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United could offer VVIP experience to global fans

 The key debate around either refurbishing Old Trafford or building a state-of-the-art, 100,000-seat arena on a site adjacent to Manchester United's 114-year-old home continues.

Some insiders believe Ratcliffe and his Ineos operation are leaning towards a brand new home, undaunted by the challenge it represents at a time when Ineos is also building the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe for 30 years. Ineos has had to raise close to £3billion to finance Project One in Antwerp, which is roughly a billion more than it will need to fund Old Trafford, even if it does go for the more expensive option.

The plan, as things stand, is for the task force chaired by Lord Coe to return in the new year with a feasibility study. Their focus is on “the art of the possible”, with the task force exploring both options within the broader regeneration project.

Assisting them at this stage are Foster & Partners, the British firm of architects already working on the £50million regeneration of United’s Carrington training base and also now tasked with looking at the broader footprint around Old Trafford.

A new stadium would cost more, even if renovation on the scale of what has been completed at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu would be likely to cost United more than a billion pounds. But what United will examine in detail are the long-term revenue benefits of a new stadium designed with a greater capacity for hospitality.

Dan Meis, who designed Everton’s new home at Bramley Dock told The Times: “At Everton they didn’t come to that decision easily because, again, they were giving up a pretty historic ground, ” But at United, while I haven’t been involved in their more recent efforts, I think there really is a belief that there’s an opportunity to significantly improve the revenue generation in a new building that you might not be able to do in a renovated building.”

As Meis points out, United has a global fan base with some extremely wealthy supporters.  ‘There is an opportunity to create a VVIP tier, a very high-level experience.’

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