1.4.13

Anfield


The Kop, 1906

The ground has now been completely walled in with fancy brick setting, with large exit gates on the four sides as well as numerous entrances. Therefore, there will be no difficulty in either entering or leaving the enclosure. The directors’ aim has to been to provide as compact and comfortable a ground as possible in which every person, no matter what position he may visit, will have a full view of the game.
Liverpool Echo August 1906

Liverpool took over Anfield when they were formed as a result of a rift in Everton in 1892.  Everton went on to develop Goodison park, the first great purpose built football stadium in England. Anfield remained modest in comparison.

The Anfield ground was redeveloped inn preperation for the 1906-07 season. 
The 2 most notable changes were the construction of the new stand and the raised bank constructed at the Walton Breck Road end of the ground.
Ernest Edwards, the Sports editor of the Liverpool Post & Echo, named it Spion Kop after the battle of Spioenkop that took place during the Boer War in 1900.

 Liverpool's Spion Kop  consisted of 132 steps reaching a height of 50 feet. It was 135 feet wide. This was constructed on a cinder bank topped with a six feet wall .The terrace was accessed by  12 feet wide steps that climbed to the top of the embankment from the level of the street below.




The first game in the restructured Anfield on September 1st 1906 attracted a crowd of 32,000 to watch defending champions Liverpool defeat Stoke 1-0.