Old Trafford
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Manchester United have been running the Old Trafford Regeneration Project over recent months in a bid to develop their home ground in the coming years.
The group have been looking at two main options, developing Old Trafford, or building a new stadium right next door.
If the decision is made to build a new stadium, designed as a 100,000 seater venue, labelled “The Wembley of the North”, Old Trafford would be downscaled, becoming the home for the Women and Academy teams, whilst the men’s senior squad move into the new venue.
Now in a recent interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe labelled the concept of the new build “definitely deliverable”.
He went on to say: “If you take the view it’s the greatest club in the world, then it should be a stadium befitting the greatest club in the world and also a stadium that befits the greatest league in the world because the Premier League is the greatest league in the world.”
Now, The Athletic has reported that anonymous sources have revealed that the club are moving forward with the purpose-built new build stadium instead of upscaling Old Trafford.
It’s understood that whilst this has not been officially announced yet, the reveal is due to come tomorrow, Tuesday 11th March 2025.
It’s understood the cost of the stadium is estimated at around £2 billion, with the funding of the project as yet unclear.
Discussing the new build more in-depth, Ratcliffe commented: “The only basis upon which we can build a new one is if it is part of this government regeneration scheme for south Manchester, because we can’t afford to regenerate southern Manchester, that’s too big a bill for the club.”
He continued: “We can build a stadium. We don’t need any government funding for that stadium, but it has to be the underpin for the regeneration.
“I won’t say much more but Norman Foster (of architects Foster + Partners), who also is a Mancunian and is the world’s greatest architect in my view, really has created the most iconic — well, you’ve seen it — the most iconic stadium, incredible.
“It would be marvellous if Manchester United could go down that road and, in five years’ time or six years’ time, have that stadium.”
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