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Liverpool searching for solutions to filling unused seats at Anfield

Liverpool are attempting to combat the issue of 2,000 seats being left empty at Anfield during a game.

Despite selling every home ticket available, a large number go unused as people fail to turn up and Liverpool are exploring plans to fill those empty seats.

The Merseyside club held its first local supporters' forum on Sunday, which was attended by nine forum members and five representatives from the club, including CEO Peter Moore.

Phil Dutton, Liverpool's head of ticketing and hospitality, said that nearly every seat is sold but the number of those seats actually filled has differed.

"Our fill rate is around 94 percent but our sales rate is around 99.6 percent, with the 0.4 percent being unsold visitor tickets or changes to segregation," Dutton said, according to the club's website. "Every available home seat is sold.

"This is an obvious problem and, like everyone else, I get incredibly frustrated when I see seats left empty at Anfield because I know there are so many people who would readily fill them. We need to improve the platform for supporters to use in relation to this matter but we also need people to talk to us.

"If someone knows in advance of a game that they aren't going to make it, then if they let us know, we can do something about it. If they don't tell us, then the problem doesn't go away because we can't give a supporter's seat to someone else if they're not in it by [3:10 p.m.] because there's a risk that the original ticket holder could turn up at [3:15 p.m.]."

A delegate from Liverpool supporters' group Spirit of Shankly suggested that the club should offer fan groups the opportunity to identify supporters who could take advantage of the unused seats at short notice.

"We need to work with supporters but the ultimate responsibility for the use of any spare tickets needs to sit with the club," Dutton said in response.

"Next season, we want the fill rate to be 99.9 percent. But for that to happen, we need supporters to talk to us and then we need to find a way to use any tickets that are going spare. This place should be full for every single game."