NEW TRAFFORD, NEW CONCERNS

GIVEN Manchester United has felt like a circus this season, with clowns in charge, it is fitting their new £2billion stadium resembles a Big Top.

- DAVID MCDONNELL

The bold and ambitious design has divided United supporters, with many fearing further ticket price hikes to help meet the cost of building it.

There are also legitimate concerns among United fans over the impact the new stadium will have on investment in the team, the atmosphere at games and the club's overall debt, which currently stands at around £1bn.

What is indisputable is that Old Trafford has served United for 115 years and gained iconic status as one of the world's great football arenas.

But it has now fallen into disrepair and is no longer befitting of that lofty standing.

Against that backdrop, United have decided to demolish the Theatre of Dreams and build a new state-of-the-art stadium which, if you buy into the rhetoric of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his troupe, will be the best in the world.

United plan to finance the new stadium privately, raising funds through investment and sponsorship, with cost of the wider regeneration of the surrounding area met by the Government.