The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Sport Saturday
United back Ratcliffe stadium dream
Club to explore options for Old Trafford regeneration Coe will chair taskforce for ‘once-in-century’ project
Manchester United have given the green light to Sir Jim Ratcliffe to explore a “once- in- a- century” opportunity to create a spectacular new stadium for the club as the centrepiece of a wider regeneration project of the Old Trafford area.
Ratcliffe favours a new- build over redevelopment of United’s Old Trafford home and the club’s board have approved the exploration of that vision through a special taskforce chaired by Lord Coe.
Telegraph Sport disclosed last month how United’s new kingpin wanted to create the “Wembley of the North” and could seek to lobby government for funds.
The Ineos founder believes such an ambitious project could have a regenerative impact in Manchester in keeping with what the 2012 Olympics did for east London.
Ratcliffe – who has been given complete control of football operations at Old Trafford as part of his £1.03 billion deal for a 27.7 per cent stake in the club – believes Coe’s experience of helping to deliver the London Olympics could prove invaluable as United consider a project of regional, national and international significance.
The so- called “Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force” will be chaired by Coe, the former head of the organising committee for the 2012 London Olympics, and include former United captain Gary Neville and Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, among other prominent local leaders.
Ratcliffe has convened the 10-strong taskforce to fully examine how a world-leading new stadium could support wider renewal of the area surrounding United’s current Old Trafford home and drive social and economic improvements for the entire region.
“This can be a major regeneration project for an area of Greater Manchester which has played such a key role in British industrial history but which requires new investment to thrive again,” Ratcliffe said.
“The North West of England has a greater concentration of major football clubs than anywhere else in the world yet we don’t have a stadium on the scale of Wembley, the Nou Camp or Bernabeu. We will not be able to change that on our own, which is why this task force is important to help us seize this once-in-a-century opportunity.”
Coe, a lifelong Chelsea fan who grew up in Sheffield and is president of World Athletics, believes a project of such scale is “overdue” in the North of England.
“Throughout my career in sport, I have seen the potential for stadiums to become focal points for strong communities and catalysts for social and economic development,” he said.
“That was certainly true of the venues we built in east London for the 2012 Olympics, and we are overdue a project of similar scale and ambition in the North of England.”
Ratcliffe is understood to have analysed the option to redevelop Old Trafford or build a new stadium on adjacent land. Sources have indicated that his initial conclusion is that a new-build would be “the best way to truly transform the fan experience and surrounding community”, with the club’s board and the Glazers fully supporting a taskforce to explore this vision in detail.
An economic impact study will be commissioned to assess potential socio- economic benefits of the projects, and fans and residents will be closely consulted throughout the process. If United pursued the new-build option, there is understood to be a desire to preserve Old Trafford’s historic footprint through a scaled-down stadium for the women’s team and academy.
The taskforce will also look closely into financing options for the stadium, given the view that, while the club have the capacity to arrange their own financing for a phased redevelopment of Old Trafford, a new-build and wider regeneration project would require support from funding partners. A new stadium could cost around £ 2 billion, with a redevelopment project around half that.
Ineos has experience of financing major infrastructure projects and a wide variety of potential funding sources will be explored.
Sources said the club were not looking for “handouts” but could tap into opportunities for publicprivate partnerships to unlock investment benefits for the community and make the stadium a driver for wider regeneration.
Trafford council has already announced separate plans to revamp the area surrounding Old Trafford as part of the Trafford Wharfside Framework. But United want to work in synergy with that project to support regeneration of the area.