Man United stadium Q&A: How lengthy will it take to construct? Is this the ultimate design? And will there be a Stretford End? Everything it is advisable know after Sir Jim Ratcliffe unveiled £2bn masterplan

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has vowed to make it the ‘world’s greatest football stadium’. 

A 100,000-capacity venue for Manchester United to replace their iconic Old Trafford home.

The first conceptual designs were unveiled in London this week at the headquarters of Foster + Partners and raised many questions. 

Mail Sport heard the answers from Ratcliffe, Sir Norman Foster, senior members of the United hierarchy and the chief architects leading the project.

When is work going to start?

United are hoping to start this year but it will depend on acquiring additional land next to Old Trafford and the government and local authority agreeing to fund a wider regeneration of the surrounding area that could boost the UK economy by £7.3bn-a-year, create 92,000 jobs, 17,000 homes and attract an additional 1.8million visitors annually.

Speaking in London, Ratcliffe said: ‘It depends how quickly the government get going on the regeneration programme. They seem enthusiastic and want to see progress in this (election) term.’

How long will it take?

The club believe they can reduce the build time to five years and be playing in the new stadium by the 2030-31 season. They hope to speed up the process by building pre-fabricated chunks off site and transporting them down the Manchester Ship Canal.

‘Normally a stadium would take 10 years to build. We halve that time to five years,’ says Lord Foster. ‘How do we do that? By pre-fabrication. By using the network of Manchester Ship Canal. By bringing it back to a new life. Shipping in components, 160 of them, Meccano like.’

United chief operating officer Collette Roche echoes Ratcliffe’s point that some elements are out of United’s control.

‘I think what Jim said is that it’s all predicated on planning permission and how quickly the local authority can work,’ says Roche. ‘It could be done quite quickly as long as the local council and government supports us in that and moves it forward.

‘We’re looking at ways we can work with them to make it as smooth and quick as possible.

One of the things we are establishing is a mayoral development corporation, that gives a lot of rights to speed these things through.’

Where will it be built?

The new stadium will be constructed next to Old Trafford on the car parks behind the Stretford End and land that is currently used as a freight rail terminal.

The mayoral development corporation has the power to acquire and develop land, although it’s hoped there won’t be any need for a compulsory purchase order for United to buy the freight terminal.

Talks with Freightliner are said to be going well and any issues revolve around the company getting government help to move to a new location at Port Salford or Parkside. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has suggested that the cost of moving the Freightliner operation will be between £200-300m.

‘I am not suggesting that is the route we want to go down,’ says Roche. ‘We are looking and working with all the local people around the area to try and build a plan that works for them and us. Up to now, all the local landholders have been positive and have engaged with us about how we can make it happen.

‘Part of us doing this is around the benefit for the wider region and not just Manchester United.’

How big will it be?

The new stadium will be 51.3m high, 272m long and 238m wide with a pitch built 15.9m below ground level.

It will have a capacity of 100,000 with 55.7% of fans in the upper tier, 12.8% in the middle tier and 31.5 per cent in the lower tier. Hospitality will make up 15.5% of the ground.

Architect Patrick Campbell says: ‘The most important thing is that the first piece was football, about making this the most atmospheric bowl in the world, the finest football stadium in the world. It’s about acoustics, sightlines, proximity to the pitch. All of those different things.’

Will there still be a Stretford End?

Yes. It will have 23,500 seats (950 less than the famous Yellow Wall at Borussia Dortmund) with 12,440 in the lower tier and 11,060 in the upper tier.

How did Foster + Partners come up with the tent design with the three masts representing the Red Devil’s trident holding up a giant canopy?

Inspired by the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the master-planners wanted to design an iconic structure that was suitable for Manchester’s wet climate.

Architect Nigel Dancey says: ‘When you look at stadiums, they are pretty much always fortresses. Our idea was to really open it up and to do that with the roof and have these covered spaces.

‘With there being 136 days of rain here, we thought it to be important to get people under this covered space quickly.

‘Well, how do you do a structure for that. The verticality of the mast helps. To be to be fair, the trident came later. We’d already designed the stadium and then somebody went: “Hey, you know, that looks a bit like …”.

‘We had a meeting back on December 17 with lots of ideas. We had a great session with Norman Foster and also with Jim (Ratcliffe). There was a feeling that this really was the most iconic stadium we could do, and would offer something for Manchester which was appropriate for the climate.’

How big are the three masts?

The main mast, which could feasibly accommodate a viewing platform, is 200m high and the other two 150m (Blackpool Tower is 158m). 

They will be visible from a distance of 37.4km, which means they could be seen from Liverpool on a clear day.

Will the canopy be made of glass to cure Old Trafford’s notoriously leaky roof?

A final decision has yet to be made, but it won’t be glass. The designers are still weighing up the options in terms of weight, maintenance and water retention.

It’s is likely to be synthetic – either ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (etfe) or polytetrafluoroethylene (ptfe), both of which are waterproof and resistant to high temperatures. They are described as ‘lighter, thinner and acoustically invisible’.

The canopy will be 417m long and 333m wide covering a total area of 104,068m2. It will extend 61,007m2 beyond the stadium and the Eastern Plaza itself will be 26,658m2, twice the size of Times Square in New York.

Lord Foster says: ‘As you move away from the stadium, it’s not a fortress surrounded by a sea of cars. It’s open and it’s contained by an umbrella that harnesses solar energy, that harnesses rainwater but it’s protective and encloses arguably the largest public space in the world.’

Is this the final design?

It has been described as conceptual at this stage but Ratcliffe is said to be very happy with it, describing it as famous landmark comparable to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Some people will have a different view and one fans’ group has already described it as a ‘circus-like tourist attraction’.

Architect Patrick Campbell says: ‘Conversations engagement and consultation are a vital part of the process. Obviously we’re at a stage out where this is still the grand unveil. I think everyone’s talking about this as the beginning of the process. We really want to continue those conversations.

‘The idea is to create a local and global destination everyone is proud of and feels part of. This is the idea we have come up with so far.’

What about transport?

The roads around Old Trafford are notoriously busy on matchdays with surveys showing that 65 per cent of fans travel to the stadium by car.

‘We all recognise that needs to change,’ says Campbell. ‘We need to encourage people to think about alternative means of transport.’

There are plans to reopen the Old Trafford Station beneath the existing stadium which was decommissioned for safety reasons and take greater advantage of the tram network. Lord Foster has talked about rebuilding it to become ‘the pivot, the processional way to the stadium’.

Campbell adds: ‘We’re talking about 15 minutes from the centre of one of the most exciting cities on the planet, connected with tram stations and potentially a new train station.’

For fans who still want to drive to the stadium, new car parks will be built with consideration being given to multi-story and underground options.

How much will the stadium cost?

The total cost will be around £2billion. United will pay for the stadium and any elements of the stadium district that benefit them directly, such as the megastore and fan zones.

They are relying on public funding for the rest of the project and the wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that she is backing the plans.

Chief executive Omar Berrada says: ‘We won’t be asking for taxpayer money to fund the stadium. But, at the same time, the new build, does not make sense in isolation, if there’s not an investment in the wider generation project.’

Ratcliffe is more blunt. ‘With a regeneration project of this scale, it needs to have a catalyst or a nucleus, otherwise it just becomes a new housing estate or shopping centre,’ he says.

Why is Old Trafford costing so much when Tottenham only paid £1.2bn?

Tottenham’s home is seen as the benchmark for stadia in the UK, so it’s fair to ask why United’s new stadium will cost roughly twice as much.

Berrada explains: ‘Since Spurs built their stadium, there has been a high inflation. Energy prices have gone up and inflation has impacted all areas of the economy. That’s been factored into the cost of the stadium.’

How can Sir Jim Ratcliffe warn on Monday that United would have gone bust by Christmas and then unveil a new stadium on Tuesday?

United are still the highest-earning club in the world in terms of EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization), but huge debt and operating losses have contributed to an overall loss of more than £300m over the last three years.

Ratcliffe hopes that his cost-cutting measures will make United profitable again within two to three years, and the stadium will become a huge source of income in future.

Berrada says: ‘The way the club was tracking, with all the losses that have been accumulated, was not sustainable.

‘So all the plans we’ve been putting in place over the last months really address the short-term issue. Once we stop losing money, we then put ourselves in the best financial position to continue investing in our team and also to allow us to be able to have the ambition to build a new stadium.’

Would United consider selling naming rights to the new stadium?

That is one of the options being discussed. United could also have an overall stadium sponsor and then have separate deals within the complex, like the SoFi which has the American Airlines Plaza and YouTube Theatre.

‘It’s all on the table,’ says Berrada. ‘We think it is quite a unique opportunity in the world of football for such an iconic stadium of the size that we’re talking about to be built.

‘So we think we will have an enormous amount of partnership opportunities. Ultimately we like brands that can help us to improve the fan experience within the stadium.

‘What we do know is that there is already an enormous amount of interest in big brands wanting to associate with ours and the new stadium. You can have a sponsor for the fan zone and sponsors for certain hospitality areas.

‘Whether that integration comes with the stadium naming rights opportunity or not, it needs to be discussed.’

Will United be able to fill the stadium to its 100,000 capacity?

Despite the club’s popularity and massive global fanbase, there have been occasions this season when tickets have gone on general sale which is almost unprecedented.

United were advertising tickets for Thursday night’s Europa League tie against Real Sociedad on the day of the game and the attendance of 73,189 was slightly below capacity.

But Roche is confident there won’t be any problem selling out the new stadium with an extra 25,000 fans.

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘At the moment our season-ticket waiting list is 170,000. Even now with the current situation we are in, we are selling out.

‘We’ve put a lot of policies in place that allow our members to access tickets as well. We’re really confident we’ve got the demand that we need.’

Will tickets still be affordable for the traditional fan-base?

Ticket prices have become an increasingly hot topic among United fans after Ratcliffe put them up to £66 for members and scrapped concessions for children and pensioners.

It is anticipated that an increase in season-ticket prices will be an announced next week despite pleas from the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust to freeze them and a demonstration by thousands of fans organised by protest group The 1958 before last Sunday’s game at home to Arsenal.

‘For the current stadium, we are still working through what we are going to do for next season,’ says Roche. ‘Jim gave you an idea of the direction of travel, but we are not ready to announce it yet.

‘The big advantage of increasing the capacity to 100,000 is that we’ll be able to have more flexibility to accommodate our core fans as well as fans who can maybe only come twice a season. And we’ll be able to offer a range of products.’

Berrada insists the protests have not been ignored by the United hierarchy. ‘It does come into our thinking,’ he says. ‘We have spent a lot of time consulting with fan groups. They have been very robust with their suggestions, which we appreciate and have taken on board.

‘It has been a very constructive process and has helped frame our thinking about where we are going to land on pricing.’

Will the new stadium be designed to host other sports and concerts by having a retractable pitch for instance?

Tottenham’s home was built specifically with hosting NFL games in mind, even down to having separate, larger dressing-rooms for the American teams to those used by Spurs.

United are still weighing up their options, but there is an understanding that football must come first.

‘So we are still working through the financial side of the planning,’ says Berrada. ‘It’s not very clear at this stage about the cost of having a retractable pitch, and everything that comes with it being financially justifiable.’

The architects are keeping an open mind while those decisions are made. Campbell says: ‘The most important thing is making this the finest football stadium in the world, and then also understanding what are the possibilities for flexibility over the long seasons or outside the season.

‘How could we incorporate concerts? How could we incorporate all sorts of other sporting events? And how could we perhaps do that with pitch technology now, during football season as well?’

Dancey adds: ‘The most important thing is the we don’t want to get to a situation where you can’t have a football match because you pre-booked a concert.

‘So you want football to come first and I think in the summertime there’s enough weeks for Coldplay or Taylor Swift, whoever they want, to turn up and play the concerts.’

Why did United decide to build a new stadium rather than renovate Old Trafford?

It has been clear for some time that Ratcliffe’s preference was to go for a newbuild.

A refurbishment of Old Trafford would still have cost about £1bn, but been far less beneficial to United in the long-term. The current 74,000 capacity would only have risen to around 87,000 and United would have had to reduce it – or play somewhere else altogether – while work was going on.

The issue of redeveloping the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, which backs up against the rail track, continues to pose logistical problems, and there would not have been the same sponsorship and corporate opportunities.

What will happen to Old Trafford?

United did consider keeping the stadium and reducing the capacity to 30,000 so the women’s and academy teams could play on site next to the new ground. However, the cost of this would still have run into hundreds of millions, and it now appears to be a remote possibility. If it is torn down, Old Trafford will take about a year to deconstruct.

‘We haven’t made a decision on it yet but I’d say it’s unlikely,’ admits Berrada. ‘It’s not off the table. It’s feasible but we have to find the best ways to finance a new stadium and we’re thinking about this in the context of how can it benefit the wider regeneration project.

‘If we feel the space where Old Trafford currently is can be used in a different way whilst preserving the history of it then we’ll explore it.’

So would the women be able to play at the new stadium?

United’s women’s team currently play their home games 15 miles away at Leigh Sports Village. It’s hoped that the stadium would be flexible enough to accommodate smaller crowds without exposing too many empty spaces.

Roche says: ‘There’s technology now that can still give you the sense of a smaller, great atmospheric stadium which we think could be befitting the women’s team with a smaller crowd.

‘That’s the type of thing we’re looking at. We’re looking at technology that will allow us to use it for the men’s team and the women’s team.’

Berrada has a more bullish approach, backing the women’s team to grow in popularity substantially over the next five years before the grand opening.

‘Our ambition is for the women’s team to have a big enough fan-base that they’re playing in the main stadium, not in a smaller capacity stadium,’ he says.

‘We want to do is grow our fan-base for the women’s team so we can have more games at Old Trafford with attendances of 40-50,000.’

What are the plans for the statues around Old Trafford and the Munich tunnel and clock commemorating the 1958 Air Disaster?

Designers are planning to relocate the Trinity Statue of Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law so it faces the stadium, as it does now.

It is likely to be situated on the ‘procession’ which will be the main access to the stadium based on Wembley Way.

Campbell says: ‘The Trinity sculpture addresses the stadium as it does today. We think it’s a really powerful and proud centrepiece of heritage and history. So we think it should it should be somewhere in this location.’

Plans for the statues of Sir Matt Busby, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jimmy Murphy and United’s other historical artefacts are unclear, but the club have been working with focus groups to ensure they are preserved in the new design.

Will United be able to play at Old Trafford throughout the entire five-year project?

Yes, and that was another compelling factor in opting for a new stadium. The club aim to leave the section of the new stadium closest to Old Trafford as the last piece of the jigsaw so as to limit the impact on matchday activities and allow fans to circulate around the ground.

Might there be a temporary reduction in capacity? ‘Not necessarily no,’ says Roche. ‘That’s what we are working through at the moment.

‘The build will be done in a phased way to allow that to be the last part, but circulation is critical from a safety perspective and we wouldn’t be able to operate that stadium and build the other one without making sure that’s in place.’