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The refurbishment or rebuilding of a new stadium is a question that has surrounded Manchester United for years, as Old Trafford has fallen into serious decline.
Ignored for years by the Glazer family, new part owners INEOS were keen to address this issue and Sir Jim Ratcliffe has discussed his preference in interviews about building a “Wembley of the North” to rival the best stadiums in the world.
INEOS set about this by creating a taskforce to discuss different proposals and the best way forward for improving United’s outdated stadium.
Frustratingly for many fans, it seems that no decision will be made in the near future as a report came out yesterday saying that the taskforce aim to make a decision by the end of the calendar year.
However, should Sir Jim get his way and a huge new arena is built, United have a big problem to fix according to The Athletic.
If the club’s aim is to create a stadium to hold 90,000 plus people, “they need to significantly improve transport links to and from the stadium.”
“In its current state, the roads around Old Trafford are clogged on matchdays, car parking is too limited, and the tram capacity is already stretched.” Subsequently, this creates mass problems for the local residents when United play at home.
One potential solution would be turning the rail freight terminal beside the stadium into a train station that could connect Old Trafford to other parts of Manchester, and consequently transport fans to and from the stadium on match days.
“The club already has a train stop behind the South Stand, known as the Old Trafford Halt, but it has not been in use since December 2017 after United requested it be closed down due to security concerns,” the report continues. This is due to security measures around sporting events being tightened and it being impossible to check people before they arrive at the ground.
“But if the freight terminal site was to be turned into a new railway station, it is such a large space that there would be room to check people between them disembarking from the trains and entering the stadium.”
If this proves unfeasible and United cannot find another solution, it won’t stop redevelopment or rebuilding but it would seriously limit their ability to enhance the stadium’s capacity.
In an era where matchday revenue will be even more important due to PSR concerns, INEOS will see a significant increase in the number of fans they can fit into the ground as an absolute must.
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