February 21, (THEWILL) – One clear point in the fractious breakdown in the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United was that the Old Trafford club had a significant challenge: how to bring their facilities up to modern standards.
While the stadium was once the jewel in the English Premier League’s crown, it has fallen into disrepair due to a lack of investment. Other clubs have spent significantly to upgrade their grounds, leaving Old Trafford trailing behind.
Redeveloping the south stand, renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, is proving particularly difficult due to the proximity of a railway line. Building upwards is a major engineering challenge. One solution is to demolish the entire stadium and rebuild it from the ground up, but this would mean destroying more than a century of history.
Current Co-chairman, Joel Glazer, is said to prefer redeveloping the existing Old Trafford, citing the heritage and the fact that United has played there for the last 113 years. However, there is some pushback from United’s ownership regarding the ongoing takeover process. While there have been public bids from INEOS and Qatar, as THEWILL reported, the Glazers’ original statement in November referred to a potential sale of the club as part of “strategic alternatives” under consideration.
It has been emphasised that “strategic alternatives” don’t just mean a full takeover, and the investment bank overseeing the process has asked bidders to refrain from public statements that could be interpreted as indirect criticism of the Glazers. What if clear is that part of the process of bringing back the glory days of old will have to include upgrading the facilities.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
