Manchester United do not plan to demolish Old Trafford if they build a new stadium. Their home ground since 1910 would probably be scaled down to a capacity of about 30,000 for use by the women’s team and academy.
With the women playing most home games about 15 miles away in Leigh, such a move would be a significant upgrade for them, but the plan would also be carried out with history in mind.
Preserving Old Trafford would mean statues of Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby and Denis Law, and one of Law together with George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton would remain untouched, as would the clock commemorating the Munich disaster and the central tunnel on halfway that is the only surviving part of the original stadium designed by Archibald Leitch.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants United to decide on their stadium plans by December and favours a new facility with a capacity of 100,000 that would cost more than £2bn and take about six years to complete. That would be constructed next to Old Trafford, allowing the use of the existing venue until the new one is ready.
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Old Trafford now holds as many as 74,310 spectators and has never had a capacity lower than about 44,000, the figure in 1992 after the Hillsborough disaster led to an all-seat stadium. After that it was expanded to about 58,000 in 1996, about 68,000 in 2000 and about 76,000 in 2006. The women’s team are due to play three Women’s Super League games there this season, including their opening game next month against West Ham.