Manchester United fans have had their say after co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe unveiled plans for a new 100,000 seater stadium for the club.
The plans will see United play in a new stadium based on the same site as the venerable Old Trafford, as part of regeneration of Old Trafford and the surrounding area - but some fans in the Manchester Evening News comments section are bit taken aback by some of the concept images.
A new stadium has never been far from Ratcliffe's mind since he became the face of the club, with Old Trafford showing its age after serving the club for over a century. It is estimated that the stadium, and a wider regeneration project given backing by the UK government in the Trafford Park area, has the potential to deliver an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.
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Conceptual images and scaled models designed by the architect Lord Norman Foster, a United fan were unveiled on Tuesday at Foster + Partners' headquarters in London. The club hope that the new stadium can be ready in five years time, but as of yet, there's no start date planned for the project.
The concept art for the stadium, with its canopy and masts, plaza and long walkway, has sharply divided opinion amongst fans however. Reader Tt84 says: “Looking at the pictures from inside the 'tent' it looks good. But from outside, it looks awful. It looks like it is just being made tall for the sake of it. What's the purpose of it? It doesn't look nice, it isn't stylish, it has no real use.”
Commenter StephenTaylor123 writes: “It's revolting. I was hoping for a stadium more like what Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid have, or even Everton's new ground. But no, we have giant circus tent.”
MadMonk says: “Concern from the pictures would be the horrible shadows across the pitch from the small opening in the roof. Would be interested to know if they plan on having a retractable roof, which opens up a lot more uses outside of matchdays.”
100percentcotton writes: “Can't help but see a circus tent when I see the outside, but that is probably more do to with the current plight of the club. Hopefully in time we will have team good enough to grace such a venue.”
However, not everyone is against the designs, SomeDevil says: “If this project is completed, it will be great. Not just for the club, for the surroundings and the fans too. It is a statement first and foremost, that the owners are eager to do something for the club, not just run the club dry. Personally I love it. Not just how it looks, everything that offers as a modern structure. We can just hope that it will be completed, and that the fees will be reasonable.”
Petewright says: “Go to love those 'artist's impressions', might look a bit different when the public are there though and there's litter everywhere... but it certainly looks impressive. Could do without the 'endowed by nature' gibberish though. But the thorny issues are 'where is the money coming from', and what on earth the ticket prices will be afterwards to help pay for it all?”
Sav7 writes: “Love it. But the priority is to get our boys back to winning ways.” Dav33 adds: “Will it have a sponsor? I like the design but no large screen being shown at all yet!”
Have your say! Would you tweak anything about the design of the new stadium? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.
