Manchester United officials looking at plans to expand Old Trafford capacity to 88,000 | Scrapped?

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Lennon7

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Acole9 said:
Why does the clubs official website need updating? There's nothing wrong with it.
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It hasn’t been updated in years, but you’re right there’s not much wrong with it. Must’ve been ahead of it’s time
 

Frank Grimes

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Arytonblue said:
None of these clubs were in the situation United are in. City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea all had or have smaller stadiums limited by their location(ie. surrounded by housing or roads) meaning they had no room to expand. For all these clubs (except City who were just given an already built council house) it was necessary to build brand new stadiums with bigger capacity, better location and room for possible expansion. Whereas Bayern and Juve both played in largely unsuitable stadiums that were built for hosting World Cups. They didn't have historic old stadiums to move from when they both built their new arenas, again very much understandable. Which brings the very obvious question of why this is needed for us? Old Trafford is already bigger than any other club ground in the country and is regarded as one of football's most famous stadiums. It's been the club's home for a hundred years, better yet it doesn't suffer anywhere near the limits other stadiums mentioned do so why is 'it time'?Being left behind? How exactly? I doubt anyone is opposed to expanding Old Trafford and here's a shocker, it has been several times over the last two decades, just over ten years ago the quadrants were completed, we're not talking eons here. Such large expansion takes a lot of time and planning, not to mention money. I would guess the South stand would have been expanded ala the North sooner had it not been for the railway line but to say we are 'falling behind' is a touch dramatic. Madrid and Barca have always had larger grounds than us if memory serves me correct.

The roof and legroom are just inherent qualities of the stadium and aren't so simple to change in a few weeks with some ladders and concrete. The slant of the roof is a remnant of when the North stand was expanded. Because it stood alone it had to be built in a cantilever design, as such the rest of the upper tier had to be at the same angle for symmetry. It's the same as complaining about the lopsidedness, the whole stadium was once entirely like the South Stand so it's not a shock that it's the only one that doesn't look like the rest now. Are people just ignoring how the stadium came to look like it does now? Also I've been up at the very top of the all three stands in matches and the only difference I saw was that the pitch was obviously further away. Whether the roof is tilted or not that's not changing, try going on the top tier at the Bernabeu and it's much the same. Being further away from the action is worse regardless of what ground you're at. Honestly a whole lot of these 'issues' just seem to be either complaints over aesthetic or tacked on things like TV screens, leg room or quirky features of a stadium that has expanded naturally over a century. Things like better toilets and elevators can be implemented and they don't require a whole new stadium that would cost umpteenth times more than a redevelopment or refurbishment. And I seriously wouldn't want to see us knock down Old fecking Trafford all for some Emirates knock off either.
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Good post.
 

Regulus Arcturus Black

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Acole9 said:
I've been up at the very top of the all three stands in matches and the only difference I saw was that the pitch was obviously further away. Whether the roof is tilted or not that's not changing, try going on the top tier at the Bernabeu and it's much the same. Being further away from the action is worse regardless of what ground you're at.
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The rest of the post was spot on, but this is way off @Arytonblue. The problem with the slanted roof doesn't have anything to do with being away from the action, it's the huge disconnection from large parts of stadium/fan base.

For me the roof is undoubtedly the single most important renovation the ground requires. Large chunks of our stadium can't even see when Stretty tier 2 is rocking ffs.




If you put on a new roof, the entire stadium opens up to itself and will make for a much better matchday experience and atmosphere. See the example below:

 
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Acole9

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Regulus Arcturus Black said:
The rest of the post was spot on, but this is way off @Acole9. The problem with the slanted roof doesn't have anything to do with being away from the action, it's the huge disconnection from large parts of stadium/fan base.

For me the roof is undoubtedly the single most important renovation the ground requires. Large chunks of our stadium can't even see when Stretty tier 2 is rocking ffs.




If you put on a new roof, the entire stadium opens up to itself and will make for a much better matchday experience and atmosphere. See the example below:

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I didn't say any of that, I think you're getting me muddled up with someone else.
 

Big Andy

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Another tier and quadrants on the South Stand, new roof throughout that allows full views across OT, new cladding to the outside of the stadium.

You're looking at a fair whack for that...but that's what's needed...just re-skin the stadium in light up panels like the Allianz Arena...
 

Plato

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Big Andy said:
Another tier and quadrants on the South Stand, new roof throughout that allows full views across OT, new cladding to the outside of the stadium.

You're looking at a fair whack for that...but that's what's needed...just re-skin the stadium in light up panels like the Allianz Arena...
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We need something that makes it unique to set it apart from the other modern bowls though.

Something like a huge arch, but obviously not a huge arch because Wembley already has that.

Regulus Arcturus Black said:
You said "I've been up at the very top of the all three stands in matches and the only difference I saw was that the pitch was obviously further away".

To which I said, well that aint the "only" difference, the huge difference is that at the top of these 2 stands, you are completely cut off from other sections of the fan base.
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Did they actually say that or has the site somehow muddled his post up with someone else's because it shows a different post when you click on the quote in your post.
 

Big Andy

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Plato said:
We need something that makes it unique to set it apart from the other modern bowls though.

Something like a huge arch, but obviously not a huge arch because Wembley already has that.
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Loads of strands of thin wire hanging across the stadium, like Sir Bobby's old combover?
 

Infra-red

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Big Andy said:
Another tier and quadrants on the South Stand, new roof throughout that allows full views across OT, new cladding to the outside of the stadium.

You're looking at a fair whack for that...but that's what's needed...just re-skin the stadium in light up panels like the Allianz Arena...
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I believe the renovations Real Madrid and Barcelona are carrying out on their stadiums are costing around £360m each. Real Madrid's plans include a new retractable roof but no expansion of seating capacity. Barcelona's plans include an expansion of 6,228 seats.

United are reportedly looking at a more substantial expansion. If you factor in a new roof AND new skin for the stadium, plus the difficulties posed by the train line, it's not unreasonable to conclude that the type of renovation you're proposing would cost substantially more than that £360m figure. I do agree though, it is needed.
 

simonhch

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Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Sorry what was timley about that pic of a brand new stadium currently being built in Russia?
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I think he posted it because it's not a brand new stadium. It's an old stadium that in order to be expanded they've actually built seating outside and cut a hole in the wall. It's obviously preposterous in every conceivable way. Yet will be used at the World Cup.

I assume it was a joke.
 

Steven7290

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SqueakyWeasel said:
what club site do you think is the most "current" and a good model to follow, out of interest. Any sport worldwide. Sounds like a new thread to me actually …
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Honestly I have no idea since I can't be bother to go onto any other club's site. Although, a quick 5 minute tour around the American football team's official sites already proved my point. Can't say I like them overall though, just the multimedia aspect of it.
 

Frank Grimes

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Surprised some here are talking like we've neglected our stadium, we haven't. No other club has been more active in developing their current stadium in Premier League history. Sure, because of this there has been design flaws but we have still managed to pretty much double our capacity (from original all seater capacity).
Our next phase of development should be building the South stand and exploring if we can fix the slanted roof situation. If we can do this then we have one of the finest football grounds in all of football, in our real home too.
 
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Oneunited26

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Frank Grimes said:
Surprised some here are talking like we've neglected our stadium, we haven't. No other club has been more active in developing their current stadium in Premier League history. Sure, because of this there has been design flaws but we have still managed to pretty much double our capacity (from original all seater capacity).
Our next phase of development should be building the South stand and exploring if we can fix the slanted roof situation. If we can do this then we have one of the finest football grounds in all of football, in our real home too.
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I agree

For me the club needs to take its time, the most important part get that south stand completed to finish the bowl off, once that is done next phase would be perhaps get the roof sorted, and perhaps look to totally update the stadium to bring OT up to speed even more, but for now lets pump the breaks slow down and finish that south stand. For me the 2 sides of the stadium need to be re designed give the stadium a better balance, but for now I say we not only upgrade the south stand, but really put magic into that stand, the VIP and what not. At the moment Real Madrid do have the best stadium in club football which is about to get to the next level. Hopefully within 10 to 20 years OT also gets this treatment. I do think OT once was the best club stadium in the UK, but it has fallen behind
 

decorativeed

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Acole9 said:
Why does the clubs official website need updating? There's nothing wrong with it.
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It's about 15 years old, the look, the width, the navigation, the word limits for articles are all massively outdated. It's also built with Flash (which is being phased out) rather than HTML5 and some browsers already block those elements automatically. Every other club/business of United's size moves with the time and is constantly improving their site to make the most of the latest technology and people's browsing requirements and habits, but we've had this awful site for over a decade.

Look at this page for example: http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...is-now-even-better-than-gianluigi-buffon.aspx
Loads of content hidden by default as you're required to use a scroller within the page itself, but there's acres of dead space to the right of it. Awful.
 

Eli Zee

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Judge Red said:
Timely.

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Are there no side railings at the tops of those seats? Looks like a falll waiting to happen. Of course, I assume they will definitely add those in (looks like it's still under construction?)
 

Jazmodo

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In mother Russia, football watches you!

In all seriousness though we need to fix or roof & expand....
 
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