A brand Old Trafford could cement Manchester, the football capital of the world

Andy Burnham has claimed that a brand new Old Trafford could be part of the biggest regeneration in the north of England this century and cement Manchester as the football capital of the world.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester has joined Lord Coe and Gary Neville on a taskforce to drive plans for a new 90,000-seater stadium to replace United’s 114-year-old home, and believes it could have the same transformative effect on Manchester as the 2012 Olympics had on East London.

A final decision over whether to rebuild Old Trafford or redevelop the existing stadium will be made towards the autumn, but the United board are backing Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans for a new state-of-the-art arena and Burnham is behind it as well.

‘The more ambitious the club is the better,’ said Burnham. ‘If Sir Jim goes big in his vision, we will need transport infrastructure to surround it.

‘What we are talking about is a complex regeneration scheme that could be the biggest in the north of England in our lifetime, and why as Mayor of Greater Manchester would I not want that?

‘From our point of view, there is nothing bigger in world football than the name Manchester United, and if we unlock the full power of this club in terms of its power to regenerate it is fantastic for Greater Manchester, jobs and investment.

‘This could be the biggest regeneration project in the north of England, it could be that big. It depends on the club, do they redevelop or rebuild?

‘Only Milan and Manchester have two Champions League winners. You could make an argument this is the biggest city in world football. If you have United in the west and City in the east, no other city in the world would be set up in terms of its football infrastructure to Manchester. No one would come