Soccer-Liverpool announce plans to leave Melwood for Kirkby

Feb 22 (Reuters) - English Premier League side Liverpool announced plans on Wednesday that will see the first team leave their long-time training base in Melwood and move to a redeveloped site in Kirkby, where the current academy is located. According to the club website (liverpoolfc.com), Liverpool plan to construct a 50 million pound ($62.35 million) combined training centre, redevelop the existing facilities at the academy and convert the main pitch into an indoor one. The club added that a public consultation would be held on March 8 for local residents and businesses to discuss the proposed plans in more detail. Legendary manager Bill Shankly transformed Melwood into a top class training facility in 1959 but current boss Juergen Klopp has been a keen advocate of having a larger facility able to accommodate the first team and the academy. ($1 = 0.8020 pounds) (Writing by John O'Brien; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)