Manchester United to leave Old Trafford as Sir Jim Ratcliffe announces plans for new 100,000-seater ground

Manchester United have confirmed plans to leave Old Trafford and move to a new 100,000-seater stadium.

United have spent the last 115 years at Old Trafford, which currently holds nearly 74,000 spectators.

Their new stadium is expected to be built on club-owned land adjacent to Old Trafford, with architect Lord Norman Foster saying it will take five years to construct.

"This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today," he said.

"It starts with making something which is so intense, it brings you close to the pitch, acoustically it cultivates the roar.

"Moving away from the stadium, it's not a fortress surrounded by a sea of cars, it's open. It's contained by an umbrella which harvests solar energy, rain water but is protected. It encloses arguably the largest public space in the world.

"There's the three masts, the trident. Visible from 40km away, 200m high. This becomes a global destination.

"Normally a stadium will take 10 years to build, we take five."

Man Utd's co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said the intention is to create "an iconic football stadium."

"Wembley, the O2 Arena, the Olympic Village - nothing of the scale of what we've seen in London in the north," he said when announcing the new plans. "This will be the first of this scale in the north of England.

"The north of England has won 10 Champions League medals, London has two. But London has Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon and the Olympic Village.

"The north of England deserves a stadium where England can play football, where we can hold the Champions League final, and one befitting of Man Utd's stature.

"If the government really gets behind this scheme, we will build an iconic football stadium."

The Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force - which is chaired by Ratcliffe, but also includes Sky Sports pundit and former United defender Gary Neville and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham - earlier confirmed the club's intention to build a new stadium that would make it the largest in the UK.

"Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world's greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford," said Ratcliffe.

"Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience only footsteps from our historic home."

However, questions on how the club will finance the cost of the new stadium are still to be answered after Ratcliffe said earlier this week that Man Utd would have run out of money by Christmas had he not made a series of recent cost-saving cuts.

Financing was one of the key considerations of the task force, and a wide variety of potential private funding sources have been explored. There could be opportunities for a public-private partnership to power the regeneration of the area.

And where United will play their matches while the new stadium is built is also not known, with the possibility that the club would have to play in another stadium as plans progress around Old Trafford.

Tottenham Hotspur played at Wembley for almost three years between 2016 and 2019 as their new ground was being built, while Fulham also played at Loftus Road while Craven Cottage was being refurbished.

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Man Utd have confirmed plans to build a new 100,000-seater stadium next to Old Trafford. Sky Sports looks at some of the key questions surrounding the announcement...

Berrada: We want world's best team in world's best stadium

Speaking about the plans, Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada said: "Our long-term objective as a club is to have the world's best football team playing in the world's best stadium. We are grateful for the feasibility work done by the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force exploring options for the future of Old Trafford.

"We have carefully considered its findings, together with the views of thousands of fans and local residents and concluded that a new stadium is the right way forward for Manchester United and our surrounding community. We will now embark on further consultation to ensure that fans and residents continue to be heard as we move towards final decisions."

Former Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson added: "Manchester United should always strive for the best in everything it does, on and off the pitch, and that includes the stadium we play in. Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made."

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