The Theatre of Dreams and its Nightmare

Manchester United are widely considered the giants of English football. With 42 major trophies dressing up their trophy cabinet, decades of both footballing and commercial success and millions of fans dotted all over the world. It’s hard to deny their major impact on not just football, but sport as a whole. However, it’s no secret that since their long-term leader in Sir Alex Ferguson retired, that giant doesn’t seem so scary anymore. But it isn’t the struggles on the pitch that worries me most as a lifelong Man United fan, but what has happened to our once beautiful stadium that surrounds the very pitch we play on.

Old Trafford was built in 1910 with a total capacity of 50,000. Fast forward to today and that number is at just under 75,000. That’s a lot of seats, in fact it is still the biggest club stadium in the United Kingdom. But with so many new stadiums popping up around the country, bigger no longer means better. Tottenham Hotspurs welcomed their fans to their brand-new stadium in April 2019, giving fans and sports enthusiasts around the world a look at just how incredible these modern stadiums are. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium seats 62,850 people, contains four led screens, two of which are the biggest in any stadium across western Europe, has a bar that is 65 meters long, which is also the biggest in Europe and there is even a second pitch that sits sung under the main pitch that they can use for NFL games and many other events.

Obviously, that doesn’t come cheap, this new stadium ran Tottenham around £1 billion in total. But it is without doubt a smart investment giving both the fans the best viewing experience and the players the best facilities to work towards continued success. In fact, these stadiums appear to be such a good investment, that even Everton have dedicated £500 million towards giving the Toffies a new home. But what about Old Trafford, can it still compete with these modern masterpieces?

Well, the answer is yes, and no. Old Trafford will never lose its charm, we will never forget the magical moments that have taken place under the lights of Old Trafford and the Stretford end will never be described as quiet. These are things that money can’t buy, they come with history. But what about the things that can only be bought with money?

Old Trafford has gone many years now with no renovations and much of the stadium that was there in 1910 is still standing today. It is beginning to take its toll on the stadium. This is never more present than when Manchester experiences heavy rain. As when this happens the stands are known to leak and cause long term damage to the structure.

However, this story may potentially have a happy ending. It is hard for the Manchester United owners (The Glazers) to ignore the new and improved stadiums going up around the country. And is it almost impossible to ignore the angry Man Utd fans complaining about the standard of the poor facilities. Which is why in early 2022 the announced that they were exploring options to either improve the stadium or maybe build a new one entirely. So for now Man Utd fans can dream that the Theatre of Dreams may stand mighty once more.