Manchester United have no plans to stay at Old Trafford if they give the green light for a new £2billion mega stadium.
Sergeant Ratcliffe has made no secret of his desire to build a new ground after acquiring a stake in his boyhood club, and the Ineos chief set up the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force in February, which includes Lord Coe and Gary Neville.
In the coming years, the club will either renovate Old Trafford, their home for more than a century, or build a new 100,000-capacity stadium, described by Ratcliffe as the potential ‘Wembley of the North’.
Former Old Trafford was reduced in capacity, preserving the club’s history and building a new stadium on adjacent land to provide a home for United’s women’s and academy teams, but a new report suggests the famous old ground is now more likely to be demolished.
The Mail report that club sources believe retaining Old Trafford to any extent is impractical due to the complex nature of the plans, as well as the cost of making a separate stadium project a reality.
It emerged earlier this week that United are planning to survey supporters to gather their feelings about the stadium process, noting that the club will set up a heritage focus group to ensure historic parts of Old Trafford are preserved if Old Trafford is demolished in the coming years.A survey will be sent to season ticket holders on Friday.
Former United captain Neville insisted during a recent interview with The Athletic that elements of Old Trafford would be incorporated into the potential new stadium.
He said that “When I first went there in 1979, it wasn’t in the same shape, most of the stands were built between 1993 and 2005 and nothing that’s 100 years old is going to be kept.The statues, the Munich clock or the tunnels have to be kept. They must be part of whatever Old Trafford becomes.I understand that ground location is important to some fans.But I was at Tottenham and Arsenal on Sunday.Tottenham fans consider the location of the stadium and think it’s not.It’s like playing Glenn Hoddle.”
