On Thursday, Manchester United officially announced the appointment of a top-level team of industry-leading consultants to develop a master plan for the transformation of Old Trafford.
The team has worked on the design of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, was also responsible for the renovation of Real Madrid's home Bernabeu, and also participated in the expansion of Leicester City's home stadium King Power Stadium, The Expansion of Anfield Stands and other projects, and has rich experience in the development of stadiums.
The Daily Mail reporter Mike Keegan reported that initial indications are that United's most likely plan is to expand the South Stand of the Theatre of Dreams, the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, to increase the overall number of seats by 15,000 seats.
As a result, the Red Devils' home stadium will have a capacity of 88,000 spectators, which will give Old Trafford the second highest capacity in the UK Stadium, after wembley Stadium with 90,000 people.
Despite United's poor record over the past few years, there has never been a shortage of fan support. There are 100,000 Red Devils fans waiting to buy season tickets every season, and Manchester United officially hopes that the expansion of the stadium will meet the needs of more fans.
According to estimates, the cost of expanding the South Stand is expected to exceed £200 million. The latest earnings report shows that Manchester United's debt at the end of 2021 is £495 million, but it should not affect the club's access to loans. The debt has been around since the Glazer family's leveraged buyout of Manchester United.
Since the Premier League era, Old Trafford has undergone several expansions and the stadium capacity has also increased.
Construction of the Old Trafford West Stand began in May 1992 and was completed the following year at a cost of £12 million.
In March 1995, United invested £19 million to rebuild the north stand, which has only one floor at Old Trafford.
In 1996, the redevelopment of the Old Trafford North Stand was completed, and after completion, the North Stand had a total of three floors and an audience capacity of 25,500 people, which made the Dream Theatre have a total capacity of 56,000 people.
In 2000, the old Trafford West Stand and the second floor of the East Stand were completed, and the stadium capacity was expanded to 67,500 people, making it the largest stadium in England at that time.
In 2006, the northeast and northwest corners of Old Trafford were expanded, and after 12 months of construction, 8,000 seats were added to the northeast and northwest corners, and the capacity of the stadium increased from 68,000 to 76,212.
On 31 March 2007, in the 31st round of the 2006–07 Premier League season, Manchester United's 4-1 Blackburn match, a total of 76,098 fans came to Trafford to watch, setting a new Premier League attendance record at that time. It was not broken until Tottenham's 2017-18 season, when they borrowed Wembley Stadium as a temporary home.
Also in the 2006-07 season, a total of 1440694 people (times) watched Manchester United's 19 Premier League home games, averaging 75,826 people per game, not only a Manchester United club record, but also a Premier League club record. That season, United, led by the twin stars of Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney, regained the Premier League title after three seasons.
On 5 November 2011, To commemorate Sir Alex Ferguson's 25th anniversary of coaching sir Ferguson, United named the Old Trafford North Stand the "SIR ALEX FERGUSON STAND", the first time in the history of Old Trafford that a personal name was used as the name of the stand.
On 3 April 2016, United named the Old Trafford South Stand "SIR BOBBYCHARLTON STAND" as a tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton.
The Red Devil foundation laid by the two old men in half a life, the Red Devil long dim sum, don't squander the losers anymore.