Redeveloping Old Trafford.

A

Angus

Well-known member

Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to start a conversation about using public money to possibly redevelop Old Trafford.

Hopefully it will be a very short conversation, surely no one would be stupid enough to countenance spending public money to allow a billionaire to build a new ground so that his players earning 300k per week can have the best facilities.
 
It wouldn't be the first time a Premier League Club has benefitted from public money being used to build a stadium. Man City obviously benefitted from their stadium being built predominantly with tax payer money to host the Commonwealth Games. Man City only paid a fraction of the cost at the time.

If there's a genuine benefit to the local or even wider northern population then I can see why some sort of Government investment could be justified.
 
It' the American model but it won't work here because our clubs aren't franchises that can just move. In the States the teams get the cities to build a stadium to attract a team. That team brings a lot of money into the city and the stadium is used for other things like events and concerts etc which over time will see more investment ant cash flowing into the city so can be seen as a worthwhile use of public funds (it's probably not but that is their argument). Manchester already has Utd and City plus arenas and other stadiums etc so there would be no benefit to spending money on a new stadium unless it had quadruple the capacity of Old Trafford that would bring meaningful extra numbers in.
 
Angus said:

Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to start a conversation about using public money to possibly redevelop Old Trafford.

Hopefully it will be a very short conversation, surely no one would be stupid enough to countenance spending public money to allow a billionaire to build a new ground so that his players earning 300k per week can have the best facilitie
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Is this for real ? It needs to be a very short conversation… not sure who this also ran club think they are these days…other clubs getting on modernising- no doubt at huge cost- I thought they believe themselves to the biggest club in the world. It’s a preposterous idea..
 
He just wants to get the conversation about having games away from Wembley out into the open rather than
just proclamations from the FA which say it's not possible. He knows the government won't give the funding and the general conversation will be like this , people getting angry about taxes, but what will happen is that the Government will say something supportive about helping spread the games away from Wembley and will 'encourage' the 'FA to do so. Let's hope if labour get in they take up this cause as well.
 
I don't think anyone would argue that Wembley Stadium should have been built either in the North or the Midlands to allow for easier access for everyone, and for that reason, I feel there should be a national stadium built in a northern major city. I do not agree though that it should be paid out of tax payers money and feel if such an adventure was undertaken, the Premier League, The Football Association and English Football League should pick up the bill.

The issue with that scenario is, everyone would want a new stadium built for them.
 
B_G said:
It wouldn't be the first time a Premier League Club has benefitted from public money being used to build a stadium. Man City obviously benefitted from their stadium being built predominantly with tax payer money to host the Commonwealth Games. Man City only paid a fraction of the cost at the time.

If there's a genuine benefit to the local or even wider northern population then I can see why some sort of Government investment could be justified.
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Let’s not forget the London Stadium which is costing the tax payer £10m plus a year
 
They need a new stadium and he's just trying to convince the FA to help build it for them. I imagine it will be a quick no I assume as they want to maximise revenue at the actual Wembley that cost them a fortune to build
 
Perhaps if we didn't have a crumbling NHS, schools falling apart and families unable to eat then what he says could have some value, but in the current economic circumstances this request (no matter what the revenue generated out the back of it) should be dismissed out of hand.
 
Air Resistance said:
Let’s not forget the London Stadium which is costing the tax payer £10m plus a year
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Also had that in mind but slightly different in that it's leased and still owned by the tax payer isn't it?

Aren't England matches and FA Cup Semi-Finals + Final all committed to Wembley. Wasn't this required to secure the funding?
 
Humphrey Cushion said:
Is this for real ? It needs to be a very short conversation… not sure who this also ran club think they are these days…other clubs getting on modernising- no doubt at huge cost- I thought they believe themselves to the biggest club in the world. It’s a preposterous idea..
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For real. He was on the BBC. News. last night talking about it. He is trying nto justify it as the "National Stadium for the North". The north's own Wembley. The major difference is Wembley belongs to no particular club. He is so transparent in his agenda.
 
Non starter for the FA to get involved. They are still financing wembley so anything that dilutes the revenue they get from using it will be a no go.
 
We would need to rely on Transpennine Express to get there. That's almost literally a non-starter. Those in the South could use HS2 but I'm not sure how they get past Birmingham.
 
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