Liverpool insist plans for the redevelopment of the Anfield Road end remain on track but building the club’s new training ground is the priority.

Following the opening of the £115million Main Stand in September 2016, fans were keen for the smallest side of Anfield, which also houses away supporters, to get a much-needed revamp.

Outline planning permission, valid for another 15 months, is in place to change the Anfield Road stand but chief operating officer Andy Hughes said the new £50million training ground on the site of the club’s Kirkby academy must come first.

“Our priority right now is the training ground, the contract for which is currently out to tender, and ideally work will begin on that project in July,” he told the inaugural meeting of the stadium fans’ forum, reported on liverpoolfc.com.

“While this process is continuing, outline planning permission for Anfield Road is in place and does not expire until September 2019, which is later than had been reported in some quarters.

“It’s important to stress that we are applying the same level of rigour to this process as we did to the Main Stand process but Anfield Road is very much a live process and we will look to vary the outline planning permission that we have if necessary.

“Over the last three or four years there has been major investment in capital projects.

“This has included the new Main Stand, improvements in stadium accessibility and work on the new training ground and it has all been done in sequence which, in practice, has meant that we have deliberately tried to phase these projects for reasons of finance and resources.

“From our point of view, there is no shortage of time or effort that is being put into this (Anfield Road) project to make it as good as it possibly can be.

“The programme is on track and we are completely committed to this project.

“We definitely can raise the money and we are committed to finding the best possible answer, assuming it is viable from all points of view.”