Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Old Trafford.(Picture: /PA Wire)
Manchester United are taking inspiration from two of Europe’s biggest clubs as they continue to assess their options for the proposed redevelopment of Old Trafford.
In one of his first moves since acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the club, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has appointed a task force that includes Lord Seb Coe and Gary Neville to oversee plans for the future of the stadium and its surrounding area.
The task force met for the first time last week as the club debates the possibility of refurbishing their current ground at a cost of around £1bn, or building a bigger stadium on adjacent land for around £2bn.
Though the second option would require private and public funding, Ratcliffe is said to favour a new build. A major hurdle in either case, though, would be securing an alternative location to play their home games.
Tottenham spent more than 12 months at Wembley whilst their new stadium was being built but there appears to be no viable solution for United at present.
One option could be temporarily limiting Old Trafford’s capacity to allow work to take place while the club continues to use the stadium for matches. Liverpool were forced to do this as part of the recent redevelopment of the Anfield Road Stand’s upper tier.
But Ratcliffe is keen to explore all options, with The Times reporting that the British billionaire is taking inspiration from the projects undertaken by both Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Old Trafford has fallen behind other stadiums in the Premier League (Picture: Getty)
The Camp Nou is currently undergoing a major rebuild (Picture: Getty)
Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium has undergone a major redevelopment (Picture: Getty)
Both Spanish giants have undertaken billion-pound restorations of their current stadiums, with Madrid installing a retractable roof and underground car park, while Barcelona are set to increase their capacity to around 105,000.
Real Madrid were temporarily forced out of the Santiago Bernabeu to play at Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, with Barcelona currently playing their matches at the Montjuic stadium as their stadium redevelopment continues.
Collette Roche, the United chief operating officer, was seen in Madrid last week, and Ratcliffe has been honest about his admiration for both sets of redevelopments.
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‘Manchester United needs to have a stadium that is befitting the club and the brand. If you look at what Real Madrid are doing with the Bernabeu and Barcelona with the Nou Camp, the Bernabeu is fabulous. It’s like a cauldron of noise,’ he said on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast.
‘The Nou Camp is enormous and they are spending a lot of money revamping it. You look at the Premier League, we don’t have anything that compares.
‘And yet the Premier League is several times bigger than the Spanish league in terms of size, scale and importance today. That’s where all the money is with TV. The Premier League needs to have some grounds which are the equal of our European competitors.’
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