Tifo Football: The Big Problem with Manchester United's Stadium
- Thread starter #07
- Start date
Just embarrassing
Jeez, I didn't know how bad it is until I saw these video.
Embarrassing.
Embarrassing.
Watched it this morning.
I didn't know about the rodent problem.
Shameful!
I didn't know about the rodent problem.
Shameful!
The state of Old Trafford really is a symbol of the Glazer's legacy at United.
We don't have a rodent problem ffs. It was just Avram inspecting the grounds.
Forget about the state of the stadium, debt payments, dividends, lack of long-term strategy, the failure to implement a DoF, embarrassing issues with training facilities and broken promises with women's side... there could be worse owners out there.
Yeah we're all just complaining because we haven't won the league in a few years, we're so spoilt.
Cheers, Sons crying now
i'm the son
i'm the son
So bleak. It just makes me so angry thinking about what our club could be like with at least semi-competent owners in charge who actually care about the club.
Something, something, there could be worse owners, something, something. No doubt the Glazers shills won't even give this video a second of their precious time and they will find ways to write whole essays about the great job the owners do.
Does blow my mind that it’d cost £750m+ to revamp the south stand and refurb the stadium, similar to what Madrid are paying. Isn’t that about double what Arsenal paid for a whole new stadium? And not that much less than what Spurs ended up forking out for their state of the art one.
We could surely massively improve Old Trafford with just say £250m worth of investment.
We could surely massively improve Old Trafford with just say £250m worth of investment.
It's been a problem since 2005.
Stadiums been fecked for well over 10 years. I was going to games with my uncle in the 05-06 season & noticed how grimey it was. I remember going to watch us play Wigan at the JJB back in 06 & being taken aback at how much nicer it was than OT.
This is just one of many reasons the protests must and will continue.
They cite Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Spurs, Real and Barca as teams who have invested in their stadiums but they could also include the like of Bayern, Juve, Atletico, Dortmund and the Milan teams in that list too, all of whom have completed or are scheduled for new stadiums or major redevelopment.
Yeah, that figure seemed quite a bit high.
The rat problem has been obvious for years
It is awful when you watch that kind of video. What I do like about Old Trafford is how it's an old tree where you can feel multiple layers of history and tradition etc. It is rubbish compared to others for functionality however.
Some personal issues I've had over the years :
- I'm 5foot8, and my knees either rub against the seats in front of me or slap the fellas back if they are sat there. Horrifically uncomfortable.
- The catering is rubbish. Overpriced Hollands pies and the facilities are never big enough, queues sometimes start at the concourse stairs.
- The lift was broke the day I took my gran for her 75th bday. Meaning she had to ascend around 18 flights of steps. A year later I don't think it was fixed. I remember the day well - as they took her brolly off her as it could be 'used as a weapon'. Upon going to pick it up at the end of the game they had 'misplaced' it. All for a nil nil draw to West Ham. Crap.
- The steps in N2401 (and probably the same in most adjoining corner stands) are incredibly bad. They must be 2 foot in depth as you descend. So steep. One of my mate's knees went going down them and his ACL has been dodgy ever since.
- In the same block where you are quite low to the ground, you can't see anything in the other half. The need for a basic screen is huge.
- The rows are horrendously narrow to get out of, and I had a seat once up top tier in the North stand. I needed a tinkle and couldn't squeeze past this bloke's belly as I shimmied past. In short, I end up toppling over the lip of the seat backs from the row in front and going down about 3 rows.
Anybody else got a story?
Some personal issues I've had over the years :
- I'm 5foot8, and my knees either rub against the seats in front of me or slap the fellas back if they are sat there. Horrifically uncomfortable.
- The catering is rubbish. Overpriced Hollands pies and the facilities are never big enough, queues sometimes start at the concourse stairs.
- The lift was broke the day I took my gran for her 75th bday. Meaning she had to ascend around 18 flights of steps. A year later I don't think it was fixed. I remember the day well - as they took her brolly off her as it could be 'used as a weapon'. Upon going to pick it up at the end of the game they had 'misplaced' it. All for a nil nil draw to West Ham. Crap.
- The steps in N2401 (and probably the same in most adjoining corner stands) are incredibly bad. They must be 2 foot in depth as you descend. So steep. One of my mate's knees went going down them and his ACL has been dodgy ever since.
- In the same block where you are quite low to the ground, you can't see anything in the other half. The need for a basic screen is huge.
- The rows are horrendously narrow to get out of, and I had a seat once up top tier in the North stand. I needed a tinkle and couldn't squeeze past this bloke's belly as I shimmied past. In short, I end up toppling over the lip of the seat backs from the row in front and going down about 3 rows.
Anybody else got a story?
Last edited:
I've thought and felt exactly the same at that fixture. Old Trafford is akin to the Reebook / Macron whatever Bolton FC call it. Just standard concrete breezeblock. When I went to Wembley to see David Moye's first game for the shield it was like the twilight zone. Elevators to the seats!
The rows are horrendous. I am scared of heights so you can imagine I it feels coming down the steps. All I am thinking about is not embarrassing myself.
It's right next to a canal, at ground level and has normally got loads of fans and food vans around it. Of course there will be mice and rats. My office in the centre of Manchester struggles to keep the mice out.
They must be getting quotes from somewhere dodgy. I also fail to see how putting some extra ramps in and removing some seats for the disabled supporters facilities could possibly cost £11m.
When the guy in the vid first mentions rats being spotted in the stadium, I naturally assumed it was a fitting reference to our less than glorious owners.
Unfortunately not.
Old Trafford has a rat infestation problem? Not shrews, not mice, actual RATS.
Urgh.
Unfortunately not.
Old Trafford has a rat infestation problem? Not shrews, not mice, actual RATS.
Urgh.
Embarrassing but unsurprising! Fans have been complaining about the stadium for the last decade. Laughable that the only significant changes that came under the ownership was part of a deal agreed before they even bought us.
Exactly. This is all about City and Liverpool and nothing to do with our own club. Because we're too dumb to look beyond the PL table.
Yep. And at one point were rebuked by the council for not doing anything about it.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c.../manchester-united-slammed-over-mouse-9964708
Old Trafford is an embarrassment. Its laughable that the club sells itself as 'the biggest club in the world.' Clearly sponsors never visit the place because they'd see the rusty steelwork and cracks about the place. They'd know half the ticket readers at the turnstiles are broken. Its tinpot frankly.
Was anyone surprised when they heard the ladies team didn't have working showers and toilets?
Then some come on here and tell us the Glazers deserve their management fees and dividends. One year without them sucking cash out of the club and we might have half decent toilets at Old Trafford.
The note they put out to investors says they wanted to treat fans like customers. Bloody hell if cinemas treated their customers like this nobody would go. Lucky for them people are more desperate to see Man Utd than they are to see the MCU!
Was anyone surprised when they heard the ladies team didn't have working showers and toilets?
Then some come on here and tell us the Glazers deserve their management fees and dividends. One year without them sucking cash out of the club and we might have half decent toilets at Old Trafford.
The note they put out to investors says they wanted to treat fans like customers. Bloody hell if cinemas treated their customers like this nobody would go. Lucky for them people are more desperate to see Man Utd than they are to see the MCU!
Refurbishment is more expensive than building from the ground up. You have to work around existing services and limitations without upsetting the existing structure. When you start from the ground up, its theoretically like a giant lego set. To every cable tray and power point has been factored into consideration in a set of design plans. Just take pouring concrete for example. You have a blank slate. You're literally doing your pours as you work your way up.
Now factor Old Trafford and you're high up in the North Stand and you've got to pour 100 cubes of concrete to amend a stair case.... how do you get the concrete there? how do you work around the stand or concourse? what if youre doing demo and there's a cable... unbeknownst to you, this cable has been in place since 1950 and isn't documented on any existing plans? you have to stop work for a day while you get a surveyor in. He's charging 1000 quid a day. That builder that you have told him to sit idle. He's hitting you with 4-5k quid per day with his lads and thats not factoring in the added cost of delay to his contract that will probably get on later. On top of that you've got your project engineers, your architect that needs to come inspect, your sparkies sitting idle, you plumbers etc. All of that for one problem and thats one day of delay. Suddenly that 1 day of delay has just cost you 100k in delay costs and you're not ahead of where you were two days ago and thats one of 15 other problems that showed up that day.
Im not defending the glazers, but people seem to think that it's an easy fix and it really isn't.
So, the gist of it is it's costly and time consuming.
So why are the Glazers still taking their dividends?
They're obviously going to take their dividends. Any investor into a profitable business is going to expect a return. Whether it is ethical or not that they leveraged debt to buy the club is another matter.
If it was going to cost £750m just to do the South stand, I wonder how much it will be to do the whole stadium. To be honest, even Manchester United probably couldn't afford to do it.
It will likely exceed £1bn.
Honestly, if it was me making the decision, I think I'd just build a new stadium.
- It will be cheaper.
- You get rid of the rat problem, or at least minimise it. Clearing Old Trafford of them now will be an impossible task as you would have to tear it apart to get to them.
- All the stuff will obviously be new, so less concerns over its condition.
- Potential cheese room
Either way, it will take a loan to be able to do it, and it will hamper our spending on transfers etc. for a while.
It will likely exceed £1bn.
Honestly, if it was me making the decision, I think I'd just build a new stadium.
- It will be cheaper.
- You get rid of the rat problem, or at least minimise it. Clearing Old Trafford of them now will be an impossible task as you would have to tear it apart to get to them.
- All the stuff will obviously be new, so less concerns over its condition.
- Potential cheese room
Either way, it will take a loan to be able to do it, and it will hamper our spending on transfers etc. for a while.
Last 15 months has been the perfect time to repair the stadium but Glazers ignored it ....Really feeling bad about their time here..
People argue that they spent money on players and I agree but it was like headless chickens with out proper structure and strategy
People argue that they spent money on players and I agree but it was like headless chickens with out proper structure and strategy
If sommeone decides to buitl a new stadium at old-trafford then we can we play until the new stadium gets done ?
It was also a reaction to losing the greatest manager of all time and the threat of other clubs gaining ground on us. The Glazers couldn't afford for us to drop out of top 4 so did everything to secure it. This reality combined with the powers that be having no fecking idea about football led to some of the worst transfer deals in history, compounded at one club, ours.
The rodents have been playing cb
Financially, it would probably be the worst time to repair it. No matchday revenue, and cashflows have taken a heavy hit. Manutd have already increased their debt from $470m to $520m, which was likely done to deal with the pandemic.
For any substantial repair work, a loan will probably be needed. I wouldn't say this has been the best time for doing work like that.
Just posting an article I put forward a few days ago on another thread. We need a solution in which everybody wins and can buy into. I felt it might be useful to consider against the new topic.
Improvements to the stadium will be very expensive and not cost effective. New build is the only solution.
Andy Burnham/ Boris Johnson and Manchester City Council should help to develop a ‘New’ Trafford. City got a stadium from the council, local development and jobs ensued. Manchester United is a world renowned name and synonymous with Manchester. For United to loose prestige Manchester loses as well. Let’s prove that Britain and Manchester can solve problems post pandemic and Brexit and deliver major infrastructure projects. Using Northern Powerhouse, Brexit Infrastructure, Covid regeneration, lottery money, world cup bidding money, Glazers money etc., It is currently the best ever political time. Greater minds than mine can come up with a package that all can buy into.
A larger stadium with hospitality, conference, hotel, community features, training facilites and possible housing all based on eco-friendly design would generate significant income, prestige for Manchester/ Britain and jobs. Glazers would have to give meaningful board representation to community and fans as a cost of such support. There could be no better time to achieve such a dream
It would mean that all parties would have to work together and some sacred cows would have to be slaughtered. Example, working with Glazers, naming rights of the stadium, moving the stadium away from its current location. Community use of the stadium and training facilities would also add to its attraction.
I am not underestimating the problems or political implications from this, but let’s prove that Britain and Manchester in particular is open for business and has a ‘can do’ mentality. Abroad Manchester is Manchester United whatever detractors might say and a successful united Manchester is best for all Mancunians and Britain.
What is the alternative, get the owners out, then what? Nobody can give a solution which offers guaranteed success, improvement in facilities, or longevity for our great club. This I believe offers the best chance, division will never work.
Improvements to the stadium will be very expensive and not cost effective. New build is the only solution.
Andy Burnham/ Boris Johnson and Manchester City Council should help to develop a ‘New’ Trafford. City got a stadium from the council, local development and jobs ensued. Manchester United is a world renowned name and synonymous with Manchester. For United to loose prestige Manchester loses as well. Let’s prove that Britain and Manchester can solve problems post pandemic and Brexit and deliver major infrastructure projects. Using Northern Powerhouse, Brexit Infrastructure, Covid regeneration, lottery money, world cup bidding money, Glazers money etc., It is currently the best ever political time. Greater minds than mine can come up with a package that all can buy into.
A larger stadium with hospitality, conference, hotel, community features, training facilites and possible housing all based on eco-friendly design would generate significant income, prestige for Manchester/ Britain and jobs. Glazers would have to give meaningful board representation to community and fans as a cost of such support. There could be no better time to achieve such a dream
It would mean that all parties would have to work together and some sacred cows would have to be slaughtered. Example, working with Glazers, naming rights of the stadium, moving the stadium away from its current location. Community use of the stadium and training facilities would also add to its attraction.
I am not underestimating the problems or political implications from this, but let’s prove that Britain and Manchester in particular is open for business and has a ‘can do’ mentality. Abroad Manchester is Manchester United whatever detractors might say and a successful united Manchester is best for all Mancunians and Britain.
What is the alternative, get the owners out, then what? Nobody can give a solution which offers guaranteed success, improvement in facilities, or longevity for our great club. This I believe offers the best chance, division will never work.
My only experience at OT was in section STH122 (South stands, last row right next to the corporate section) and I could not believe how cramped it was. My dad and I (both 6'0" tall and on the thin side) and we both had to sit at angles because our knees would not fit because the seat in front of us was so close. I know the South stands is not an ideal location for safe standing seats (fold up seats) but the space seems right for it. Curious to know if the rest of the stadium is like that.
Are the other owners taking dividends and "consultation fees?"