By DOMINIC HOGAN
Published: 08:00 EDT, 11 March 2025 | Updated: 08:00 EDT, 11 March 2025
Sir Alex Ferguson has offered his verdict on Manchester United's new plans to build a £2billion, 100,000-seater stadium as announced on Tuesday morning.
The Red Devils have confirmed ambitious plans to produce a new ground within five years, with renderings and plans revealed earlier on Tuesday showcasing the proposed new ground.
The new Old Trafford includes three giant towers, inspired by the Red Devils’ trident, dominate the skyline and effectively hold up the ‘umbrella’ - a sweeping glass and steel canopy above that will keep fans dry inside and outside what would be comfortably Britain’s biggest stadium.
Fans were split over the idea, with some comparing the new stadium to a 'circus' while there were others who felt it could help bring them into a new era.
While plans look set to go forward regardless, the club did at least receive a verbal rubber stamp from perhaps the most important man in their history.
'Manchester United should always strive for the best in everything it does, on and off the pitch, and that includes the stadium we play in,' Ferguson said.
Sir Alex Ferguson has offered his verdict on Manchester United's new stadium plans
Architect Lord Norman Foster claims the stadium will bring fans ‘closer than ever to the pitch’
Bringing a new stadium for Man United was key to Sir Jim Ratcliffe's bid to become co-owner
'Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.'
A huge wraparound scoreboard also features, along with a three-storey museum and canal-side restaurants as part of a vast fan village in a project Sir Jim Ratcliffe says will ‘preserve the essence of Old Trafford… while transforming the fan experience only footsteps from our existing home’.
Man United have also ambitiously proposed that the stadium, which would become the largest covered space in the world, will be completed within a timeframe of just five years.
‘Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years,’ said petrochemicals billionaire Ratcliffe, who has made the project a priority since taking a 29 per cent share in his boyhood club a year ago.
‘But it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience only footsteps from our historic home.
‘Just as important is the opportunity for a new stadium to be the catalyst for social and economic renewal of the Old Trafford area, creating jobs and investment not just during the construction phase but on a lasting basis when the stadium district is complete,’ Ratcliffe added.
‘The Government has identified infrastructure investment as a strategic priority, particularly in the north of England, and we are proud to be supporting that mission with this project of national, as well as local, significance.’
Lord Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners, added: ‘This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today, with incredible regional and national significance. It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar.