Anfield Redevelopment and Stakeholder Engagement

I have read with interest the Anfield regeneration news which has taken decades to settle, which originated from even the Moores era. The club has been slowly buying properties surrounding the stadium with an intention to expand the stadium and redevelop the location. This has led to years of 'confict' with the local communities, where there has been many unhappy property owners who have refused to sell their properties at the proposed prices. It has also been claimed that the club have deliberately kept the purchased houses empty and derilict to ensure prices remain low in the surrounding area.

This brings us to one important facet that a company would definitely need to take into consideration, which is stakeholder engagement. It is important for a company to identify and prioritise who their key stakeholders are, and depending on the different stakeholder segments, they would then need to develop customised engagement methods and strategies, to ensure that they constantly engaged, and understand what the intended outcome is needed. This would also allow the organisation to get feedback from these important stakeholders to know whether what they are doing is correct or not. They would also understand better the issues, which will be raised by the stakeholders, as your point of view of an issue may differ to what they may be thinking. This is also important as key stakeholders who have a large influence on what you set out to do, can may times make or break initiatives which an organisation set out to do.

So in this case, did the Anfield club engage their stakeholders well? So who are the key stakeholders in this situation and what would be their interests?

The owners of the properties surrounding the stadium were unwilling to sell their properties, as they may be waiting for an even higher price. They invested in these properties with a set return on there investment in mind. So they will be pushing to get the best deal out of the club. They could be Everton fans who are holding the club at ransom?

The local council is another important party. Their interest is to resolve this issue as soon as possible, so that the city as a whole would benefit from the eventual investment and development in the area. The club management got the local council onside, and to such an extent, the local council is looking to issue compulsory purchase orders to forcefully purchase these properties from them.

FSG are another key stakeholder. They own the club, and it is in their best interest to start the redevelopment as soon as possible. The club is lagging behind in matchday revenue, the see that. And the longer this drags on, the longer they have to wait until they get the "spade in the ground". Whether supporters like it or not, they are in it for the return in their investment. It's all about what would bring the biggest return, the biggest "bang for buck". And I would guess that's why they went for the Anfield redevelopment approach rather than the Stanley Park approach.

At the end of the day, I hope they are able to reach an amicable solution. FSG has decided to redevelop Anfield, and without these properties being purchased, this will drag on much further, and the club will be stuck again. The locals have waited long enough for this redevelopment, and if you look at the issue from a macro level, the net benefit of the redevelopment of the surrounding area will always be net positive. Sometimes tough decisions need to be made.   You'll Never Walk Alone...