Annoying rodents, flooded toilets and dilapidated roofs are images of the inside of Old Trafford that make candidates for the key to unlock the doors of the “Theater of Dreams”. face if taken over from the Glazers. Obviously, there will be countless challenges in taking over the team, but getting the Theater of Dreams to sing again could be the biggest challenge.
Man United on a game day is a strange paradox: The club’s 113-year-old home is a citadel for 73,511 direct supporters of the players, but it’s a place that is falling apart, far from it. the luxury of the red half of Manchester. It is like a sepia-tinted reminder of the team’s former glory with its old façade, cramped waiting room.
The decline of Old Trafford reflects stagnation in the post-Ferguson years and offers a stark reminder that the Glazer family has stood still while rivals have either refreshed their homes or moved into a new stadium. new movement. Memo for those who own Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani or Sir Jim Ratcliffe football teams: you’ll need to dig here and it’ll take a little more paint to bring the place to life.
“The place is really tired. It still has the same character, but this place is so far behind the times. It’s a shame to walk in here, see rust and leaky roof. The feeling. like the time is too short.
It still has its own charm, but the food and beer are second, and the inside is too small. In the end you have to leave about five to 10 minutes before half-time just to make sure you have a warm cake,” United fan Alwyn Robson, 45, said ahead of the quarter-final. FA Cup final on Sunday against Fulham.
Walk to Sir Matt Busby Way to get down to the ground, there’s a food that captivates NMM from the carts selling burgers, fried onions and anticipation. Alwyn is right: the place has its own charm and character, but it feels primitive. As a backup for the fans along the way there are just over 6 fast food carts and some people selling scarves.
Fans lined up outside the lounge to take pictures with trophies that simulated the greatest moment in the club’s history, the 1999 treble. It felt quite rewarding to watch the fans pose. with trophies won almost a quarter of a century ago – Old Trafford feels stuck in the past rather than moving with the times.
The entrance to section N46 of the Sir Alex Ferguson stand is dark and dingy, while seat 115 on row AA – like many seats around it – is light red, which looks quite appropriate and reflects the sentence’s relative deterioration club for the past 10 years. Legroom here is very high, sometimes the phone signal is almost non-existent. Even the scoreboard, a narrow electronic strip above the tunnel, feels like a relic of the past.
Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe are ready to spend billions of pounds to acquire this commercial giant and the top category of expenditures will be the renovation of this great football basilica – the largest football stadium in the country. UK – or make the extremely bold decision to build something else: New Trafford, if you will. For many, even the thought of tearing down this sacred place is heresy. However, others perceive it as an opportunity.
Jason Kouffor, an electrician from Didsbury and has been at Old Trafford since the age of six, said: “I used to be against the idea of ​​a new stadium but the more I come here, the more I feel it could be a good thing. Imagine a 100,000-seat stadium, the right food, the right beer, and a really big fan experience.”
“We are behind the times. Look at Tottenham’s stadium, that’s what we should aspire to, but bigger,” added Kouffor.
Sunday’s FA Cup match is Pandora Bletchley’s first trip to the M16. She’s 24 years old and her ticket to the quarterfinals was a birthday present.
“It’s massive, and when you walk up the steps and see the courtyard for the first time, it’s amazing. Although it’s a bit outdated. I’ll definitely be back, but the concert was shoddy. and it didn’t feel very polished. I didn’t get anything in the first half because nothing really appealed to me,” she said.
Representatives for Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe himself visited Old Trafford last week. Detailed estimates suggest it will cost more than £1 billion to bring the stadium into the 21st century. The Quadrants, planned and budgeted before the Glazer takeover, was completed in 2006 but close to two Decades pass, time stands still. However, to Man United’s credit, £12m has been spent improving disabled areas, including a newly built lounge at the back of Stretford End. Those facilities have access to 278 wheelchair spaces and 278 dedicated comfort seats, across the field.
Future Manchester United owners received a presentation titled “opportunities and challenges” that aptly summed up the situation of their home. Old Trafford is an impressive, almost terrifying sight as it looms large over Manchester’s skyline and the surrounding club-owned stadium is vast. There are plenty of opportunities to develop immersive fan experiences, but it comes at a cost.
Behind the Trafford pub on Chester Road at the head of Sir Matt Busby Road, an unused building remains a stain on the landscape. And yet, Man United was criticized by the city council for “failing to implement adequate pest control procedures” in 2015, amid repeated infestations by rats.
