Manchester United has put a marker down on the next version of Old Trafford, revealing plans to build a proposed 100,000-seat stadium about 350 metres north-west of the club’s current home.
The club said the new ground would be the flagship of the Trafford Wharfside Masterplan, a redevelopment of the area around Old Trafford that also includes thousands of homes, improved transport links and new walking and cycling routes.
If built as planned, the stadium would become the largest in the UK. Its 100,000 capacity would move it above Wembley Stadium, which holds 90,000, and far beyond the current Old Trafford capacity of 74,879.
United have played at Old Trafford for 115 years and are expected to keep using the existing ground while the new stadium is built. The future of Old Trafford itself has not yet been decided.
The proposal still needs approval from Trafford Council, with a decision scheduled for July 20. If the council gives the plan the green light, an eight-week public consultation would run from July 28 to September 22.
The new venue is referred to as New Trafford in a briefing document. The planned design includes an umbrella-style roof intended to harvest solar energy and rainwater, along with three masts that the club believes would make the stadium visible from 40 kilometres away.
The project is expected to take five years to build. At full size, United’s proposed stadium would rank second in Europe behind Barcelona’s Camp Nou, which is being expanded to 105,000 seats.
For supporters, the result changes the picture around a club that has long debated whether to rebuild, renovate or move. The pressure is now on Trafford Council, local residents and United to decide how much of the old ground survives beside the new one.
