Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes Manchester United should aim to emulate Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona by playing at a “world-class” Old Trafford that can accommodate up to 100,000 fans.
The Ineos billionaire, who forked out £1.3bn to buy a 27.7% stake in United, has already declared his intention to either revamp Old Trafford or build a new ‘Wembley of the North’.
Ratcliffe wants England internationals and even major cup finals moved away from Wembley and staged at the new venue.
A working group led by Lord Coe and also involving Gary Neville and Andy Burnham will study the feasibility of building the new Old Trafford and regenerating the surrounding area.
Speaking on the Geraint Thomas cycling club podcastRatcliffe said he wanted to keep pace with the two Spanish giants, who are currently redeveloping their Bernabeu and Nou Camp homes.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe would like to rebuild Manchester United’s home at Old Trafford into a state-of-the-art stadium that can accommodate up to 100,000 fans.
Ratcliffe described Old Trafford – with a capacity of 74,310 – as looking ‘tired’
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“Manchester United is arguably, I would say, the biggest club in the world, but it certainly feels like one of the top three clubs in the world,” he said.
“It’s probably the biggest sports brand in the world. Some American brands are quite large, but they are not global brands like United.
“It’s a bit like Coca-Cola, everywhere in the world they have heard of Manchester United. So they need a stadium that lives up to the club and the brand.
“That might have been the case 20 years ago, but it’s not the case today. It’s the biggest stadium in the Premier League but it’s looking a little tired.
“If you look at what Real Madrid is doing with the Bernabeu and Barcelona with the Camp Nou.
“The Bernabeu now is fabulous, I went to see that semi-final two years ago between Manchester City and Real Madrid, and it’s just a fabulous stadium. It’s like a cauldron of noise, really impressive.
“The Camp Nou is, of course, huge and they are spending a lot of money renovating and renovating it.
“Then you look at the Premier League and we don’t have anything like the Bernabeu or the Camp Nou.
Ratcliffe highlighted the stunning redevelopment of Real Madrid’s Bernabeu in recent months
The exterior of the Bernabeu after Real Madrid spent millions to bring it up to date
“Yet the Premier League is several times bigger than the Spanish league in terms of size, scale and importance, because that’s where all the money and TV (money) is.
“People all over the world know the Premier League, they know all the teams in the Premier League. But they don’t know all the teams in the Spanish league, or the German league, or the Italian league. They know West Ham. Everton, what do you have.
“The Premier League needs to have grounds that are equal to our European competitors, but then there is this other argument.”
Ratcliffe, 71, reiterated that United will have the option to renovate the existing 74,310-capacity Old Trafford, their home stadium since 1910, at a cost of around £1 billion.
Or they can use land adjacent to the club to build a new arena for the 21st century, which could have a capacity greater than 90,000 Wembley.
He added: “We can renovate the pitch and we can do a really good job because it’s a fantastic stadium.” It would cost around £1 billion and the club can shoulder that burden.
Barcelona is also in the process of renovating its gigantic Nou Camp stadium.
The rebuilt Camp Nou will have a capacity of around 105,000 people, one of the largest in the world
“But you have this opportunity, if you want, to build this brand new field because we have enough space.
“If you built a completely new ground, it would be absolutely state-of-the-art, world-class, with a capacity of 90,000 or maybe even 100,000, and that would then provide a platform for some of the major competitions in the north of England.
“Why do England always play in the south, why shouldn’t they play in the north? Why is the FA Cup final always in the south? Why is the League final of Champions would not be played occasionally in the North?
“If you look at the northwest, these three clubs – Man City, Man United, Liverpool – have won 10 Champions Leagues. London have won two Champions Leagues.
Ratcliffe wants to rebuild Old Trafford to host England internationals and major cup finals
“If you look at the composition of the England team, sometimes Liverpool supply six or seven players to the England team.
“Football is just as important, if not more so, to Northerners, and Northerners pay their taxes.
“So why do we have Wembley to the south, Twickenham to the south, Wimbledon to the south, the Olympic village to the south, and then the O2 concert arena to the south?
“What do we have in the north? All this upgrade stuff, the great powerhouse of the North… nice words, but what do we do?
“There is a strong case for building a ‘Wembley of the North’.
“A fabulous stadium that can host England games and big matches and people from the north don’t need to travel to London to watch a big game.”