This is Liverpool's new £300m Anfield stadium

New American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett insisted on replacing the dour bowl originally planned with a spectacular modern £300million arena that will also embrace the Reds' great history.

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Not only will the new ground incorporate the Bill Shankly Gates, named after their revered former manager, and the Hillsborough disaster memorial, but the Kop will be a proud centrepiece of the design.

The vast popular end, worldfamous for its anthem You'll Never Walk Alone since the Merseybeat Sixties, will not be lost after catching Hicks' imagination following his recent takeover with Gillett.

Hicks assured fans anxious at ditching Anfield after 115 years: "I think we've preserved the tradition and it will centre on the Kop. The Kop will be the symphony stage playing to the symphony hall. It is a cutting edge, contemporary design, but it has unique English traditions like asymmetrical sides. It's special."

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard admitted he was blown away by the plans and revealed it was the main reason behind his decision to commit to a long-term contract at his boyhood club.

Gerrard said: "I cannot wait to lead the team out there. The prospect of this was one of the major factors in me signing a long-term deal and I hope I am still around when we play our first game in it."

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Team-mate and fellow Scouser Jamie Carragher said: "The designers have come up with something unique. I have never seen a football ground like it."

Chief executive Rick Parry, who submitted the plans to Liverpool Council, added: "The Kop will have a significantly increased capacity of 18,000 seats in a single-tier structure that will be the stadium's heartbeat.

"We're trying to re-create the golden days. The stand will be steeper and the seats tighter together, with the acoustics of the roof designed to accentuate the atmosphere during games."

Liverpool's Kop choir will have even more to sing about if the club take up the option of increasing ground capacity at a later date to 78,000 — attendances which could even eclipse Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson's champions, Liverpool's fiercest rivals, drew crowds of more than 76,000 last season at Old Trafford, including a Premiership record full house of 76,073 against Aston Villa.

With rivals across the park Everton also currently embroiled in a debate over the proposed move out of the city to Kirkby, it all adds up to a package that will meet with the approval of most Liverpool supporters.

The club hope to start work on the Stanley Park site in a matter of weeks with council approval, and are looking into the practicality of a match-day rail service with the possibility of reopening the Bootle branch line for the future upgrade to 78,000.

Former favourite Jan Molby said: "It will be a wrench to leave Anfield, but this might be the right time to go. There is a fresh wind blowing at Liverpool."