“That is a risk”: Omar Berrada admits grave Man United concern after announcement of new iconic stadium | OneFootball

Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada has admitted that the club are at risk of being less competitive after moving into a new 100,000-seater stadium.

On Tuesday, United announced plans to build the biggest stadium in the UK next to Old Trafford.

Since becoming a minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been steadfast in his stance that United need a new state-of-the-art ground – comments he reiterated in a recent interview.

United released architectural designs for the new stadium at an event in London. The project, undertaken in conjunction with a government regeneration task force chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe, has been developed by Foster + Partners.

During the announcement, Ratcliffe said the new ground would be the “world’s greatest” football stadium.

Berrada and United’s chief operating officer, Collete Roche, spoke to the media and gave more details on United’s stadium plans.

The Red Devils are hoping to move into a new stadium for the 2030/31 season and the project is estimated to cost a whooping £2bn.

In his remarks, Berrada also acknowledged that there’s a real risk of United not being competitive once their new iconic home is ready. After Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006, the North London outfit did not win silverware until the FA Cup in 2014. The Gunners were last crowned Premier League champions 20 years ago.

It’s been a similar tale with Tottenham Hotspur, who last claimed a major trophy in 2019. Spurs moved into their current stadium in 2019.

Asked about this, Berrada said [as quoted by Manchester Evening News], “That is a risk. Clearly, it’s something we want to avoid. We don’t want to inhibit our ability to invest in the team, for us to continue being competitive while we are building a new stadium.”

“There are various ways around that. One of the things we are looking at is to shorten the construction timelines so we can have a new stadium within five years, that’s our ambition.”

“In the meantime, by getting our finances back in order and becoming profitable, we believe that we can be very competitive. The big, big benefit that this club has is that it has the biggest fanbase in the world and therefore the ability to be the number one in terms of revenues that it generates.”

Berrada explained that public money will not be used to construct the new stadium.

“We won’t be asking for taxpayer money to fund the stadium. But, at the same time, the stadium, the new build, in isolation, does not make sense if there’s not an investment in the wider generation project.”

“Why £2bn? Since Spurs built their stadium (in 2019) and Real Madrid (in 2024), there has been a high inflation. Energy prices have gone up. Inflation has impacted all areas of the economy. That’s been factored into the cost of the stadium.”

“What you heard yesterday, and the plans that have been put in place, the goal that we have is to become the most profitable club within the next two years. And we want to do that whilst we continue to invest in our squad. So that’s the goal for the next two or three years. Once you become profitable, then everything else becomes more manageable and it also allows us to be able to invest in the future, which is what this stadium is about.”

Roche quipped, “As we said at the start, we as a club are going to pay for the new stadium in terms of the bricks and mortar. But we do appreciate there is a lot of enabling work and infrastructure work in and around, and that has always been our understanding.”

“I think what Jim said is that it’s all predicated on planning permission and how quickly the local authority can work. We’re looking at ways we can work with them to make it as smooth and quick as possible. One of the things we are establishing is a mayoral development corporation, you’ll have heard, that gives a lot of rights to speed these things through.”

She added, “You also heard today that Jim mentioned us potentially doing some pre-fabrication. So that means we can do a lot of the enabling work and start to design and build the pieces in advance of having to do anything on the ground in Old Trafford.”

“Yes is the short answer, it could be done quite quickly as long as the local council and government supports us in that and moves it forward.”

The biggest debate at the moment is who will foot the £2bn bill and according to Berrada, all options are on the table. The United chief expressed confidence that a solution will eventually be found.

“We think it is quite a unique opportunity in the world of football for such an iconic stadium of the size that we’re talking about to be built. So we think we will have an enormous amount of partnership opportunities. Ultimately, we like brands that can help us to improve the fan experience within the stadium. Whether that integration comes with the stadium naming rights opportunity or not, it needs to be discussed.”

“It’s too early to say at this stage (if Old Trafford will remain in the name). What we do know is that there is already an enormous amount of interest in big brands wanting to associate their brands with ours and the new stadium. You can have a sponsor for the fan zone and sponsors for certain hospitality areas.”

Berrada pointed out United’s need for caution in disclosing revenue forecasts due to its publicly listed status. However, he noted that initial business planning suggests a substantial increase in EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation), with projections potentially reaching between £120 million and £130 million.

The United chief executive further stated, “The way the club was tracking, with all the losses that have been accumulated – more than £300million in the last five years – was not sustainable. So all the plans we’ve been putting in place over the last months really address the short-term issue, which is that the club was losing money.”

“Once we stop losing money, we then put ourselves in the best financial position to continue investing in our team and also to allow us to be able to have the ambition to build a new stadium.”

Berrada explained that it’s “unlikely” Old Trafford will be preserved once the new stadium is ready, even with a reduced capacity.

However, United will still be able to play at Old Trafford at full capacity while construction is underway.

Roche said about this, “The build will be done in a phased way to allow that to be the last part. But circulation is critical from a safety perspective and we wouldn’t be able to operate that stadium and build the other one without making sure that’s in place. But it’s feasible and that’s why we were able to show the designs at this early stage.”

In his interview with Gary Neville, Ratciffe confirmed that ticket prices will increase next season. Berrada addressed this, relaying that United will remain in consultation with fan groups regarding pricing.

United are back in action on Thursday when they face Real Sociedad in the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 clash.

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