Manchester United will consider selling the naming rights to their new £2billion stadium, but insist it will protect the club’s heritage despite being built further away from Old Trafford.
United confirmed the site of their ‘Wembley of the North’ on Thursday after abandoning talks to buy the freight rail terminal behind the Stretford End last month and acquiring 25 acres of land 350 metres from the stadium instead.
The club still don’t know what they will do with their iconic home of 116 years but are determined not to sell their soul when they make the move, hopefully by 2035.
Collette Roche, United’s CEO of new stadium development, sat down with Daily Mail Sport and other media outlets to discuss how the 100,000-seater arena will be funded, insisted it has to be ‘a sanity project not a vanity project’, and explained why the controversial ‘tent’ design unveiled by architects Foster + Partners at their London headquarters last year is not set in stone.
Is it still realistic for the new stadium to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup?
In terms of timescales, there are two things we just need to bear in mind. The design is going to inform how we’re going to construct the stadium. We’ve got to go to planning, and then that will give us the (start) date. Once we’ve got the date, we can all then build a plan behind it. The 2035 one is quite interesting because it’s a good milestone. I do think it’s realistic because of the work we’ve done so far, and we’ve now got the land. We’ve been working really hard with the local council around the transport systems, which is really critical.
We’ve got to go through the consultation process – and it’s got to be a genuine consultation process. So we’ve got to listen, respond, react and then we can get through with the planning.
Then we can start to work out exactly what that date would be. But I would think we should be done by 2035.
Manchester United’s new 100,000-seater home will be at the heart of a new Stadium District – as revealed in images released today
Is a cost of £2bn to build the new stadium also realistic?
That’s the £2billion question! We don’t know, is the answer. Obviously different stadiums have been built, and you look at Everton.
We can look at some of the ones further afield, but we’re going to be building a very different stadium. It’s going to be bigger than any other with 100,000 seats. Nobody’s done that, and it’s going to be done a bit in the future.
So there is not a price I can get a quote on this right now. We have to go through the design process and, then it goes to the engineers. They’ll decide how to construct it. So it’s not helpful to suddenly throw a figure out there.
We’ve still got all of the funding options available to us. It’s like when you buy anything. There’s lots of things: we can have debt, we can have equity, we can have shares, we can have other investors. Since we had the conversation last time, we’ve had a lot of approaches, as you’d expect. A few people saying, ‘I want to be part of this.’
So, we’re not worried about the level of interest and support and funding options. There is actually quite a big list. The question is: we need to know how much it’s going to cost. And then what’s the best way to pay for it, not how are we going to pay for it. That’s the thing we can’t answer until we know how much it’s going to cost.
The new stadium is set to be located 350m north-west of Old Trafford and become what is described as the ‘flagship landmark’
Is there a danger that the costs of building the new stadium could balloon out of control?
We’ve been really clear from the onset, this needs to be a sanity project not a vanity project. I think you’ve seen from the way we now run the club, having control of our costs is really important to us. Focusing on putting our money where it matters is really important to us.
Actually, we’ve got a really strict regime around managing effectively. You’ve seen where we are financially, which we are improving. Then we’ve got no desire to go beyond and do anything that disturbs any of that. It will be on us to deliver to the time and budget.
I know things can go out of control. People said that with me on (the £50m upgrade of) Carrington, right? You’re never going to do it in that time. You’re never going to do it for that price. But we did because we were really, really disciplined.
I think as long as you are disciplined and as long as you’ve got the right team around you – which I think we have with the best architects and consultants – we’ll all hold each other to account.
We’ve got to make sure it’s affordable. That’s the main thing is it’s got to be sanity not vanity on the funding side.
Manchester United are already in a great deal of debt. Are there any concerns that the new stadium will heap more debt on the club?
I think the thing is we go back to why we’re doing it. At the moment, we know we’ve got a lot of fans who want to come and watch the match and they can’t. So we need a bigger stadium is the first thing.
In terms of how we then fund it, it’s not just about putting debt on the club, if indeed that is the route we go. We’ve got other funding options.
What you’ve got to remember is building a stadium of 100,000 seats where it’s football first, and we deliver all our matches. But then in and around the matches, we do all this stuff. People come, they stay for longer. We’ll have all the facilities, other experiences. That’s going to generate a lot more revenue. That will go back into the club, that goes back into the team, that goes back into growing our football.
As far as I’m concerned, whilst we can get over-obsessed with debt and borrowing, there is no stadium I don’t think where you would not have some form of borrowing. It’s natural. I am sure all of you haven’t paid for your houses out of your own pocket.
But we just need to make sure it’s sensible and that it generates income and obviously, money for the future of the club and doesn’t distract from what we’re here for, which is winning competitions, winning trophies, winning matches.
There have been questions over where United’s stadium where sit – and the masterplan now shows the spot the club are eyeing up
Fans are still in two minds as to whether they want a new-build or re-develop Old Trafford. Was it a big decision to relocat 350 metres away from the original footprint?
Look, it was a big decision about whether we have a new build or redevelopment, and we’ve spoken about that in the past. So I’m not going to go through the whys and wherefores.
Now we’ve got the new stadium, was it a big decision to be 350 metres further away from Old Trafford? No. Because quite simply we’re in Old Trafford, which is really important.
We can’t disrupt what we’re doing today. We’ve got ambitious plans for the club. We want to win football matches. So by being 350 metres away for the next four or five years, or however long it takes to build a stadium, it’s going to be really important because if it’s too close, it will be disruptive. Our players will be playing in a building site. The fans won’t be able to get in and out. The transport’s going to be a nightmare.
Having that little bit of distance makes absolute sense. It wasn’t a hard decision but it’s obviously a big one in terms of the history and heritage of our fans. That’s why we need to work with them now.
I’ve already started or restarted the conversations with the fans advisory board: what is important? What do we mean by history and heritage? What do you want to take? What are we protecting? Are there things from this stadium that should come over? Are there rituals we want to rebuild things in the same way? That will all be determined through that design phase.
We have no desire to start afresh at Manchester United. One of the best things about Manchester United is our history and heritage. We’ve got to hold on to it. It’s about building on it, building the next chapter, and that’s how we want to do it.
If Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister, are you losing an ally as Mayor of Greater Manchester but gaining an even better one in Downing Street?
I’d first of all say, I hope it’s the second answer to your question about gaining an ally in No.10 – not that by the way, we didn’t already have an ally in No.10. I think generally No.10 and all the government I’ve spoken to have been very supportive of this project.
But I think the difference, if and when Andy ends up in that seat, is he does understand the North. He’s a champion of this, and he also knows how important it is that public and private partnerships happen and make things work a lot easier. Having him there for us, I think is an absolute benefit.
That said, whoever is in there, we will work with them. We have to because this project’s going to go over 20 years. So I don’t know the last time we had a Prime Minister in office for 20 years. I can’t remember if it’s in my lifetime anyway. So we’ve got to work with all the different ones, but it is really going to be good.
United plan to release more images of their stadium plans soon – after these 2025 mock-ups
Is there any chance whatsoever you get public funding for the stadium itself?
That’s not something that we ever really wanted to or thought about doing. I think we, as a football club, need to stand on our own two feet, and we need to pay for our stadium for a whole host of reasons.
However, this is massive. A lot bigger than the stadium. What we can’t do is pay for a new train station or new infrastructure because we won’t have the funds for that. Our funds will go on the stadium.
So that’s where the public private partnership comes in. That’s where we’ll have to work together to make sure it’s giving benefit for the greater good. Then we work with the central government.
We know this region is needing regeneration. We’ve talked about it and that’s why I was so ambitious to do it. So it’s a positive thing but I think it’s part of a bigger picture.
Old Trafford doesn’t feature in the masterplan. What is the future for the existing stadium?
I just don’t know. That is the genuine question, I think. Today is the part of the consultation. We can’t say we’re consulting and then say ‘by the way, we’ve already decided’ because we haven’t.
The focus at the moment for me personally is around getting a new stadium built, making sure that the facilities around are in place. Then I think everything else is phased. It’s not going to happen overnight.
Then at that point, we’ll then think what should we do with this? Should we keep it? Should we knock it down? Should we redevelop it into something different? Should it become houses?
I don’t know and we’ll have to go through that process. That’s going to be a consultation and also something we need to work really closely with the council on because we’ve still collectively got to deliver the jobs, the homes, the businesses. Obviously, we’re in prime position because we own so much of that land.
The proposed area is said to be ‘a vibrant and transformational district for Trafford and Greater Manchester’
Is there a danger that at any point in this process you will have to accept that it’s too expensive and not sustainable?
I think we’ve gone so far. Part of it is around the masterplan. Now we’ve worked with the local council to say we are going to build a new stadium. That is in there as a placeholder and we’re really committed to do it.
I think all of those things are important, but we’ve got to make this work. We can’t just abandon it. If I look now at some of the different construction techniques available to us, a lot of the modular approaches can be done quicker and faster. Less disruptive things can be done in a different way to make this a success. We’re looking at making sure it happens, not whether it never happens or should happen. I think that train has left the station, and we just need to make it happen now.
Is the tent design unveiled at Foster + Partners last year set in stone?
No, is the first thing. We’re going through the design process. We’re not ripping things up so to speak. But now we know where it’s going to be, we need to make sure it fits in the right place. Does it look right from the different angles? Is it bigger, or is it smaller?
No, honestly, we’ve launched a concept of a new stadium right and everyone gets excited and then they all decide what the stadium’s going to be. Even though I don’t, and I’m running the stadium.
Today was never really about the design of the stadium. Today was about the masterplan. So we know where it’s going to be, and that’s it. My job now is to work with Fosters, and we’re going to start the process around design. That’s where it’ll evolve. So it’s not set in stone, it will evolve.
Would United be open to selling naming rights to the stadium?
We don’t know, but everything’s on the table, right? I genuinely think we just need to work through that.
I really don’t know what the stadium will be called. What I will say is that we’ve been really vocal, we are going to potentially look at naming rights to the stadium. It’s an important revenue stream. It’s something we’ve discussed with our Fan Advisory Board.
I think everybody realises affordable accessible ticket prices are really important, and in order to do that we do need to generate revenue streams in other places as well to build the stadium that everyone said is going to be really expensive. So I think everybody understands that, but we just need to go through the process.
