Gary Neville has described plans for a regenerated Old Trafford as “spectacular” as Manchester United look to improve their worn-out stadium.
Old Trafford has gone from one of the finest grounds in the country to being infested with rats as the Glazer family neglected the club’s home but improving Old Trafford has been a key goal of Sir Jim Ratcliffe since his Ineos company took over a minority share in February 2024.
Man Utd co-owner Ratcliffe set up a task force, chaired by World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe, to focus on improving Old Trafford with Gary Neville also part of the discussion.
Neville, who has a number of properties in Manchester, described plans for the new Old Trafford as “spectacular”
“I sat on the last task force committee meeting on Friday and I had a glimpse of what is coming and it looks absolutely spectacular,” Neville said during an interview with Ratcliffe.
The club has appointed architect Lord Norman Foster to oversee the plan which will improve not just the stadium but the surrounding area as well.
The club is supported by the UK government who backed the plans but Ratcliffe said any public money will be used on the area around the stadium rather than Old Trafford itself.
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As to why a renovation is key, the 72-year-old believes if Manchester United have aspirations to be the greatest club in the world, they need a stadium to match it.
“If you take the view that it’s the greatest football club in the world, then if it’s going to build a new stadium it should be a new stadium that’s 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.
“And at the moment, if you look at the Premier League, we’ve got some great stadiums, but we don’t have a Bernabeu, do we? And we don’t have the new Nou Camp. We don’t have that in the Premier League, although it’s the greatest league in the world.
“And also, if you look at the north of England, the north of England has won 10 Champions League finals and London has won two, so there’s quite a few reasons there to have the world’s most iconic football stadium in the north of England at the world’s greatest club.”
On architect Foster, whose company designed the renovation of Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Ratcliffe said the fellow United fan was the best in the world.
“I won’t say much more but Norman Foster, who also is a Mancunian and is the world’s greatest architect in my view, has really created the most iconic [design].
“It would be marvelous if Manchester United could go down that road and in five years’ time or six years’ time have that stadium. It would be fabulous.”