MAN UTD CONFIDENTIAL: New Old Trafford to take on Wembley for boxing mega-fights, Omar Berrada’s message to downbeat staff and why Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ready to splash the cash
MAN UTD CONFIDENTIAL: New Old Trafford to take on Wembley for boxing mega-fights, Omar Berrada’s message to downbeat staff and why Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ready to splash the cash
This is what pisses me off about this idea. Dont want a ground that hosts events . Hate that for the club. Wembley is the national ground and should stay that way. Old Trafford is our home and it’s what makes us unique . It’s our footballing home and nothing else! Really hate that our home ground could be turned into venues for NFL, Taylor swift, concerts etc … Hate that!
GoalIsGood on
[Chris Wheeler and Liam Morgan]
A separate arena for the women’s and academy teams will not be part of the initial design to regenerate the area around a £2billion new Old Trafford stadium.
Mail Sport revealed last week that United have abandoned plans to scale down Old Trafford to a capacity of around 30,000 for the women and academy if they build a 100,000-seater ‘Wembley of the North’ next door because it would be too complex and costly.
A new stadium that could hold around 15,000 fans and be increased over time depending on demand is more realistic, and Gary Neville threw his support behind the idea when he spoke at the Labour Party conference on Monday.
‘It’s something the club definitely have to consider, having a stadium where the women’s team can play and call home,’ said Neville, who is a member of the Old Trafford stadium taskforce.
‘I spoke to a very prominent ex-England international about three months ago who said the women’s game is homeless. That’s not just at Manchester United, it’s across the country. I think Manchester United should look at a solution for that in the next five to 10 years.’
Although it remains part of United’s long-term vision, sources say it simply isn’t feasible to plan a second stadium while the club are trying to find ways of rebuilding Old Trafford without a penny of public funding.
As it is, United may still need to settle for a £1bn redevelopment of the existing stadium instead.
Sources also point out that the women’s team have a home at Leigh Sports Village where they are building up a fanbase, although the opening game against West Ham last weekend was played at Old Trafford.
United didn’t release an official attendance figure but it’s understood that a disappointing total of 12,000 tickets were sold.
Confidential revealed last week that all the fans were seated in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand, with the other three sides of the ground closed.
Meanwhile reporters covering the game were unhappy that they had to leave the stadium little more than an hour after the final whistle and work outside, even though coach Marc Skinner didn’t appear for his post-match press conference for almost 50 minutes.
New Old Trafford to take on Wembley to host boxing mega-fights
Manchester United’s plans to turn Old Trafford into the Wembley of the North would rival the national stadium for the right to stage boxing’s mega-fights.
A record post-war crowd of 96,000 packed into Wembley on Saturday night to see Anthony Joshua knocked out by Daniel Dubois in his latest sold-out appearance under the arch.
But United are confident that a new 100,000-seater stadium would be able to accommodate an even bigger crowd of 110,000, potentially turning Manchester into Britain’s big-fight capital.
United has long been a hotbed for boxing but Old Trafford hasn’t staged a fight since October 1993 when Nigel Benn fought Chris Eubank in the second instalment of their grudge match in front of 42,000 fans.
The MEN (now AO) Arena has staged some epic nights – not least when Ricky Hatton was in his pomp – but the capacity there is 21,000, and the new larger Co-op Live only holds 23,500.
A state-of-the-art Old Trafford would dwarf both arenas by some distance and give United the edge over Wembley as well.
The potential benefits for the region are huge after an assessment by Oxford Economics found that a new £2billion stadium would generate £7.3bn for the UK economy, 92,000 jobs and 1.8m visitors annually.
HTwoN on
Sir Jim wants the new stadium to be his legacy. He will splash the cash.
GoalIsGood on
Class of ’92 host class of ‘24
Plans for United’s Under 21s to play some games at Salford City this season is further evidence that the enduring bond with the Class of ’92 is only getting stronger after Gary Neville was included in the Old Trafford taskforce driving plans to rebuild or renovate the stadium.
The academy team will appear at the Peninsula Stadium for the first time next Tuesday in a Premier League International Cup tie against Hertha Berlin.
It’s hoped that the agreement with Salford will ease fixture congestion at Leigh Sports Village which the academy team usually share with United’s women’s team and rugby league side Leigh Leopards. As part of the link-up, the League Two club will use United’s Littleton Road training facility.
It is said to have been negotiated by Salford’s director of football Ryan Giggs, who co-owns the club with other Class of ’92 alumni David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers.
The former United stars have maintained a close relationship with the club, building Hotel Football across the road from Old Trafford long before Neville got a call to join the taskforce.
4 Comments
This is what pisses me off about this idea. Dont want a ground that hosts events . Hate that for the club. Wembley is the national ground and should stay that way. Old Trafford is our home and it’s what makes us unique . It’s our footballing home and nothing else! Really hate that our home ground could be turned into venues for NFL, Taylor swift, concerts etc … Hate that!
[Chris Wheeler and Liam Morgan]
A separate arena for the women’s and academy teams will not be part of the initial design to regenerate the area around a £2billion new Old Trafford stadium.
Mail Sport revealed last week that United have abandoned plans to scale down Old Trafford to a capacity of around 30,000 for the women and academy if they build a 100,000-seater ‘Wembley of the North’ next door because it would be too complex and costly.
A new stadium that could hold around 15,000 fans and be increased over time depending on demand is more realistic, and Gary Neville threw his support behind the idea when he spoke at the Labour Party conference on Monday.
‘It’s something the club definitely have to consider, having a stadium where the women’s team can play and call home,’ said Neville, who is a member of the Old Trafford stadium taskforce.
‘I spoke to a very prominent ex-England international about three months ago who said the women’s game is homeless. That’s not just at Manchester United, it’s across the country. I think Manchester United should look at a solution for that in the next five to 10 years.’
Although it remains part of United’s long-term vision, sources say it simply isn’t feasible to plan a second stadium while the club are trying to find ways of rebuilding Old Trafford without a penny of public funding.
As it is, United may still need to settle for a £1bn redevelopment of the existing stadium instead.
Sources also point out that the women’s team have a home at Leigh Sports Village where they are building up a fanbase, although the opening game against West Ham last weekend was played at Old Trafford.
United didn’t release an official attendance figure but it’s understood that a disappointing total of 12,000 tickets were sold.
Confidential revealed last week that all the fans were seated in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand, with the other three sides of the ground closed.
Meanwhile reporters covering the game were unhappy that they had to leave the stadium little more than an hour after the final whistle and work outside, even though coach Marc Skinner didn’t appear for his post-match press conference for almost 50 minutes.
New Old Trafford to take on Wembley to host boxing mega-fights
Manchester United’s plans to turn Old Trafford into the Wembley of the North would rival the national stadium for the right to stage boxing’s mega-fights.
A record post-war crowd of 96,000 packed into Wembley on Saturday night to see Anthony Joshua knocked out by Daniel Dubois in his latest sold-out appearance under the arch.
But United are confident that a new 100,000-seater stadium would be able to accommodate an even bigger crowd of 110,000, potentially turning Manchester into Britain’s big-fight capital.
United has long been a hotbed for boxing but Old Trafford hasn’t staged a fight since October 1993 when Nigel Benn fought Chris Eubank in the second instalment of their grudge match in front of 42,000 fans.
The MEN (now AO) Arena has staged some epic nights – not least when Ricky Hatton was in his pomp – but the capacity there is 21,000, and the new larger Co-op Live only holds 23,500.
A state-of-the-art Old Trafford would dwarf both arenas by some distance and give United the edge over Wembley as well.
The potential benefits for the region are huge after an assessment by Oxford Economics found that a new £2billion stadium would generate £7.3bn for the UK economy, 92,000 jobs and 1.8m visitors annually.
Sir Jim wants the new stadium to be his legacy. He will splash the cash.
Class of ’92 host class of ‘24
Plans for United’s Under 21s to play some games at Salford City this season is further evidence that the enduring bond with the Class of ’92 is only getting stronger after Gary Neville was included in the Old Trafford taskforce driving plans to rebuild or renovate the stadium.
The academy team will appear at the Peninsula Stadium for the first time next Tuesday in a Premier League International Cup tie against Hertha Berlin.
It’s hoped that the agreement with Salford will ease fixture congestion at Leigh Sports Village which the academy team usually share with United’s women’s team and rugby league side Leigh Leopards. As part of the link-up, the League Two club will use United’s Littleton Road training facility.
It is said to have been negotiated by Salford’s director of football Ryan Giggs, who co-owns the club with other Class of ’92 alumni David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers.
The former United stars have maintained a close relationship with the club, building Hotel Football across the road from Old Trafford long before Neville got a call to join the taskforce.