Liverpool "used the summer break to make over 70 improvements to Anfield" ahead of the start of the '17-18 season, according to Glenn Price of ESPN.com. The club "installed a new pitch, expanded the Kop stand and will soon open up a bigger retail store." The construction work in and around the stadium is "nearly complete," with Liverpool playing its first home game of the season on Aug. 19 against Crystal Palace. Liverpool invested around £2M ($2.6M) in replacing Anfield's pitch for the first time in "well over a decade." Manager Jürgen Klopp and his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, "both complained about the quality of the playing surface." Liverpool Operations Dir Andrew Parkinson said, "The pitch has been completely redeveloped. ... The players will notice a difference." Meanwhile, after Liverpool was one of the Premier League clubs criticized in a disabled access compliance report, the club said that it has increased the number of wheelchair bays from 195 to "more than 250 positions," also adding more than 150 "extra amenity and easy access seats." Liverpool also built a new retail store, which will be "more than twice the size of the current one and should be open for the Palace game" (ESPN.com, 8/9).
