SIR JIM RATCLIFFE wants Manchester United’s new £2billion home to be the north of England’s answer to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
And the club’s co-owner claims ONE BILLION United followers will want to visit the ‘New Trafford’ tourist attraction — despite some fans branding it a “CIRCUS TENT”.
The Old Trafford faithful might be sceptical — given the Red Devils also sit 14th in the Prem table.
What’s more, Ratcliffe claimed on Monday afternoon the club would have gone bust by Christmas had they not brutally slashed costs.
Yet here he was, a few hours later, unveiling the plans for a 100,000-seater stadium — which they hope can become reality by the start of the 2030/31 season.
The Ineos owner said: “It’s obvious that the more iconic or more extraordinary that the stadium is, the more successful the regeneration scheme will be.
“A really good example is the Eiffel Tower. Everybody around the world knows the Eiffel Tower.
“I’m sure many people here who have visited Paris, you stay in a hotel, you go to the Eiffel Tower.
“We have one billion people around the world who follow Manchester United. They will all want to visit this stadium.”
The Manchester-born Ineos magnate does not feel the region he hails from has a stadium it merits — but he aims to put that right.
That is why he asked architect Norman Foster — another who grew up in the city — to come up with the plans.
Ratcliffe added: “The north of England has won ten Champions League medals and London has won two but London has Wembley, and Twickenham, and Wimbledon and the Olympic Village.
“The North deserves to have a stadium where England can play football, where we can hold the Champions League and a stadium befitting of Manchester United’s stature.”
He feels the same way about the English top flight, too, adding: “The Premier League is indisputably the best football league in the world — maybe the best sport’s league in the world.
“It must have a stadium that is at least the equal of the best in Europe.
“Today it has some great stadiums but it doesn’t have a Bernabeu or a Nou Camp.
“They are bigger and more interesting than the stadiums we have in the Premier League.”
United have studied those two Spanish venues while working out their own plans — as well as the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
But they wanted something unique to United — and the three big-top style tents, to signify the ‘trident’ on their badge will make sure of that.
Not to mention the enormous umbrella that will cover a huge area of the complex — surely a nod to the famous Manchester weather.
With 170,000 on their waiting list for season tickets, United are convinced they can sell the extra 25,000-plus tickets that would be added to their current capacity.
They need to make sure they have a team worthy of performing on such a grand stage, though — and chief exec Omar Berrada says they will not lose sight of that.
He said: “It is clear that our ambition is to have the best team in the world with the best and most iconic stadium in the world.
“We want to have some of the best players playing at Old Trafford in front of our fans.
“Our fans deserve to see a team that they can be proud of and can connect with — and to be able to do that in an amazing venue like the one we have shown.
“We obviously want the stadium to give us additional revenues for us to be able to invest into the team, and I think that’s going to help.
“One of the biggest upsides is to give the best experience to our fans, to be able to accommodate more fans into the stadium.
“But it is true that the additional revenues will help finance the talent that the fans will see on the pitch.”
He also played down concerns over how a club that was apparently heading for the wall can finance such an enormous project.
Berrada added: “The way the club was tracking, with all the losses that have been accumulated — more than £300million in the last five years — was not sustainable.
“So all the plans we’ve been putting in place over the last months really address the short-term issue, which is that the club was losing money.
“Once we stop losing money, we then put ourselves in the best financial position to continue investing in our team and also to allow us to be able to have the ambition to build a new stadium.”
United have yet to decide what will happen to the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ — their home since 1910 and the setting for countless iconic moments.
But yesterday was a clear sign that its days are numbered.
Berrada said: “We want a stadium that’s befitting of the stature and history of this club.
“Old Trafford is 115 years old, so we want to build a stadium that is going to last for another 100 years.”
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