Lord Coe will lead a task force designed to examine the feasibility of a potential new “world-class” stadium for Manchester United.
The club’s minority investment holders, Ineos, hope that
Coe’s expertise and experience will help them as they look into the possibility
of revamping Old Trafford or building a new 80,000-seater arena behind the
present stadium.
It is understood that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Ineos chairman
who has bought a 27.7 per cent stake in United, would prefer to build a new
stadium rather than refurbish the present ground, and the board agrees with
him.
Coe, who is a Chelsea fan, was the head of the organising
committee for the London 2012 Olympics. It is understood that he will lead the
“Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force” which will bring together local
leaders and national experts to examine how the stadium development can support
the local area.
Lord Coe hopes that the wider local area would benefit from
any increased investment. “Throughout my career in sport, I have seen the
potential for stadiums to become focal points for strong communities and
catalysts for social and economic development,” he said.
“That was certainly true of the venues we built in east
London for the 2012 Olympics, and we are overdue a project of similar scale and
ambition in the north of England. I am honoured to have this opportunity to
share my expertise in support of this tremendously exciting project.”
Ratcliffe said that it was a “once- in-a-century
opportunity” to establish a football hub in the north west of England.
“This can be a major regeneration project for an area of
Greater Manchester which has played such a key role in British industrial
history, but which today requires new investment to thrive again,” he said.
“The northwest of England has a greater concentration of major football clubs
than anywhere else in the world, yet we don’t have a stadium on the scale of
Wembley, the Nou Camp or Bernabéu.
“We will not be able to change that on our own, which is why
this task force is so important to help us seize this once-in-a-century
opportunity.”
The local council has previously announced separate plans to
revamp the area surrounding the stadium in the Trafford Wharfside Framework.
That project aims to support the revitalisation of the area between Trafford
Park and the banks of Salford Quays, and support the government’s levelling-up
agenda to drive investment in the north of England. It would also reduce the
over-concentration of big sporting venues and events in London and the south
east.
Ratcliffe said recently that Old Trafford could be revamped,
at a cost of £1 billion, or a new stadium could be built at double the cost. He
intimated that a public-private partnership could be established to help fund a
project dubbed “the Wembley of the north”.
Any future government is likely to be so short of money even
for essential services that the project is unlikely to attract significant
public funding, but other private partners might be interested.
A supporters' group has questioned about how much fans would benefit from a new stadium: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68521219
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