Manchester United may be experiencing one of the most chastening seasons in its recent history, but the club is planning for a much brighter future.
On Tuesday, the 13-time Premier League champion announced it will be pursuing a new 100,000-seat home which minority owner, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, promised would be the “world’s greatest football stadium.”
The club’s current ground, Old Trafford, was once considered the among the best stadiums in world soccer, but it is now in dire need of improvement after years of stagnation.
Ratcliffe has previously spoken about creating a “national stadium in the North” which would serve both the Red Devils as well as host other major games, such as the Champions League final and national team fixtures.
“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport,” Ratcliffe added in a club statement about the new stadium.
“By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience only footsteps from our historic home.”
World-renowned architect Norman Foster, who is leading the new design, described it as “one of the most exciting projects in the world today.”
“It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar,” he added.
It comes as part of the UK government’s wider regeneration project of the city, which promises social and economic renewal of the surrounding area.
The announcement will come as good news to fans, who have had very little to cheer about in recent months.
United is currently languishing 14th in the Premier League and is on track to finish in its lowest league position in decades.
Off the pitch, the new hierachy is attempting to turn around a dire financial situation, with the club heavily in debt.
In a recent interview with former United star Gary Neville, who is part of the task-force for the new stadium project, Ratcliffe said the club would “run out of money” by November if things didn’t change.
As a result, the club has announced several cost-cutting measures which have proved very unpopular with fans – including hundreds of job losses.
In addition to the job cuts, the club has also taken the decision to end free lunches for staff, reduce executive bonuses and stop donations to certain charitable causes, according to Reuters.
“We can’t put our head in the sand, we have to deal with the problem and it’s a big problem, not a small problem,” Ratlciffe said on The Overlap, in his interview with Neville.
‘Not good enough’ and ‘overpaid’
In another wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport, which was also published the day before the new stadium announcement, Ratcliffe backed new manager Ruben Amorim to turn around the team’s form.
He also admitted the previous regime had made a number of mistakes that have led to poor recruitment decisions which are still costing the club today.
He named the likes of Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund, André Onana, Antony and Jadon Sancho as players the club has inherited and will be paying for again this summer, due to the makeup of the previous deals.
Without naming exactly which players he was referring to, Ratcliffe also said some players “are not good enough and some probably are overpaid.”
He added: “But for us to mold the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time.”
“We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future.”
