Mitten: Manchester United MUST put money back into Old Trafford

GE

Negative Moaning Mentalist
Joined
Jun 17, 2004
Messages
15,530
Location
United Kingdom
I agree with the article. Madrid and Barca's plans they unveiled look fantastic. Why can't we undergo a complete revamp? I'm all for tradition, but Old Trafford looks a little dated with all these new build stadiums and popping up all over the place.


 

The Argentinean

New Member
Newbie
Joined
May 10, 2017
Messages
129
Location
Argentina
Supports
Supports compatriots in Europe
Aren't all american owners cheap when it comes to putting money back on your investment?
Maximize profit, Minimize cost is the name of the game
 

Harry190

Bobby ten Hag
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
7,619
Location
Canada
Should bring Cologne fans every match. Won't fix anything, but will make you forget about the problems.
 

MittenCrab

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Messages
52
I may be misremembering this, but didn't the club once own most of the houses behind the main stand only to sell them on again? If true, then surely it's a matter of when, not if, we build a new ground.

Whether this is good or bad depends on the design. Needs to be something unique that nods to the club's past, but improves facilities, capacity and atmosphere.

Given most of the stadium isn't much older than Rashford, I struggle to find the idea of building a new ground next to the existing one the heresy some fans seem to.
 

Shane88

Actually Nostradamus
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
35,263
Location
Targaryen loyalist
I agree with the article. Madrid and Barca's plans they unveiled look fantastic. Why can't we undergo a complete revamp? I'm all for tradition, but Old Trafford looks a little dated with all these new build stadiums and popping up all over the place.


I'm all for it. Knock it down and build a super stadium.
 

Big Andy

Bloke
Joined
Oct 23, 2003
Messages
34,673
All this "It's impossible to build over a train line" shit pisses me off...

It's not the 1980's...they can build pretty much anything over anything these days...construction techniques are sufficiently advanced these days that it wouldn't be cost restrictive to do it...
 

Nate Dogg

Don't Make Me Angry
Joined
Mar 6, 2002
Messages
8,744
Location
UK
The stadium is lob sided/out dated in many aspects, firstly South Stand is needs knocking down and rebuilding so its in line with the other stands.

Also who did the corners adjacent to North Stand, it should be reported to cowboy builders as it looks shocking?

Furthermore the whole stadium needs a somewhat reskin as aesthetically it's not nice viewing, in particular the white metal structure support for the roofs.
 

DomesticTadpole

Doom-monger obsessed with Herrera & the M.E.N.
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
101,421
Location
Barrow In Furness
I may be misremembering this, but didn't the club once own most of the houses behind the main stand only to sell them on again? If true, then surely it's a matter of when, not if, we build a new ground.

Whether this is good or bad depends on the design. Needs to be something unique that nods to the club's past, but improves facilities, capacity and atmosphere.

Given most of the stadium isn't much older than Rashford, I struggle to find the idea of building a new ground next to the existing one the heresy some fans seem to.
The Yankees did that, built the stadium over the road and continued using the old stadium until it was built. It looks the same from the style, but all the facilties inside were vastly better. I agree that it should look more balanced and the same size all round.
 

Broad Street Bullies

Last Man Standing finalist 2019/20
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
412
The Camp Nou has been rejuvenated recently? I went there for the clasico in August and that ground looks and feels very old.
I was there in 2011, just outside though, an it really disappointed me. It looked dilapidated around the ground and I thought it would have been fixed by now.
 

dwd

Saturday Night Spies
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Messages
16,349
Location
Under soil heating.
The capitalisation of MUST in the title confused me for a bit. It made me think the supporter's group had been robbing from the club.
 

Sarni

nice guy, unassuming, objective United fan.
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
57,856
Location
Krakow
Small expansion and safe standing area will solve it isn't it?
I'm not sure. It's a very old stadium so it won't be as good as the brand new arenas but it can get better with some works.

Thing is, Old Trafford like Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu and San Siro are historical stadiums which also have the necessary capacity to deal with ticket demand. Highbury, WHL or even Olympiastadion were also iconic grounds but they were too small for the demand, or in Olympiastadion just not build properly for football. Those were far easier to replace. For Bayern it also did help that they were organizing World Cup at the time.
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
22,961
Location
Somewhere out there
A new roof for the North (Sir Alex Ferguson) Stand would be nice. I've sat in the third tier a few times and you're cut off from seeing most of the other three stands due to how low the roof hangs overhead. Takes away a lot from the match day experience. It also makes Old Trafford look a lot smaller than it is IMO.

With all the development planned at the Bernabeu and Nou Camp, we really should be planning some renovations of our own.

There should also be a big slide for exiting the stadium so I don't have to walk down the stairs.
Agreed, a new roof should be top of the list, would do so much for the stadium.

This would even make the South Stand look better, as with the Bernabéu.
 

Sarni

nice guy, unassuming, objective United fan.
Joined
Jan 21, 2004
Messages
57,856
Location
Krakow
Don't most of these stadiums, like a lot of the new football ones, come with naming rights as well?
They are not THAT expensive to cover the cost. Normally in the long run you will make the money back through ticket sales but what is the realistic goal for United in terms of that? Maybe 10,000 additional seats sold per game, if we are lucky, and maybe fans would swallow a 5-10% higher prices if we were to move into a better stadium. That's still going to take ages to pay for a new £1billion facility that will also cost more to run, likely.
 

DomesticTadpole

Doom-monger obsessed with Herrera & the M.E.N.
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
101,421
Location
Barrow In Furness
Yep..the NFL is run by cowboys they get cities to build stadiums they get big money sponsors for it and if they dont get what they want they up sticks and move. Kroenkes bunch just did that to St.Louis
I know most don't care about their fans and as you say up sticks. Going back it happened with the Giants and Dodgers. Think that was partly down to wanting new stadiums and the powers that be not letting them build where they wanted, so they left completely.
 

12OunceEpilogue

In perfect harmony
Scout
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
18,447
Location
Wigan
I know most don't care about their fans and as you say up sticks. Going back it happened with the Giants and Dodgers. Think that was partly down to wanting new stadiums and the powers that be not letting them build where they wanted, so they left completely.
Yeah I heard on the radio a guy used to love watching the Brooklyn Dodgers. Tough luck matey.

It's that kind of franchise bullshit that concerns me when measures like the 39th fixture rear their heads.
 

Klopp_De_Klown

Full Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2017
Messages
1,555
New stadium???? Nobody mentioned a new stadium. Renovation, new tier, new roof and lick of paint were mentioned. Bit confusing some of the comments.

It sounds to me as United are getting close to making a decision and Mitten is doing a bit of banwagon jumping. They have already invited proposals and need to have more disabled places places anyhow. So I would suggest its getting close to some major development at Old Trafford.

Its getting dangerously close to United being debt free. So some substantial investment will be required just to keep the whole thing ticking along and some major redevelopment fits the bill nicely Better to be paying off a debt of money invested than losing it in tax. Mitten suggests 10000 to 14000 extra fans plus some excutive seats and probably something similar to what city and spurs are doing with the player access packages. All that would be welcome hopefully pushing us over a potential 100K per game. And with the extra income it would eventually pay for its self anyhow. And then start the whole process over again with another loan to upgrade something else.
 

Arytonblue

Full Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
626
Location
Emerald Isle (Paddyland for the uncultured swine)
I honestly couldn't give a shite how shiny, new or aesthetically pleasing Old Trafford looks or how many flippin corporate boxes there are. I was always annoyed how happy so many United fans were to do away with things like naming rights to Old Trafford just for some extra money. But now apparently we need to knock down the whole place and build a great new glass bowl with world class jacks, amazing legroom and an endless amount of box seats for monied yuppies. Seriously, no thanks.

There are certain circumstances were rebuilds or new grounds are necessary. Highbury was tiny for a club of Arsenal's size, the same goes for Spurs and West Ham. Why do United need to do this? They already have the biggest club ground in the country with room to expand. The main reason I'm always so adverse to needless new stadiums in modern sports is that they're rarely done for the fan's benefit. My Detroit Red Wings are moving to a new arena this year, playing since '79 at Joe Louis Arena. All the build up to the new place has been fans talking about how much of a 'dump' the old place was and the glittering palace that the new place is going to be. Lo and behold the true nature of modern sports franchises. The new arena has a shít corporate name with it's logo smeared everywhere, it houses a smaller capacity with increased box seat capacity along with some gimmicky 'gondola' seats hanging from the roof. The Joe may well have been a 'dump', made of plain white concrete, no glamour or glass facade, no neon lights to blind you everywhere but it had a soul, was the site of one the team's greatest eras and was named after an icon of the city.

What's shocking is that even though it only opened in 1979 it was the second oldest arena in the NHL after Madison Square Garden. This is the route American sports has been going for decades, so over saturated by corporate sponsors, endless TV adverts and 'state of the art' arenas with no personality. Only a few holdouts remain like Fenway, Lambeau and Soldier. I'd utterly hate United to go down that route. They have a famous stadium that's stood at the same place for over a century, been destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt and has showcased so many famous moments throughout the club's history. Expand it, 'refurbish' if you must, but the day it's knocked down in favour of some Emirates clone is one I really hope I don't get to see.

Hoping for a new stadium to improve crowd atmosphere or fan engagement is a fool's errand. There are only a few examples of modern arenas achieving this (Montreal's Bell Centre is one, but a very unique case for that organisation).

TLDR; Old Trafford is fine the way is is, there isn't another place that looks like it, quirky as it is.
 

DomesticTadpole

Doom-monger obsessed with Herrera & the M.E.N.
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
101,421
Location
Barrow In Furness
I honestly couldn't give a shite how shiny, new or aesthetically pleasing Old Trafford looks or how many flippin corporate boxes there are. I was always annoyed how happy so many United fans were to do away with things like naming rights to Old Trafford just for some extra money. But now apparently we need to knock down the whole place and build a great new glass bowl with world class jacks, amazing legroom and an endless amount of box seats for monied yuppies. Seriously, no thanks.

There are certain circumstances were rebuilds or new grounds are necessary. Highbury was tiny for a club of Arsenal's size, the same goes for Spurs and West Ham. Why do United need to do this? They already have the biggest club ground in the country with room to expand. The main reason I'm always so adverse to needless new stadiums in modern sports is that they're rarely done for the fan's benefit. My Detroit Red Wings are moving to a new arena this year, playing since '79 at Joe Louis Arena. All the build up to the new place has been fans talking about how much of a 'dump' the old place was and the glittering palace that the new place is going to be. Lo and behold the true nature of modern sports franchises. The new arena has a shít corporate name with it's logo smeared everywhere, it houses a smaller capacity with increased box seat capacity along with some gimmicky 'gondola' seats hanging from the roof. The Joe may well have been a 'dump', made of plain white concrete, no glamour or glass facade, no neon lights to blind you everywhere but it had a soul, was the site of one the team's greatest eras and was named after an icon of the city.

What's shocking is that even though it only opened in 1979 it was the second oldest arena in the NHL after Madison Square Garden. This is the route American sports has been going for decades, so over saturated by corporate sponsors, endless TV adverts and 'state of the art' arenas with no personality. Only a few holdouts remain like Fenway, Lambeau and Soldier. I'd utterly hate United to go down that route. They have a famous stadium that's stood at the same place for over a century, been destroyed during WW2 and rebuilt and has showcased so many famous moments throughout the club's history. Expand it, 'refurbish' if you must, but the day it's knocked down in favour of some Emirates clone is one I really hope I don't get to see.

Hoping for a new stadium to improve crowd atmosphere or fan engagement is a fool's errand. There are only a few examples of modern arenas achieving this (Montreal's Bell Centre is one, but a very unique case for that organisation).

TLDR; Old Trafford is fine the way is is, there isn't another place that looks like it, quirky as it is.
Nobody particularly wants a new stadium, but a roof that doesn't leak seems little to ask, having decent leg room isn't actually much to ask, safe standing to create an actual atmosphere would be nice, decent toilet facilities, especially would be nice. It isn't much. Why should to corporate lot be the only ones who get looked after? Some of them aren't even fans of our team.
 

sglowrider

Thinks the caf is 'wokeish'.
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Messages
25,223
Location
Hell on Earth
The leg room is a joke.
It would be a logistical nightmare but if it were possible, we should consider renovating the entire stadium.
Yeap. If there is any indications of the stadium not keeping up with the times... the leg room seems to be designed for folks in the 1890s.
 

Ishdalar

Full Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2013
Messages
3,351
Location
Spain
Supports
Barcelona
I don't think building a new stadium should be the way to go for every club, not if it doesn't come with a huge increase in attendance.

Sporting de Gijon for example, did a nice job with the refurbish of their stadium (the oldes in Spain), and they're basically a 2nd division team with low funds that were blocked from signing players in La Liga 1st division, so the things Manchester United could achieve in Old Trafford could be beautiful


 

lewwoo

Full Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2016
Messages
1,700
Location
Bridgwater
Bristol City recently renovated Ashton Gate due to having planning permission denied on a new build because of dog walkers objecting and most their fans are glad they went down that route now. Renovations done right in my opinion are better than starting from scratch or moving.

Before




After

 
Last edited:

wolvored

Full Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
9,958
We should have either a new stadium or OT should be refurbished. The capacity ought to be raised to 90-100000 as well. The best should look the best!
 

Zebs

Clare Baldings Daughter plays too much Wordscapes
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
17,036
We should keep the old stadium and build a new one. By the time it's done technology will have advanced enough that we could project the match into the old stadium in 3d and fill them both on matchday. Ch-ching.
 

Sir A1ex

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2002
Messages
27,949
Location
Where the goals come from.
Bristol City recently renovated Ashton Gate due to having planning permission denied on a new build because of dog walkers objecting and most their fans are glad they went down that route now. Renovations done right in my opinion are better than starting from scratch or moving.

Before




After

Looks like a total rip-off of Old Trafford 1996-99!
 

Oneunited26

New Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2014
Messages
4,635
All this "It's impossible to build over a train line" shit pisses me off...

It's not the 1980's...they can build pretty much anything over anything these days...construction techniques are sufficiently advanced these days that it wouldn't be cost restrictive to do it...
I agree, don't want a new stadium etc etc talk, its a crime old trafford has a single tear stand, get that south stand expanded with allot more luxury driven stand and the stadium will look allot better.

I agree with the article. Madrid and Barca's plans they unveiled look fantastic. Why can't we undergo a complete revamp? I'm all for tradition, but Old Trafford looks a little dated with all these new build stadiums and popping up all over the place.


Seeing Barca and especially Real's, our stadium is most defiantly going to be left behind, even the best of historical club stadiums are giving their historical grounds upgrades. That expansion Madrid added to their stadium years ago really elevated the stadium, now its on another level
 
Last edited:

Coops73

Full Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
3,341
I agree with the article. Madrid and Barca's plans they unveiled look fantastic. Why can't we undergo a complete revamp? I'm all for tradition, but Old Trafford looks a little dated with all these new build stadiums and popping up all over the place.


The redevelopment of the Bernabeu looks the bollocks, something along those lines at old Trafford would be great but then I'm not a regular match going fan some of whom might not agree with such a change which I get but personally like others have said seeing some of the redevelopments and new stadiums going up does make you wonder if it's time for a facelift/redevelopment.
 

The holy trinity 68

The disparager
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
5,830
Location
Manchester
When the club is back to winning titles and challenging in the latter stages of the Champions League then Old Trafford should be improved, but not until then.

The money needs to be focused on improving the squad first.
 

prtk0811

New Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2016
Messages
7,854
Owners should do more, but I don't think they show any interest at all.
 

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
I really like what Barca are doing and I think we should follow them. Modernise the stadium so it looks fresh but familiar at the same time. I don't want us to build a new stadium unless it's very unique unlike majority of new stadiums that look exactly the same (Arsenal and Spurs...).