Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe took over his 27.7% share of Manchester United, the INEOS owner has been trying to rejuvenate the club in any way possible to return it to its former glory.
Ratcliffe has been making major changes to the club, including an entire restructure of the club’s executive team, remodelling the coaching staff around Erik ten Hag, and restructuring once more, hiring Ruben Amorim’s backroom staff to join him when he moves from Sporting Lisbon next week.
On the pitch, £200 million was spent on players this summer to rebuild the squad, with the recruitment team now looking to January to scout potential targets for Amorim’s new playstyle.
Ratcliffe has even made massive investments into the club’s infrastructure, spending £50 million on refurbishing the Carrington training ground to support player development.
However, the biggest and most contentious change comes with the plans for their home ground.
Ratcliffe set aside two plans to improve their stadium for home games, one came as a £1 billion development to Old Trafford, whereas the more drastic was to downsize Old Trafford to a 33,000 seater venue and build an entirely new stadium next door.
The new build would see a 100,000 seater stadium built on Trafford Park, being billed as “the Wembley of the North”.
Recent updates on the “Wembley of the North” and Old Trafford development
However, new reports have emerged claiming that the plans for the developments could now be stalled.
The Telegraph has reported that United will now wait for post-Budget developments before making the decision how how they progress. Their decision will now be made next summer.
The Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, headed by Lord Coe, is urging United to be “as bold and brave as possible”, suggesting that the development could be boosted even further if additional land around Old Trafford could be bought.
The idea of altering Old Trafford could be a controversial move for fans, however, a survey sent to 500,00 United supporters resulted in 52% of the fan base surveyed being open to the new-build project.
It’s also worth noting that only 31% chose a redevelopment of Old Trafford, with the remaining 17% not minding either way.
At this time, a range of options are being considered, with a range of financing options also under consideration, however, public funds could support transport and infrastructure costs that would help this project reach its full potential and benefit the wider region.
The new development’s wider impacts
Ultimately, the new development could hinge on the relocation of the freight terminal neighbouring Old Trafford, with the Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, requesting funds to move the terminal to a purpose-built facility in St Helens on the edge of Liverpool.
This would mean the freight service would use lines separate from the passenger rail services so they aren’t competing for track space. The belief is that this relocation would support train services for commuters as well as giving United more space for their new development.
Burnham has linked with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram to develop a plan with Freightliner who have the site with the hope of highlighting how the relocation would benefit both cities.
It’s understood that the new development could benefit the wider area of Manchester by creating 92,000 jobs and more than 17,000 new homes, bringing in 1.8 million visitors per year and generating £7.3 billion annually for the UK economy, according to the Oxford Economics report.
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