Manchester United task clear amid new stadium plan and £200m Liverpool FSG masterstroke

A general view outside Old Trafford.
-Credit: (Image: Nick Potts/PA Wire)


There's been a lot of talk over redevelopment at Old Trafford or potential for Manchester United to build a new stadium since Sir Jim Ratcliffe's takeover of the club at the end of last year. The United co-owner and founder of Ineos has spearheaded plans to regenerate Old Trafford.

It was announced, on Monday, that a strategic partnership has been forged between United, Trafford Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, with the three parties working together to focus on the regeneration of the wider areas surrounding Old Trafford.

The club has put together an Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce - putting a world-class football stadium at the heart of that project. The Task Force is to oversee the future of the stadium, plus its generation, as well as that of the surrounding area as United hope to breathe fresh life into the club.

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If United want an example on the success of the redevelopment of a stadium, then they should look no further than arch rivals Liverpool. As reported by the Liverpool Echo and Chief Business of Football Writer Dave Powell, when owners Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool back in 2010, they had a key decision to make on whether they should stay at Anfield or build a new home.

The call to stay and redevelop their home was taken and the 2016 redevelopment of the club's new Main Stand, which added another 8,500 seats to the total capacity to take it to 54,000, cost around £114million.

Completed earlier this year, meanwhile, the Anfield Road End redevelopment cost some £80million to complete, taking their capacity to just over 61,000. Similarly to United's plans, the redevelopment of Anfield also focused on creating a better experience for fans as well as increasing capacity.

That, in turn, contributes to increased revenue streams.

Analysis by event insurance specialists, Protectivity, looked at Google reviews for all 20 Premier League sides for the 2024/2025 season, plus the three clubs that were relegated last season. They analysed the percentage of five-star Google reviews of their stadiums.

And following the redevelopment, it was Anfield that came out on top with 86.99 per cent of reviews as five-star. Liverpool's home ground finished with an average score of 4.7 out of five stars on Google.

Old Trafford ranked in fourth place with a five-star rating of 80.53 per cent. Their average star rating was 4.6 out of five, underlining its current appeal and vast potential redevelopment could help to realise.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Nottingham Forest's City Ground ranked second and third through Google's reviews. Arsenal's Emirates Stadium was in fifth, while Luton Town's Kenilworth Road was ranked the lowest of the 23 clubs - and stadiums - that were analysed by Protectivity.