Manchester United chiefs issue call to government for support
Manchester United chiefs have called on the government to support construction in the region as the club looks to build a new stadium.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe appointed Lord Norman Foster to design a new stadium for Manchester United as they look to move on from a crumbling Old Trafford.
It is set to seat 100,000 fans and include three towers, the tallest of which will be seen from the Liverpool Metropolitan Area.
And the club’s chief operating officer Collette Roche has called upon government funding to be part of the wider project.
“There’s no point building the best and biggest stadium in the UK and it being on an island where you can’t get to it because the transport links aren’t there,” she said, “or people can’t come on a non-match day, or local businesses can’t be part of.”
Manchester United support
It has been reported that Manchester United have been close to finalising a deal to acquire land adjacent to the plot they already own. This land will form part of the non-stadium regeneration, in a project some say could contribute over £7bn annually to the UK economy.
Ratcliffe is said to have been doing the rounds looking for funding for the project, while previous efforts from the Ineos billionaire saw the minority owner call for government help with the project.
But any plans that would see central refunding used for the stadium have been slammed by a number of parties, given the wealth of Ratcliffe and his business partners the Glazer family.
“It’s not just a Manchester United vision, it’s a vision for the region, it’s a vision for Trafford and it’s a vision for Manchester, and that’s why [Mayor] Andy Burnham and Trafford Council are really keen to work with us,” Roche told the We Built This City podcast.
“It’s become a regional project and probably will be one of the biggest in Europe. As such, it’s bigger than us at Manchester United. So, we needed to get support and work with a lot of stakeholders across Manchester and central government.
“So our ask of the government is that they support, not the stadium build, but support the infrastructure and the regeneration of the area.
“And when we’ve looked at it really closely, it actually ticks so many boxes for the government around their growth strategy. So it’s very easy for us to use this as a catalyst to help deliver the government plans.”