Man United news: Keith Wyness suggests when new 100,000-seat stadium will open
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness has claimed Man United are facing a “five or six-year” wait before they can open a state-of-the-art new stadium.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, the 66-year-old – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – suggested the new ground will take around three years to build due to its likely magnitude.
Man United released renders of what a potential new stadium could look like on Monday (23 September) as part of an economic report the club has commissioned.
Oxford Economics, described as “one of the world’s foremost independent global advisory firms”, found a regeneration of Trafford Park and the construction of a new 100,000-seater stadium would boost the UK economy by £7.3billion per year.
United are exploring moving away from Old Trafford and into a new home following the investment from Sir Jim Ratcliffe earlier this year.
Man United stadium build will take ‘five or six years’ overall, says Wyness
However, Wyness claimed it could be “2029 or 2030” before the Red Devils play at a new stadium.
He told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “The scale they’re looking at, it could be a three-year build time.
“That could be tight, but you need another year or 18 months on top of that to get the permissions and planning all done.
“I think it could be five or six years overall – so they’d be in the new ground in 2029 or 2030.
“It will be that period of time for a project like this, and there are always issues along the way.
“I know they are thinking of keeping Old Trafford in some form. That’s likely to be where the ladies or youth team will play.
“Sometimes keeping your history can be good, other times it isn’t. They’ll have to think it through properly.”
In other news, Erik ten Hag “one defeat away from sack crisis”.
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