Old Trafford has desperately needed investment for about 20 years but, until recently, few people at Manchester United saw a problem with the stadium and the issue remained largely undiscussed.
So, as every main rival either rebuilt or extensively redeveloped their homes, Old Trafford stood still. It has remained the biggest club stadium in the country, but it has been some time since you could call it the best, and it is starting to fray around the edges.
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In 2018, I put it to then-managing director Richard Arnold that the stadium should be expanded. “There’s huge demand for that,” he responded. So I asked him if it would happen. “One day. The owners are 100 per cent aligned in terms of continuing the development of the stadium.”
I then asked if the idea was to build another tier on top of the main stand rather than a new stadium. “I think one day that will happen. A new tier is the most likely, but we haven’t finalised the plans.”
Six years on and the plans still haven’t been finalised. In fairness, neither Arnold nor his boss Ed Woodward could do much because their bosses wouldn’t sign them off. This was life under the Glazers.
Several senior officials told me to keep drawing attention to the stadium’s decline because it so desperately needed investment and, gradually, the future of Old Trafford became a mainstream topic of discussion.
And now, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s takeover complete, plans for the stadium’s improvement appear more tangible than ever.
Let me be clear — Old Trafford is not falling down (as some say it is). It is still a good football stadium and Arnold and Woodward do deserve some credit for pushing on with safe standing and engaging with fans to improve the atmosphere after years of silence from the club.
But how best to move forward with its improvement? I had always preferred the idea of a redeveloped and expanded stadium, with the major focus being on increasing the size of the main stand, whereas Gary Neville, for example, had the view that a new stadium was needed.
However, I’ve started to feel differently about a redevelopment in the last year. Little things have made me think this. Things like the club’s chef talking about the restrictions that come with working in a building that is, in parts, more than 100 years old. Things like going pitchside and seeing how tight the drop-off is and how dangerous it could be for players.
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Also, visiting new stadiums in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Las Vegas during the 2023 pre-season tour made me realise some of the venues in the U.S. are on a different level.
Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium, built over their old ground, is also superb. The same goes for Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames.
I also visited Real Madrid’s redeveloped Santiago Bernabeu stadium recently and, after its four-year reconstruction, it is the best football stadium in the world.
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Watching Barcelona redevelop Camp Nou has brought on another shift in thinking. They’ve stripped it down to the bone and they are now building it back up, making me wonder. What exactly was it that I wanted to see remain at that stadium?
It’s the same at Old Trafford. In recent weeks, Ratcliffe’s insistence that the stadium will be improved has pleased me enormously. First, he’s open about the fact that there are really only two options: redevelop or start again from scratch.
If it’s the latter, he suggested that the existing stadium may be downsized and perhaps used for the women’s and youth teams. That would make some sense as those sides do need a ground that isn’t 12 miles outside Manchester, as their home is now.
He also touched on the fact it could become a Boxpark-type venue where fans could meet to watch away games. Given how hard it is to get away tickets, I like that idea too.
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As for the new ground, it would still be roughly on the same site (credit to former chairman Martin Edwards for buying up huge tranches of land around Old Trafford for very little money in the 1990s) and it could alleviate the problems of the current stadium — the tight leg room, the lack of space to build behind the existing venue, the awful sloping roof and the lack of decent scoreboards.
Another advantage is that it could be built while the current stadium continues to be used, so the men’s team wouldn’t have to move to a temporary home.
Also, the whole area around the stadium could be regenerated from the existing low-grade semi-industrial units to a thriving community.
Manchester needs homes and the residents in Gorse Hill need to be fully behind the plans. They should benefit too.
When I lived in Gorse Hill, Manchester United felt detached and on the other side of the tracks in more ways than one. Communication didn’t exist between the fabulous community on the club’s doorstep.
When I started going to games in the 1980s, the area was decaying and desolate and, aged 10, that green Old Trafford pitch amid the browns, greys and dirt was the greatest thing I’d seen in my life. The magic is still there, but it needs some love and serious investment.
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I wasn’t in favour of a new stadium but now, I am open to one. Overall, though, I’m just glad that it looks like something will be done — even if we don’t know how it will be paid for.
Yes, it has taken too long to reach this stage, but Ratcliffe is an ambitious and successful man. He will strive to provide a stadium fit to house the biggest football club in the world.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
