Manchester United get Coe to lead taskforce on new stadium project

Manchester United have announced the creation of an Old Trafford regeneration taskforce that will explore the building of a new state-of-the-art stadium, including how to finance a project that the club accepts it cannot undertake alone.

Jim Ratcliffe, United’s largest individual shareholder, wants to construct a home for the club on the site where Old Trafford stands. Sebastian Coe will chair the taskforce, which has a remit to regenerate the area and seek strategic partnerships. Other members include Gary Neville, the former United captain, and Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.

Ratcliffe said: “This can be a major regeneration project for an area of Greater Manchester which has played such a key role in British industrial history, but which today requires new investment to thrive again.

“The north-west of England has a greater concentration of major football clubs than anywhere else in the world, yet we don’t have a stadium on the scale of Wembley, the Nou Camp or Bernabéu. We will not be able to change that on our own, which is why this taskforce is so important to help us seize this once-in-a-century.” 

Although United will not seek grants, a wide range of options will be explored, including public-private partnerships. 

Coe, the World Athletics president, who chaired the organising committee for the London 2012 Olympics, said: “Throughout my career in sport, I have seen the potential for stadiums to become focal points for strong communities and catalysts for social and economic development.

“That was certainly true of the venues we built in east London for the 2012 Olympics, and we are overdue a project of similar scale and ambition in the north of England. I am honoured to have this opportunity to