Manchester United have announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK – an ‘iconic’ new £2bn 100,000-seater ground close to Old Trafford.
Once construction is complete, the club’s existing home will be demolished.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he wanted to build the “world’s greatest football stadium”, which the club hopes could be finished in five years.
United’s announcement comes after an extensive consultation process around whether to develop the existing stadium or build a new one.
Old Trafford has been Manchester United’s home since 1910.
The club would continue to play at Old Trafford until the new stadium was ready.
Senior club sources have previously said it would not be cost effective to shrink it for use as a home for United’s women’s and youth teams.
Architects at Foster and Partners, who will design the project, said the new stadium would feature an umbrella design and a new public plaza that is “twice the size of Trafalgar Square”.
The design will feature three masts described as ‘the trident’, which the architects say will be 200 metres high and visible from 25 miles away.
Manchester United, currently £1 billion in debt, are yet to say how they plan to pay for the stadium. Club chief executive Omar Berrada said he was confident it was “a very attractive investment opportunity” and he was “quite confident we’ll find a way to finance the stadium”.
It will form part of a wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area, predicted to be the biggest such project in the United Kingdom since the transformation of the Stratford area that accompanied the 2012 Olympics in London. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already given government backing to the plans.
United say the entire project has the potential to create 92,000 new jobs, will involve the construction of 17,000 homes and bring an additional 1.8 million visitors to the area annually. They add the project will be worth an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.
“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest stadium,” said Ratcliffe.
“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years but it has fallen behind the arenas in world sport.
“I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world.”
He said there was no date in place for when building work on the stadium would begin, adding: “It depends how quickly the Government gets going with the regeneration programme. I think they want to get going quite quickly.”
The stadium will be built using pre-fabrication, shipped in 160 components along the neighbouring Manchester Ship Canal.
Criticism of Old Trafford – England’s biggest club ground with a 74,140 capacity – has grown in recent years, with issues including leaks from the roof of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand.
The stadium has not had significant development since 2006.
United have spoken to senior people involved in the most recent large-scale stadium developments, including the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the rebuild of Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium, as part of their background work.
They also spoke to local residents and conducted a fan survey to establish whether supporters would prefer a new build or extensive improvements to the present stadium, which was thought likely to cost £1.5bn.
Foster and Partners designed the new Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2007, and the Lusail Stadium, the venue for the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.
Leaving Old Trafford will be a controversial move for some but former manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: “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 memories for me personally but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where history can be made.”
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham welcomed the plans. He said: “If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012.
“Manchester United could, and indeed should, have the best football stadium in the world.
“To me, that means a stadium that is true to the traditions of the club, affordable to all, with nobody priced out.”
BBC
