Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to build a new stadium (Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Manchester United have appointed Populous – the designers behind Tottenham’s new stadium – to design a new 100,000-seater stadium for the Red Devils.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has appointed a taskforce that includes Lord Seb Coe and Gary Neville to oversee plans for the future of the stadium and its surrounding area.
Untied have two options; either refurbishing their current ground at a cost of around £1bn or to build a bigger stadium on adjacent land for around £2bn.
Though the second option would require private and public funding, Ratcliffe favours a new build.
United could easily sell out a capacity of around 95,000 for most matches and that figure would rise even further for bigger matches, such as last week’s FA Cup win against Liverpool.
Old Trafford in its current form (Credits: Getty Images)
Ratcliffe suggested the capacity of the new stadium would be at least 90,000 and possibly as high as 100,000 in a podcast he did last week.
‘If we build a completely new ground, it would be state of the art, world-class, [have a capacity of] 90,000 or even 100,000,’ said Ratcliffe.
‘I think that then provides a platform for some of the big competitions in the north of England. Why shouldn’t England play in the north? Why is the FA Cup final always in the south?’
And the Daily Mail say Populous are overseeing designs for a new stadium.
Some of these designs have already been seen by Ratcliffe and INEOS.
Tottenham’s stadium was opened in 2019 (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
But the club will wait on the recommendations of the taskforce, which have more to consider than simply just the stadium.
They will be looking at the wider area and the community around Old Trafford, with plans for housing, transport links and hotels.
Spurs’ new stadium opened in 2019 after three years of building – though the plans were a decade in the making.
The cost of Spurs’ stadium increased significantly over the course of the plans, with it topping out at around £1.1bn.
However, it is widely considered the best stadium in the Premier League now.
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