Who's paying for United's 100,000-seater stadium?

Ratcliffe unveils extravagant plan for move from Old Trafford

- PETE HALL

The optics surrounding the whole event did not initially look good. After Jim Ratcliffe’s rather revealing round of interviews on Monday, it became clear that a major announcement surrounding the much-anticipated new Manchester United stadium was due to come out the following day.

To reveal the elaborate plans for an extravagant, state-of-the-art 100,000-seater stadium in London will hardly endear Ratcliffe to supporters who believe the Monaco-based billionaire to be out of touch with their local needs.

When Ratcliffe took to the stage, all the PR-heavy references to Manchester’s industrial past, how the north deserved a stadium of this magnitude and how the regeneration of the entire area around the proposed new stadium would create a “mini city of entertainment” to rival anything in the world, were prevalent.

Sebastian Coe, currently running to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee, did his customary comparison to the 2012 London Olympics, architect Norman Foster explained his Mancunian roots, while Great Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s bold promises came via video link.

But when the models were unveiled, and the actual designers of the project could be questioned, we quickly gained a truer picture of the mammoth scale of what Ratcliffe is undertaking and how he and United will deliver it.

Financing remains a mystery, with CEO Omar Berrada keen to highlight the “investment opportunities” the project offers, but given the work that has already gone into the elaborate design, Ineos are clearly confident they will have no issues raising over £2bn in funds, 24 hours after Ratcliffe said the club would have gone out of business by Christmas had it not been for his cash injection.