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Sir Jim Ratcliffe is exploring different ways to improve Manchester United‘s historic home of Old Trafford. According to The Telegraph, the British billionaire essentially wants to create a “Wembley of the North” in Manchester. Wembley Stadium, the home of the England national team, is currently the largest soccer arena in the country.
Completed in 2007, Wembley holds up to 90,000 fans for matches. Old Trafford is currently the second-largest soccer stadium in the United Kingdom, as it accommodates about 74,000 people. Not only does Ratcliffe want to expand United’s home, but he also wants to update the building as well. After all, the “The Theater of Dreams” opened back in 1910.
Building new stadium on Old Trafford site could be cheaper in the long run
Anonymous sources close to Ratcliffe have claimed that the billionaire wants United to have a modern and glorious stadium. “He feels the club needs an absolute state-of-the-art, knock-it-out-of-the-park, ‘wow’ stadium,” the source told Telegraph Sport.
“And we feel there’s a strong argument for the country having a top-class major venue in the North – a Wembley of the North.”
Despite this, Ratcliffe also does not want to relocate the team to another area in Manchester. This means that ownership would then either have to heavily renovate Old Trafford or build a new arena on the property.
Expanding Old Trafford is currently an option to appease the businessman. However, experts believe that renovating a 114-year-old building has significant drawbacks. Chris Lee, the managing director of the firm in charge of the project, previously told Telegraph Sport that building a whole new stadium could “turn out to be the most cost-effective solution” for Ratcliffe.
“The building is reaching the end of its natural life; the cabling, the electricity supplies, everything is nearing its sell-by date,” stated Lee.
Ratcliffe looking to use public funding for Old…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/ratcliffe-wants-to-use-taxpayer-money-to-rebuild-old-trafford-20240207-WST-488097.html
Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-02-07 16:17:41
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