Manchester United officials looking at plans to expand Old Trafford capacity to 88,000 | Scrapped?

What will happen first?

  • Total voters
    386
  • Poll closed .
Link: china train through building

We can build train-lines through buildings... we can definitely build over a puny railway station.

I though united already owned a lot of the houses there anyway as well, so that's much less of an issue.

Add 15,000 seats, 50-100 high-end boxes, a hotel & another restaurant - would pay for itself.

And then refurb to the condition of the new south stand :)

stubie said:
...build a new stadium...
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Sacrilege!

Ish said:
On a side note, looking at that poll...has the website been updated yet? Because I see a Scouser option I don't really like.... :nervous:
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Scousers aren't going to win shit :lol:
 
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I love that OT has a wee canal running past it. It is just too close to the stadium ultimately because it gets cramped over there but I’d be sad to see it go.
 
I don't see United extending the stadium anytime soon. It just wouldn't be worth the expense or inconvenience right now. We have more important revenue streams and better opportunities out there. There's been loads of seats available for virtually every game this season at the top of the NW quadrant. Sell outs are becoming infrequent/
 
Green_Red said:
Modern building techniques would surely mean that the railway isn't a problem anymore. Any civil engineers able to comment?

Id just like to see the food court areas renovated. It's like stepping back into 1980 when you're at the stadium.
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You can put a tunnel under anything in the world if you dig deep enough. Although you wouldn't even have to go down as the track is already under the finish ground level.

A structure the size of stadium would probably have Piling Foundations. They're separate objects unlike a continuous foundation you find on smaller buildings/houses (strip or raft foundations). Therefore you could place them to either side of the train track thus supporting the building while having a live track line under it. It'd cost a lot of money but it's not a complicated job.

Put enough reinforced concrete, rebar and structure steel into any building and you (in theory) could achieve anything.
 
TMDaines said:
I don't see United extending the stadium anytime soon. It just wouldn't be worth the expense or inconvenience right now. We have more important revenue streams and better opportunities out there. There's been loads of seats available for virtually every game this season at the top of the NW quadrant. Sell outs are becoming infrequent/
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Reason for rebuilding the stadium is never about those 50 pound audience. It is ALWAYS about more and better hospitality suite, better changing room for the camera....
 
Trizy said:
You can put a tunnel under anything in the world if you dig deep enough. Although you wouldn't even have to go down as the track is already under the finish ground level.

A structure the size of stadium would probably have Piling Foundations. They're separate objects unlike a continuous foundation you find on smaller buildings/houses (strip or raft foundations). Therefore you could place them to either side of the train track thus supporting the building while having a live track line under it. It'd cost a lot of money but it's not a complicated job.

Put enough reinforced concrete, rebar and structure steel into any building and you (in theory) could achieve anything.
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Yea, I guess it's similar to airports that have train stations inside them. Birmingham, Standsted, Schipol, Sydney... all come to mind. And given the station is actually called Manchester United Football Ground you would think having a forecourt in the station that leads directly into the ground wouldn't be a problem at all.
 
horsechoker said:
Would love to play there just to mess up their records. We could play a pub team and smash them 40-0 to have the record for biggest win.
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We'll probably set a new appearance record in that game too.
 
Green_Red said:
Modern building techniques would surely mean that the railway isn't a problem anymore. Any civil engineers able to comment?

Id just like to see the food court areas renovated. It's like stepping back into 1980 when you're at the stadium.
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Last time i was there, all the food places wouldnt even take card, cash only and not a ATM in sight :annoyed:
 
Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell said:
The easiest way is to have the train track going under the new stand.

There's no way United are leaving Old Trafford.
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Pretty sure you need many different external planning permissions to do anything that involved the train line or near it, and City/Liverpool fans always manage to find themselves on the voting panels for this kind of shit which is why we always get vetoed.

Pretty sure someone in here works for the council and often sits in meetings where City supporting council members vote down anything United put forward for the better of the community or the club.
 
crossy1686 said:
Pretty sure you need many different external planning permissions to do anything that involved the train line or near it, and City/Liverpool fans always manage to find themselves on the voting panels for this kind of shit which is why we always get vetoed.

Pretty sure someone in here works for the council and often sits in meetings where City supporting council members vote down anything United put forward for the better of the community or the club.
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That's a disgrace if true and they should be publicly named and shamed.
 
crossy1686 said:
Pretty sure you need many different external planning permissions to do anything that involved the train line or near it, and City/Liverpool fans always manage to find themselves on the voting panels for this kind of shit which is why we always get vetoed.

Pretty sure someone in here works for the council and often sits in meetings where City supporting council members vote down anything United put forward for the better of the community or the club.
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Of course planning permission is needed. It goes without saying that United can't rip up train tracks and houses willy nilly.

Your point about individuals at the council is bollocks.

All decisions made by the local government are tighed up in policies and laws - individuals with vendettas aren't able to derail things like that. If the council rejects at proposal there would need to be reasoning given and United would sue the council if things weren't being done 'above board' and the council would nit want a lengthly court case against United. Local authorities in UK are practically financially broke.

Also - the national government can over ride local governments on planning issues. So United would bypass the local authority and lobby centeal government if needs be.
 
Out of interest, has anyone seen what the new stand would look like? I'm not talking about that Photoshop one where they've just mirror imaged the whole thing.
 
Wouldnt it be easier to rebuild the railway line further away, then build the new stand?
 
groovyalbert said:
This. Capacity is not what's holding the stadium back, it's more in need of certain modernising.
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Capacity is definitely a problem. And a facelift as well though.

But the owners realise how tickets are sold out every single game, and would still be sold out at 88k capacity. That's a lot more money being made and certainly worth the investment.

Would make it a lot more convenient for fans to buy tickets as well, it's hard currently as they sell out so quick.
 
Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell said:
It's a built up area all around - houses, businesses, main roads. You can't just move the train tracks. If it was that easy it would have been done decades ago
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Seems the only option then if they are going to do it is build over the tracks or build a new ground. I haven't been to a premier game there since 2010/11 and it seemed full with loads milling around outside but someone put on here it isn't even filling up anymore. Is that true?
 
wolvored said:
Wouldnt it be easier to rebuild the railway line further away, then build the new stand?
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Yeah, surely that would only cost a few hundred quid...

For comparison, the Ordsall Chord that was built a couple of years ago is 300m long and cost £85m.
 
The extension of the ground on the South side has been up for discussion many times.

Initially the problem was reported as the land required on the South side would require purchasing from the then British Railways, but they couldn't or wouldn't sell and United wouldn't invest millions in land they did not own. Then there was the access/egress problems (which still pertain) a railway line on one side and a canal on the other meant bridges of various kinds which have now (mainly because of the need for greater security) become 'bottlenecks' especially for egress post-match, finally there was the relative costs, mostly it would go underground or into infrastructure (i.e. railways station, extra bridges, etc.) and the Police at one point lodge objections because of the traffic flow problems and the need to close roads, during or after matches.

The only alternative was to either move to a new stadium elsewhere, thereby sacrificing the OT/Theatre of Dreams titles, or move the Ground itself (like Spurs have done) further towards Old Trafford industrial estate, giving better access and egress as well as space, but again massive buy-out/up costs and problems would be envisaged.

Suppose every few years it becomes a topic of conversation, but a bit like Brexit, gets nowhere!
 
It’s never going to happen. Best we can hope for is the proverbial lick of paint.
 
crossy1686 said:
Can't remember who it was but someone in here definitely said that was the case regarding Manchester Council.
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As ABUs are constantly and tediously reminding everyone, the ground and its immediate surroundings (including the houses across the railway line) is wholly within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford (until 1974 Stretford MB); it isn't in the City of Manchester at all.
 
Deffo needs a new skin, and do the two quadrants for moderate financial cost bringing the attendance to 80,000, compared to the ridiculous idea of a billion pound 90,000 capacity new shiny stadium
 
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Bindz said:
Deffo needs a new skin, and do the two quadrants for moderate financial cost bringing the attendance to 80,000, compared to the ridiculous idea of a billion pound 90,000 capacity new shiny stadium
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We all know that the ground needs a significant upgrade.
Manchester United is one of if not the most famous football club and it needs a top quality stadium. OT is the spiritual home and must remain so but it also is looking rough around the edges.
It urgently requires investment to make it suitable for the 21st century.
Your suggestion seems the absolute minimum requirement.
 
I hate the lop sided look, also been looking forward to the redevelopment of the south side for over 10 years ,now that revenue streams are not so dependent on matchday ticket sales it seems the redevelopment is further away .Quadrants are a must it will also mean a new roof hopefully a new roof all round and of course the beginning of a new exterior for whole stadium the capacity will be around 80,000,and at a later date a further development ,moving stadium in same vicinity would mean the same issues with traffic ,police ,crowd control and possible bridges and at a cost of a billion for 10,000 just doesn't add up on any sort of financial sense
 
My pet peeve is the view from 2nd tier up, especially top of the SAF.

Can just about see the top of the pitch in some seats. Would love the roof to be lifted similar to the Bernabeu where you can see the stand directly opposite you. This would also boost atmosphere in terms of fans feeling less cut off from the rest of the stadium.
 
Nothing will happen under the Glazers. They will just put the match camera on the opposite side of the pitch and call it a new vision or something stupid to get social media clicks.
Right now every pound and second should be spent on the football team. Huge plans require huge debt and right now we are looking down the barrel of a decade without a credible attempt at the league or Champions league.
 
Also this, Manchester City plan to increase the capacity of their smart stadium to 60,000 when demand warrants it :lol:
 
The Galzers have frozen ticket prices for the best part of a decade. Matchday revenue is not something they give a shit about atm.
 
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