Liverpool's new Main Stand: Welcome to your living room Jürgen Klopp

Reds owner John Henry and wife Linda Pizzuti couldn't keep the smile off their faces.

With a slight break in play for Danny Simpson's injury, the Kop got into full voice, still enthralled by the sheer quality of the move which Sadio Mane had finished.

This time though they weren't alone.

All over the Main Stand – this shiny, big, impressive, belated but potentially beloved new stand – groups were on their feet. Anfield was ablaze with excitement, noise and hope.

The Main Stand, for so long regarded as the “flask and blankets” side of Anfield, now has a distinctly youthful vibrancy.

The place where you went when you were too old for the Kop has a renewed swagger. It sent a shiver down this spine for one.

Jurgen Klopp had said it all before the game - it has been too long since we played in our living room.

And while Liverpool have been away, that living room took on a entirely new complexion. Not so much getting the decorators in as the demolition men.

Anfield had not seen a crowd this big – 53,075 was still 1,000 under capacity - since 1977 as the English champions appropriately became the first visitors to see the new extension. Their fans were keen to remind us of it as well.

Also invited to the opening party were some of the property's previous successful occupants – Liverpool legends parading before the game from Callaghan to Neal, Dalglish and Rush, Fowler and Carragher. Warm welcomes given to all but Dalglish's as ever unmatched.

Leicester were here to spoil the party, Klopp warned us in his programme notes, though they never really looked capable of it.

There were teething problems of course. A power cut to one of the lifts kept some disabled supporters waiting for a while. One at least of the male gents had taps which didn't work, some restricted view pictures are sure to emerge.

But the FSG hierarchy of John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon could feel justifiable pride as they watched down from their new perch. It might be a crucial step on getting Liverpool back on theirs.

Henry's wife Linda, resplendent in red, later tweeted: “It really is louder at Anfield with the new Main Stand”. I think she's right you know though there will be bigger occasions than this to test that theory.

Time will tell if this £115m investment will be that game-changer to Liverpool Football Club – it will take five or six years to pay for itself to start with - and Gordon has already suggested it will not be the catalyst for a significant change in the club's buying policy.

For now though the club can take some plaudits for finally getting the job done – and for doing it so well.

Anfield Road? The next 12 months will decide that question but the evidence of today is that the more the merrier in Anfield if the figures can be made to add up.

The last word should go to Liverpool's other crucial new addition of the last 12 months, manager Jurgen Klopp.

He departed the party with the traditional hugs to his players and a huge grin and wave for those in the Main Stand.

His words in the programme will have summed up an historic day for Liverpool Football Club for many.

Klopp said: “It's hard to overestimate the value to us, as a club, of staying here at Anfield; it is our home after all. Like most people in football I had heard all the stories about the 'magic' of Anfield and I had been lucky, before becoming manager, to have visited.

“But it's not until you are here, as part of this club, that you can truly appreciate how important Anfield is to what the club stands for.”

This is a new Anfield, a better Anfield, but still a magic Anfield.

Welcome to your new living room Jurgen.

Source: Liverpool Echo

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