Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined how tickets have to be "affordable" for the club's new stadium after plans were unveiled on Tuesday morning.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe conducts a sit-down interview for MUTV.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has addressed ticketing for the new stadium.
(Image: MUTV.)
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has vowed that Manchester United will "look after the people in Manchester" after addressing the subject of ticket prices for the club's new stadium.
United revealed plans on Tuesday morning to build a new 100,000-seater stadium as part of the Old Trafford regeneration project. The club has said the stadium could be built within five years.
Architect Lord Foster, whose company Foster + Partners created the conceptual designs of the stadium, has said the Manchester Ship Canal could ship in components to speed up the process of the build. It was originally suggested a new stadium could take up to a decade to be built.
Ratcliffe has always preferred the idea of a new stadium rather than refurbishing and developing Old Trafford. However, the introduction of a 100,000-seater arena is likely to see ticket prices increase, with the club already under fire for the hikes they have overseen this season. However, Ratcliffe has said tickets have to remain "affordable", insisting Mancunians will be at the forefront of the club's thinking.
"I mean, this stadium is for Manchester United supporters and, you know, the majority of people who go to the ground are the people who live in Manchester and that community around (it)," Ratcliffe told MUTV.
"So the tickets have to be affordable and they have to be a fair price. So, you know, I fully support and understand that. And remember I was brought up on a council estate in Manchester.
"So it's not something that I'm incapable of understanding. I mean, that's where I started life - for the first ten years of my life anyway. But there will also be seats that, you know, there'll be corporate entertainment, there'll be seats where people come from Hong Kong or people come up from London.
"They'll have to pay a bit more money for those, but we're going to look after the people in Manchester."