“Old Trafford is falling down…” is often bellowed out from the corner of away fans when their team visits Manchester United.
The song, which goes on tocriticise Erik ten Hag, the United manager, also pokes fun at the idea of the Glazers “staying 10 more years”.
At Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, however, the Glazers’ Old Trafford neglect was on display for all to see — including Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s new minority shareholder; Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester; and Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party.
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Lord Sebastian Coe, who is chairing the taskforce created by United to explore how best to rebuild or redevelop Old Trafford as part of a wider regeneration scheme with Trafford Council, was also present
In the two hours after the final whistle, 41mm (or 1.6 inches) of rain fell — 25mm of which fell within the first 30 minutes as a storm engulfed Manchester. The club likened it to a “biblical event”, noting that the 41mm of rain that fell on Old Trafford is more than what fell on the stadium in the whole of May 2023 (29mm).
A series of videos quickly circulated on social media showing how badly impacted the stadium was, with water leaking from the ceiling in the Arsenal dressing room and in front of where hospitality guests are accommodated.
Away changing room at Old Trafford currently pic.twitter.com/fthBpvgzkB
— mufc (@Mufcinsiderinfo) May 12, 2024
Another clip shared online highlighted a leak in the players’ tunnel.
Old Trafford was just one of several public buildings and venues in the city that was affected by the deluge, with leaks inside Manchester Airport and the O2 Victoria Warehouse cancelling a concert due to flooding.
It was an embarrassing look for one of the biggest clubs in the world, but was it a tipping point in terms of just how far behind other venues Old Trafford has fallen or was it merely a freak event that most stadiums would be unable to handle?
The truth, as ever, is somewhere in between.
The club uses a siphonic roof drainage system, which essentially sucks water from the roof across the stand to one gutter where it drains away. There are two spots at Old Trafford where the water is pushed to: the south west and north east corners.
Due to the deluge of rain experienced in Manchester on Sunday, however, there was too much water for the system to cope with. This led to it creating a waterfall effect in thenorth eastcorner, which is what was circulated on social media.
After heavy rainfall during Man United vs. Arsenal, the roof was seen leaking at Old Trafford 🌧️😳
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 12, 2024
It was this, United say, that led to an overflow of water gushing into the stand as opposed to a leak in the roof. Any leaks, they say, are fixed once reported.
No ticket discounts are given to supporters who, because of where they sit, are more likely to get soaked during a downpour. While there are plans in place to replace the roof on the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, there won’t be a temporary fix.
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A well-placed figure, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, noted how climate change, most notably more extreme weather events, will take its toll on Old Trafford. They said the system installed is decades old and the weather now is vastly different to then, meaning it won’t be able to handle such storms.
One supporter in the adjoining stand, who did not want to have their name published, was there on Sunday and explained what it was like.
“The water in front of the executive boxes was coming through the roof and then streaming down the steps,” they said. “I can understand the sheer volume of water argument, but the building is supposed to be a professional sporting arena.
“It’s clear that basic property maintenance has not been done. David Gill was recently quoted saying the roof leaked when he was chief executive, but nobody talked about it because they were winning titles.
“It was still hammering it down when they let fans out of the stadium. If you were weak-footed, then you could easily have slipped down the stairs due to the water gushing down.”
Ratcliffe has spoken of his desire to modernise Old Trafford since purchasing a minority stake in the club and changes to the roof will follow only after United have decided whether to build a new stadium or make changes to the existing structure.
Ratcliffe at Sunday’s game alongside Burnham (left), Coe (behind right) and Starmer (right) (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
If they opt to carry out a re-development of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand as opposed to knocking down Old Trafford and building a new venue on the same site, then that will be a major piece of engineering work that will cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
There would also be operational costs, as the capacity would need to be reduced while engineering work is carried out, denting the club’s bottom line.
Every year, Old Trafford needs to be issued with a safety certificate from Trafford Council. This will set the allowed capacity for the stadium and note terms and conditions that the ground management staff must comply with.
As perTraffordCouncil’s website, requirements of the certificate being issued include the structural integrity of the stadium, provisions for means of escapeandemergency servicescoordination.
Visitors to Old Trafford on Monday would have spotted work being carried out on the East Stand, with United saying the personnel pictured were there to paint a section of the fascia boards.
The club also noted how Old Trafford was fully operational from Monday morning, welcoming more than 700 supporters throughout the day. The first museum and tour group entered the stadium at10am.
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While this reflects well on those whose responsibility it is to ensure the stadium is operational, you wonder whether the club’s ownership now wishes they had made substantial improvements to the roof.
United, in theirdefence, have invested tens of millions in partial improvements in recent years — mostly on executive areas, disabled facilitiesandinstalling safe-standing areas — and a new paint job in 2022 tomoderniseits appearance, but that hasn’t gone far enough.
Theyrecognisedthis in April 2022 when they announced they had appointed renowned architects Populous and management firm Legends International as master planners and consultants for Old Trafford.
Populous looked at the feasibility of building a new stadium or re-developing the existing structure and reported their findings to Collette Roche, United’s chief operating officer.
(Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
The Glazers then announced a strategic review in November 2022, which kickstarted a nearly 18-month process that led to Ratcliffe acquiring a little over a quarter of the club for $1.3billion ($1.03bn) in February.
Ratcliffe has since spoken about erecting a new ground that would be “world-class” and hold either 90,000 or 100,000 spectators, saying there is a “strong argument to build a Wembley of the north”.
The cost of building a new stadium is thought to be around £2billion, with the option of making significant changes to the existing structure costing at least half of that figure.
But with the taskforce only just getting started, a new stadium or significant improvements to the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand are likely going to be years away from being completed.
GO DEEPER
If United want the best stadium in the world, they need to knock down Old Trafford
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Dan Sheldon is a football news reporter for The Athletic, covering Manchester City and Manchester United. He spent four years writing about Southampton FC, two of which were at the Southern Daily Echo. Follow Dan on Twitter @dansheldonsport
