Renovate or rebuild? Sir Jim Ratcliffe reveals 'preference' for Old Trafford future

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined his «preference» for Manchester United to build a brand new Old Trafford, potentially partly funded by taxpayer money, somewhere on the current site rather than carry out a refurbish job on the existing stadium.

Old Trafford has stood where it is since 1910, but the once revered venue has fallen behind the likes of the Emirates, Etihad, Tottenham Hotspur and Wembley. No major works have been carried out since 2006, with that most recent expansion signed off before the Glazer takeover.

Redeveloping and enhancing the current stadium has long proven a headache due to the proximity of a railway across the back of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand. But with swathes of club-owned land adjacent currently used for car parking prime for building on, a new stadium 100 or so yards to the left might be the best option given that the other is upping sticks altogether.

«I mean, it's an impressive stadium and it's the largest Premier League stadium in the country – the second-largest stadium in the country to Wembley, I suppose,» Ratcliffe told as he explained his vision for the future of Old Trafford.

«But it's not quite of the standard you would expect of Manchester United today and it's fallen behind. Maybe 20 years ago, it was [at the standard], but today, it's fallen behind.»

«We do need to look at the way forward for the stadium, the redevelopment of that stadium, and that there are clearly two roads we could take: we could refurbish the existing stadium or we could look at building a new stadium. And that's what we're looking at, at the moment.»

Speaking to the , Ratcliffe appeared to nail his colours to the mast of rebuilding, part of a wider urban regeneration project to breathe new life into the