The Red Devils’ plans to construct a world-class stadium should be celebrated – as long as the public does not end up footing the bill
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has only officially been the minority shareholder of Manchester United since February, but he and his INEOS partners have been in a real hurry to re-shape the club. They have appointed a new CEO, sporting director and technical director and revamped the training ground.
The most radical and significant step, however, is about to follow: the eventual demolition of Old Trafford and the building of a brand new, 100,000-capacity stadium in its place.
It is a bold move that breaks with tradition, and it will be gut-wrenching to see the club’s historic home razed to the ground. It will also cost the club dear, to the tune of around £2 billion ($2.5bn). It is the right move, though, and it is essential to ensure United move into the future and do not stay stuck in the past, living off former glories and trading in nostalgia.
Yet one thing should be clear: however ambitious the project is, Ratcliffe and the club should be the ones financing it, not the British taxpayer.
Lagging behind
Ratcliffe has talked a lot about the need to redevelop Old Trafford, and less than a month after officially completing his purchase of a 27 percent stake in the club, a task force was set up to determine the best course of action.
The group, chaired by London 2012 Olympics organiser Sebastian Coe and whose other members include Gary Neville as well as Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, have concluded that the building of a brand new stadium is the best course of action. There are many good reasons why.
First of all, Old Trafford right now is, at best, a large but faded stadium that pales in comparison to the modern arenas of rivals Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham, not to mention the futuristic Santiago Bernabeu, Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and the proposed new Camp Nou. It has tiny scoreboards, which cannot be seen from large sections of the ground, no big screens and problems with acoustics.
The concourses are cramped, leading to long queues before kick-off and at half-time, and the selection of food and drinks is severely limited. Anyone who tries a pie risks burning their mouth with each bite, and the club’s food hygiene is rated at one star out of five after guests were served raw chicken at an event last year.