With Manchester United on the verge of finally being bought out and actually playing some decent football again, the issue of Old Trafford’s redevelopment is one that’s on many fans’ minds.
Despite being one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, the Theatre of Dreams is actually one of the older, more outdated football arenas in the Premier League, especially given the size of the club which inhabits it.
That being said, United fans have been calling for renovations at Old Trafford for a long time and while the Glazers never looked particularly keen on investing in the stadium, the potential sale of the club could mean a new lease of life is now on the horizon.
Obviously, nobody knows what a hypothetical Old Trafford redesign would look like but YouTuber Bondibot has taken it upon himself to mock up a few options.
As you can see, the 3D animator who specialises in stadium designs and concept art took multiple approaches when it came to visualising how Old Trafford’s redevelopment could unfold; the first and arguably most likely being the expansion of the existing South (Sir Bobby Charlton) Stand.
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Currently the section with the smallest capacity and the only one that doesn’t share the recognisable white railings on the roof, his first option to ‘Expand’ Old Trafford would see the same features duplicated all the way around, including all four corner pillars copying the more geometric design of the existing two on the north side.
Option B, ‘Upgrade’, would see an entirely new facade built around the original Old Trafford, essentially wrapping the old ground in a more modern shell without having to destroy any of the existing fixtures.
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Can’t lie, it gave us big, shiny bedpan vibes — no offence.
The final and perhaps most divisive option posed by Bondibot was a complete ‘Rebuild’: erecting a brand new, redesigned stadium right next to Old Trafford as it is now, before ultimately bulldozing the 113-year-old sporting institution and building a new training facility and wider club complex on the land.
Despite being a marked upgrade from The Cliff which United trained at up until 1999 at the time, another criticism of the club’s lack of evolution over the past decade or so has been their primary training ground at Carrington, which many have noted is also now a little outdated.
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Not only would a new training complex in close proximity to the ground, similar to Man City, make much more sense on the whole, but it would create opportunities for fan spaces, more room for matchday concessions, larger parking facilities and so on — again, not unlike the Etihad Campus.
Each possible Old Trafford redesign has its pros and cons but fans might genuinely have to start considering which one they’d prefer if this takeover goes through. One thing, however, seems certain: a name change just wouldn’t feel right. They rarely do…
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
26th February 2023 
