Amid the excitement of the summer transfer window, Manchester United are also tailoring the plans for their biggest move. Last week, United confirmed they will be building their new 100,000 seater stadium, 350 metres away from the current Old Trafford. The new site, will sit on land recently purchased from Indurent.
Announcing the relocation, CEO of the stadium development Collette Roche said: “Was it a big decision to be 350 metres further away from Old Trafford? No, because quite simply we’re in Old Trafford, which is really important. But going back to what’s more important to us is that we can’t disrupt what we’re doing today.
“We’ve got ambitious plans for the club, we want to win football matches. Being 350 metres away for the next four or five years, or however long it takes to build a stadium, is going to be really important because if it’s too close, it will be disruptive.”
“So there’s pros and cons to that,” Manchester United Supporters Trust’s (MUST) communication director Chris Rumfitt told MEN Sport when this aspect of the new stadium was put to him. “The big advantage of not being on the same footprint is obviously it means you can build one stadium before you demolish the other one.
“So you don’t have to look at interim options like some London clubs have. I think we’ve had both Arsenal and Tottenham at times having to play league matches at Wembley, which I think has been a pretty unsatisfactory experience.
“And in the north west, it’s even harder because there isn’t a Wembley. There is not a neutral ground to go to. So the thought of having to play somewhere else; dare I even think about going across town to the other lot, it was always pretty unthinkable.”
But Old Trafford is more than just bricks and mortar to matchgoing supporters. To MUST’s members, who are split on the decision to leave the Theatre of Dreams, playing on the same pitch as the likes of Duncan Edwards, George Best, Eric Cantona and Bryan Robson, remains important.
“I think people would, in an ideal world, prefer to have been a bit more adjacent, a bit like the Tottenham ground,” Rumfitt added. “It really is literally adjacent to White Hart Lane. It’s as near as it can without being exactly the same bit of land.
“This is, what 350 metres, they say, away. It means things like going to the Bishop’s Blaize or The Trafford, the two nearest pubs, suddenly aren’t actually right on the doorstep of the stadium and you’ve got a good 5-10 minute walk to the ground from those pubs.
“For some clubs, the experience of moving has gone better than others. And if we are going to be asked to go along with it, I think they need to work harder to show fans the benefits of doing so and the fact that maybe their worst fears need not come to pass.”
And it is those fears that were not eased any further when the topic of debt was raised. Roche urged supporters not to become ‘over-obsessed’ by the thought of United racking up more debt to build the new stadium.
“This is a really important issue for us and the club can say, don’t over obsess about the debt. Well, the club have laid £1bn of debt on itself. They’re the ones who created a situation where people obsess about the debt,” Rumfitt responded. “We’re not taking that. We’re not taking that from them. We are going to focus on the debt.”
United are currently in £1.3bn of debt and initial estimates were for the stadium to cost £2bn, although Roche was unable to confirm if that was still the case.
“Our view is that the best way they could finance a new stadium… There’ll be a number of sources of money. We are realistic. But one way they should finance the new stadium is by issuing new shares and letting fans buy them,” he continued.
“So rather than debt, you have equity and fans can build up a stake in the club via that. Now that’s not going to finance a whole £2bn, we realise that, but you could finance a good amount of money through that sort of model.
“And certainly any big increase in debt is something we’re going to be watching very carefully, especially if it’s the sort of debt which holds us back in the transfer market.
“If we didn’t have the £1bn of debt, that they’ve imposed on the club in the first place, then [adding it] to build the stadium is perfectly sensible. Like the mortgage on your house. I agree, it’s a different sort of debt because it’s debt matched against an asset, which generates revenue.
“If our starting position wasn’t £1bn of unnecessary debt, then we’d be a lot more open to taking on this more legitimate form of debt.”
Protecting the atmosphere and heritage of Manchester United, 350 metres away and scrutinising how the new stadium will be funded, are among the priorities for MUST when further fan consultations take place, as will ticket prices and the potential introduction of personal seat licenses that allow fans to pay a one-time, up-front sum, to give them the right to purchase a season ticket. MUST are united in opposing this season ticket model.
The club insists fans will be consulted throughout the process, but from MUST’s perspective, plenty more needs to be done before United get their backing for this venture.
“Fans are quite split down the middle. And I think the reason they are split down the middle is because so far the club really hasn’t provided enough information to allow fans to make a settled view,” Rumfitt concluded.
“Fans really want to know that the preservation of the atmosphere of Old Trafford is prioritised. That we don’t see a huge increase in ticket prices because of the new stadium. And that the sort of traditional match going fan base is prioritised and looked after if we are going to move to a new stadium.”
And the reason why it is such a strong conference is the strength of the coaches leading each program.
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