'I was scared out of my mind, I was worried Harry Styles was going to yonk me in the head'

The man behind Co-op Live has revealed he was kept awake at night ahead of the unveiling of the £450m venue. The UK's largest entertainment arena was opened one year ago today by Bury band Elbow, following a series of false starts and delays.

Tonight, 12 months on, the Manchester venue will play host to one of the greatest singers of all time, Bruce Springsteen. 'The Boss' will play three huge sold out shows over the next seven days.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast about the anniversary and concert tonight, Tim Leiweke, who is the CEO at Oak View Group (OVG), who opened the venue in partnership with City Football Group (CFG), Harry Styles and Co-op, said the pressure was on when they hit a number of roadblocks.

Prompted by presenter Sally Nugent about how he kept calm amidst the setbacks last April and May, Mr Leiweke said: "I was scared out of my mind.

"Look when you have things like that you lay awake at night and you worry about, we had 15,000 people that were working for us, we have a partnership with City Football Group, I’m worried Harry Styles is going to yonk me in the head because he’s our partner.

"It all worked out, I kind of knew it would work out - we had to get through it. What’s amazing is that it’s worked out this well, and I think a lot of people are like ‘I would never have on dreamed it ended this well’."

The venue, billed as the 'most expensive' arena built outside North America, finally hosted Elbow last May after a series of false starts, which saw gigs cancelled, postponed and rescheduled.

The venue faced a barrage of criticism over delays to its opening, rescheduling of shows and chaos when part of the air conditioning unit fell from the roof ahead of the May 1 gig with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

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