Manchester United plans to build a 100,000-seat stadium adjacent to Old Trafford, but a deadlock has arisen over land pricing issues.
In the proposed plan, the stadium has been dubbed the “Wembley of the North” by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The club hopes to use the land, currently a railway freight depot, for the redevelopment of Old Trafford and claims the project will generate £7.3 billion annually for the UK economy.
Manchester United has held talks with Freightliner, the freight company that owns and operates the depot, over the purchase of the land, but negotiations have hit a deadlock due to price differences.
Freightliner has stated its willingness to relocate the depot from Trafford Park to nearby St Helens but hopes to sell the land for approximately £400 million, while Manchester United values the land at between £40 million and £50 million.
Ratcliffe has made it clear that United is unwilling to accept the asking price from the parent company of the freight firm, and initial talks are believed to have reached a stalemate.
Freightliner has “put United in a difficult position”. The company is willing to move to the proposed new site, which will offer higher train capacity, but is in no hurry to relocate. The club believes that substantial profits can only be achieved if Freightliner is willing to lower its asking price.
In March this year, Ratcliffe unveiled the masterplan for Old Trafford, designed by Foster + Partners, and set an ambitious target of completing what he described as a five-year construction project by 2030. United had hoped to start preliminary construction work by the end of this year, but the failure to secure the site from Freightliner will delay the start date.
United’s options at this stage include increasing their offer, waiting for Freightliner to lower its price, or scaling down the project so that the depot land is not required. The new Trafford Mayor’s Development Corporation, chaired by Sebastian Coe, could also issue a compulsory purchase order, but this would face legal challenges and could lead to further delays.
