Manchester United have confirmed their ambition to build a new 100,000-seater stadium next to Old Trafford after surveying thousands of supporters, which split fans
Comments
Sport
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is now in charge of Besiktas
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is now in charge of Besiktas
(Image: Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Gary Neville believes conceptual images of what a new 100,000-seater Manchester United stadium could look like are "absolutely spectacular".
Neville is on the Old Trafford regeneration task force and sat on their last committee meeting on Friday. Afterwards, the club's former captain acknowledged he "had a glimpse of what is coming" when United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe joined him on The Overlap.
Article continues below
Since then, Foster + Partners unveiled the images and scaled models designed by Lord Norman Foster at their headquarters in London on Tuesday. Neville is one of several club legends to have spoken about the future of Old Trafford; here is a round-up of what some have previously said:
Gary Neville
Neville said on an episode of the UTD Podcast last summer: "I'm not one of those that says that because I've watched football out there for 45 years that I need to watch the exact same players on that exact blade of grass. You know, if you think of the development, that is not the stadium that's been there 110 years.
"You know, the Stretford End is not the Stretford End that I saw growing up. The stands all around the ground have been redeveloped in the last 30-40 years."
Gary Pallister
Pallister told the Mail earlier this year: "I hate to say it because I never thought I'd see the day when I would say, 'Leave Old Trafford', but the idea of putting a purpose-built, state-of-the-art stadium next door is appealing.
"As fantastic a stadium as it is - and it's not as bad as some people have made out - to make it the Wembley of the north might be the way forward.
"It could cost £2bn to build, which is mind-blowing. But as a player and supporter, to go into a brand-new stadium like Tottenham have got, maybe that's the step we have to take if we want to keep our place at the top table and be spoken about as one of the elite of world football."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
"We have to move with the times, and at the moment, something has to happen," Solskjaer told Reuters in February last year. "It's either renovation or a new stadium because we're falling behind if we're staying in the same place we have.
"It's going to divide fans for sure, because history is important. But we traded The Cliff, which was iconic for United and the Busby Babes, with Carrington. It looks like we might have to build a new stadium."
Sir Alex Ferguson
Ferguson said in United's statement on Tuesday morning: "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. 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."