Champions League knockout tie above all else.

The legend of the European night at Anfield has specific roots. The tie against Saint-Etienne in 1977, when a late goal sent Liverpool through amid extraordinary noise, is often cited as the night the reputation was forged, and it has been renewed many times since. The 4-0 win over Barcelona in 2019, overturning a three-goal first-leg deficit against one of the greatest sides in the world, is the modern equivalent, and few who watched it doubt the crowd played a real part. These are the nights the ground is measured by, and they are the reason to choose a European fixture if you can.

Inside the Ground: A Stadium Built in Stages

Anfield has been developed piecemeal over more than a century instead of rebuilt in one go, and that shows clearly once you are inside. The quality of the seating and facilities varies sharply from one stand to another, and knowing the difference before you book will shape your day.

The Main Stand, rebuilt in 2016, is the newest and most comfortable part of the ground, a large three-tier structure with modern concourses and a wider food selection. The Anfield Road end, expanded in 2023 with a new upper tier, is similarly modern and pushed the ground’s capacity past 61,000. These two sections feel like a contemporary stadium.

The Kop and the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, formerly the Centenary Stand, are older. The seats are narrower, the legroom is tighter, and the concourses behind them are cramped and congest quickly at half time. What the whole ground shares is proximity: the stands sit close to the touchlines with very little run-off space, a legacy of being built inside a tight residential street pattern, and that closeness helps both the view and the noise.

Where to Sit for the View Versus the Atmosphere

The choice at Anfield comes down to what you want from the day. For the clearest view of the game as a whole, the upper tier of the Main Stand along the halfway line is the best seat in the ground, with a steep enough rake to read the shape of the match and modern facilities behind it. It is also the most expensive area.

For atmosphere, the Kop is the answer, specifically the central blocks, where the singing starts and is sustained. The trade-off is the behind-the-goal viewing angle and the near-certainty of standing for long periods. The Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand offers a central side-on view at a lower price than the Main Stand, with older facilities behind it.

The new Anfield Road upper tier is worth singling out as a value option: it is among the newest seating in the ground, elevated and clear, looking down the length of the pitch, and priced below the Main Stand upper tier. For a first visit balancing view, comfort and cost, it is a strong choice.

Facilities and Food

Facilities at Anfield are average overall and vary sharply by stand, which is the recurring theme of any honest assessment of the ground. The Main Stand and the new Anfield Road upper tier have modern concourses with reasonable space and a wider range of food. The older stands have narrow concourses, long queues and a basic offering of pies, burgers and hot drinks.

Toilet provision in the older sections is tight for the crowd size. If you are sitting in the Kop and want anything to eat or drink at half time, you will spend most of the fifteen-minute break in a queue, so it is often better to go during the first half or simply eat before you arrive.

Prices are in line with other Premier League grounds. It is to say high for what you receive. The area immediately around the stadium has limited options and the pubs fill early, so most regular supporters eat in the city centre before travelling out. This is sound advice we would repeat to any first-time visitor.

It is worth understanding why the difference between stands is so pronounced. The 2016 Main Stand rebuild was a major project that added a third tier and roughly 8,500 seats at a cost in the region of £100 million, and it brought modern hospitality, wider concourses and better catering to that side of the ground. The 2023 Anfield Road expansion did something similar at the opposite end. The older Kop and Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand were not part of these projects, which is precisely why the contemporary comfort of the new sections sits alongside the dated feel of the old ones within the same stadium.

Getting There and Away: The Real Challenge

This is the weakest part of visiting Anfield and it needs planning, because the ground’s biggest practical drawback is that there is no railway station beside it. This catches out people who reasonably assume a stadium of this profile would be well served by rail.

Kirkdale and Sandhills are the closest stations, both around a twenty to twenty-five-minute walk. Liverpool Lime Street, the main city-centre station, is roughly three miles away. Matchday buses run from the city centre and are the option most visitors use; they are frequent and reliable and drop you close to the ground.

Taxis work well on the way in but are difficult on the way out, because the streets around the ground are narrow, residential and closed to traffic after the match. App-based services surge in price and availability at full time. Driving is not sensible either, with residential parking restrictions covering a wide area and slow exits afterwards.

Leaving is slow regardless of how you travel, because the crowd disperses through narrow residential streets and the first ten to fifteen minutes are congested. Walking towards the city centre takes around forty-five minutes and a great many supporters do exactly that. If you have an onward train connection from Lime Street, allow at least ninety minutes from the final whistle. This is the single most common planning mistake visitors make, and it is entirely avoidable.

Ticket Prices and Availability

Liverpool price their matches by category based on expected demand, with the biggest fixtures and European ties at the top and games against newly promoted sides at the bottom. The same seat therefore costs noticeably more for a high-category fixture than a low one, and choosing a lower-category match is the largest saving available if you simply want to visit the ground.

Notably, Liverpool have operated a general-admission price freeze across several seasons, following a supporter walkout in 2016 that led the club to reverse a proposed increase to a top price of £77. That episode is a rare example of collective supporter action directly changing what tickets cost, and general-admission prices have risen more slowly since as a result.

The genuine obstacle at Anfield is availability rather than price. A large share of the capacity goes to season ticket holders, and the waiting list for a season ticket is extremely long. Beyond that, the club runs a membership scheme that gives access to sale windows before the general public, and for most people wanting to attend, membership is effectively the only realistic route in.

As everywhere in England, away tickets are capped at £30 and are the cheapest way in for visiting supporters, distributed by the away club. And unauthorised resale is a criminal offence, so use only the official club ticket exchange, where season ticket holders return seats they cannot use at face value. Anfield attracts a large number of visiting tourists, and there is an active market in overpriced and unreliable tickets aimed at exactly that group, which is best avoided entirely.

The Museum and Stadium Tour

For anyone unable to get a match ticket, the Anfield tour is a real alternative over a consolation, and it runs on most non-matchdays. It includes the players’ tunnel with the famous This Is Anfield sign above it that players touch on the way out, the dressing rooms, the dugout and pitchside access, along with the club museum.

The museum covers the club’s European history, its great managers from Shankly and Paisley onwards, and the Hillsborough disaster. It is handled carefully and respectfully. It is an important part of understanding both the club and the city, and it gives essential context that deepens any later matchday visit.

Standing at the top of the tunnel steps beneath the This Is Anfield sign is the moment most tour visitors remember, and it is the part of the ground everyone has seen on television and never expects to reach in person. Booking in advance is sensible, particularly in summer.

How Anfield Compares to Other Grounds

Against a modern stadium such as Tottenham’s, Anfield loses clearly on comfort, food, concourse space and ease of access. There is no argument to be made on facilities; the newer grounds are simply better equipped in every measurable way.

Against grounds of a similar age and character, however, Anfield does well. It is larger than most, the recent Main Stand and Anfield Road expansions are good, and the closeness of the stands to the pitch beats many newer bowls where run-off space pushes the crowd back.

On atmosphere, which is the only measure most people actually care about at Anfield, it sits in the top handful in Europe, alongside Celtic Park and Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park. That is what supporters travel for, and on the right night it is exactly what the ground delivers. The honest summary is that Anfield trades comfort for feeling, and for most visitors that is a trade worth making.

The Area Around the Ground

Anfield sits in a dense residential district a few miles from Liverpool city centre, with terraced streets pressing right up against three sides of the stadium. That setting is part of what makes the ground feel the way it does, but it means the immediate area has limited facilities beyond a handful of pubs that fill hours before kick-off.

Stanley Park sits between Anfield and Goodison Park, and the two grounds are close enough to see from one another, a proximity that is unusual anywhere in world football and worth a short walk if you have time. The Shankly Gates, the Bill Shankly statue and the Hillsborough memorial are all on the approach to the ground and are worth seeing before the crowds arrive.

Because the options near the ground are limited, the standard and sensible advice is to eat in the city centre before travelling out. Liverpool’s centre is well supplied and inexpensive, and the journey out to the ground is short enough to make this the easy choice.

Tips for a First Visit

A few practical pointers, drawn together from the points above, will make a first visit to Anfield far smoother and help you avoid the mistakes that catch most people out.

Book a European night if you possibly can, because the difference in atmosphere is substantial and it is the whole reason to make the trip. Arrive at least ninety minutes early, both to see the memorial, the gates and the statues without a crowd, and to be in your seat for the pre-match anthem, which happens in the final minutes before kick-off rather than earlier.

Plan the transport carefully in both directions, remembering there is no station at the ground, and allow far more time to leave than you expect, ideally walking towards the city rather than queueing. Eat in the city centre before you travel out, since the options near the ground are limited and the concourse queues are slow. Bring warm and waterproof clothing regardless of the forecast, because Liverpool weather is unreliable and you sit still for two hours. If comfort and a clear view matter most, consider the Anfield Road upper tier for its combination of modern facilities and value.

Overall Verdict

Anfield is absolutely worth visiting, and the reason is the atmosphere instead of the building. On a European night it is one of the best places in the world to watch football, and the pre-match singing of You’ll Never Walk Alone is memorable in a way that stays with you.

Go in knowing that the facilities in the older stands are dated, the concourses are tight, and the journey there and back is the least convenient of any major English ground. None of that is why anyone goes, but all of it will shape your day, so plan around it rather than being caught out.

Choose a big fixture, arrive early, sort out the transport properly, and eat before you go. Do those things and Anfield lives up to the reputation that precedes it, which is a rarer thing than it sounds among grounds that trade so heavily on their own legend.

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Image credit: Steve Daniels / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)