Manchester United could abandon plans to keep a stripped down version of the current Old Trafford as part of the project to build a new state of the art ‘Wembley of the north’.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been vocal on his ambitions for United’s home to be a beacon of excellence in northern England, like Wembley is for London and the south, with a new build from the ground up adjacent to the existing stadium site the most plausible way of achieving it.
There had been the possibility of retaining the original Old Trafford, built in 1910, by reducing the capacity to around 30,000 for use of the club’s women and academy sides.
But a fresh report from the Daily Mail cites sources to suggest the club think it may not work due to effectively being a separate project and potentially costing “hundreds of millions” to convert.
It could see the old stadium completely demolished once a new £2bn home is ready to move into.
For sentimental reasons, losing Old Trafford altogether is a wrench for fans, which is why keeping a scaled down version appealed to many. But United do plan to create a heritage focus group to ensure that the various historical aspects of the stadium will be preserved. That includes things like the Munich clock and memorial, as well as statues of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby and others.
Redeveloping the current Old Trafford has proven an engineering headache for years. The stadium is wedged into an awkward corner of land between a railway lane and the Bridgewater Canal. The railway across the back of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand has been the particular problem when it came to figuring out ways to build it up to three tiers to match the rest.
Old Trafford was extensively rebuilt in the late 1940s following significant bomb damage suffered during the Second World War. The only part of the 1910 stadium that still survives is the original tunnel at the halfway line, which hasn’t been used by players on matchdays since 1993.
United Women and the club’s Under-23 squad currently play the majority of home games at Leigh Sports Village, which is a strong 12,500-capacity venue but has to contend with geographical issues, located on the western outskirts of Greater Manchester, and limited public transport access.
