“The past was yours but the future’s mine” read the banner in Plaza Mayor, where Manchester City fans had gathered ahead of the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid in 2016. The words originally belonged to Manchester band The Stone Roses, but it did not take a genius to work out who they were referring to. At a similar time, City fans started singing ‘You live in the past, just like the Scousers, you live in the past’.
Manchester United supporters, to be fair, could not convincingly argue otherwise then and nor could they now. The Red Devils have an inarguably glorious past, with more league titles than anyone else in England, 12 FA Cups and three European Cups, while some of the finest players of all-time have graced Old Trafford. For too long, however, they have been trading off their past and getting stuck in it, going nowhere while their rivals in England and Europe speed way ahead of them.
And Old Trafford itself is a case in point. The stadium is the biggest club ground in Britain and among the largest on the continent, yet it is fast becoming a symbol of United’s decline. Indeed, visiting supporters have delighted in the Red Devils’ torrid home form this season by singing ‘Old Trafford is falling down’.
The stadium has undergone no major update since 2006 and has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Meanwhile, clubs that United consider their rivals have moved into shiny state-of-the-art arenas, as have many they do not.
New minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to prioritise upgrading the stadium after his INEOS firm bought a 25 percent stake in the club and he will have to decide whether to renovate the creaking stadium or build an entirely new arena on the same site.
Many fans favour the former option as they love the ground’s history and its unique feel. But the only way for United to compete with the biggest clubs in Europe is to break from the past and build a state-of-the-art stadium that can propel its commercial growth and become a place where fans truly enjoy spending their time.