Manchester United have announced their plan for a magnificent new 100,000 seater stadium to replace Old Trafford.
According to the club’s official website, “The stadium, and wider regeneration project, have the potential to deliver an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy which brings large-scale social and economic benefits to the community and wider region, including the possible creation of 92,000 new jobs, more than 17,000 new homes as well as driving an additional 1.8 million visitors annually.”
Part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said “Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford.”
CEO Omar Berrada said that “Our long-term objective as a club is to have the world’s best football team playing in the world’s best stadium.”
Sir Alex Ferguson is quoted as saying “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 special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.”
Sir Jim has already confirmed that while United’s owners will fund the new stadium, it must be part of a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area, completely transforming this part of Manchester into one of the country’s finest destinations.
The architects of the stadium are Foster and Partners. Their founder Lord Norman Foster described it as “one of the most exciting projects in the world today, with incredible regional and national significance.
“The stadium is contained by a vast umbrella, harvesting energy and rainwater, and sheltering a new public plaza that is twice the size of Trafalgar Square.
“It is a mixed-use miniature city of the future.”
The plan is to complete the stadium within five years, i.e. by 2030, with 2032 as the maximum deadline. Lord Foster says this will be achieved by pre-building blocks of the stadium and then assembling them “like Meccano”(TM).
The images released of how the new stadium will look are jaw-droppingly impressive:
Photos from X.com
Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images
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Red Billy
Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
