Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has suggested the UK government might want to help fund his plans to redevelop Old Trafford and the surrounding area
Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has little chance of using taxpayers’ money to redevelop Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe is moving ahead with his plans to revitalise United after the purchase of a 27.7 per cent stake in the club officially went through earlier this week. The petrochemicals billionaire is considering his options for Old Trafford while recruiting new executives to improve the club’s fortunes on and off the pitch.
The 71-year-old’s takeover included the promise of $300million (£237m) for Old Trafford, which is in desperate need of attention. Ratcliffe is now considering whether to undertake a redevelopment of Old Trafford, which is estimated to cost £1bn, or build a brand-new stadium and regenerate the area, which would be nearer £2bn.
Speaking to BBC Sport after his takeover was rubber-stamped, he suggested the government might consider funding the work. “I think, as part of a regeneration project, there has to be a conversation with the national government,” he said. “The north deserves some thought as well as the south, I think, if it is a national stadium.”
That idea has not gone down well in Whitehall and it seems extremely unlikely that it will gather any momentum, according to The Times. While public money could be spent on regenerating the area around Old Trafford, it would not be allocated to provide United with a new stadium.
A government source told The i: “It’s just not something we’d entertain. The government doesn’t tend to fund football stadiums. Where would it end?” Meanwhile, former Conservative sports minister Tracey Crouch told The Times: “When you have historic football clubs elsewhere in the pyramid on the brink of collapse, it is an astonishing suggestion that taxpayers’ money could be spent on one of the richest football clubs in the world because of the underinvestment in its stadium by its billionaire owners.”
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INEOS founder Ratcliffe is worth $21.2bn (£16.74bn) according to Forbes and, although he is eager to paint himself as a boyhood United fan from Failsworth, he is a tax exile, having changed his tax residence from Hampshire to Monaco four years ago. Speaking on Wednesday, he tried to marry his interests with United with those of the local population in Manchester.
“There is quite a big argument, in my view, for regenerating that whole south side of Manchester,” he told the BBC. “The nucleus of it would be building a new world-class state-of-the-art stadium which could take England games, the FA Cup final, Champions League finals. It could serve the north of England.
“There is a bias in the UK in terms of where national stadiums have been built – they are all in the south. There is a lot of talk about levelling up. HS2 has been cancelled and all that is going to be spent on the rail network in London. The people in the north pay their taxes just as the people in the south. Why shouldn’t there be a venue in the north of England for England to play at?”
Whitehall might not be keen on his ideas, but local council leader Tom Ross was much more complimentary. He told BBC Radio Manchester: “We’ve got two visions that are coming together – a potential brand new stadium as discussed by Sir Jim, and also the vision we have for housing regeneration, bringing this area back to life.
“There’s a lot of excitement in Manchester United about this as a key partner of ours. We look forward to working together to deliver those plans.”
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
