Manchester United have outlined a clear timetable for a new stadium on the Old Trafford site, with a formal planning application expected within the next 12 to 18 months, by September 2027. The club regards a rebuild on the existing footprint as the preferred route, chosen over a complex redevelopment constrained by an adjacent railway or a move to a different Greater Manchester site.<\/p>\n
The most significant obstacle remains the neighbouring freight depot, where rows of shipping containers stand around 200 meters behind the Stretford End. United\u2019s chief operating officer, Collette Roche, said that could be resolved \u201cwithin the next couple of months,\u201d allowing for \u201cstage two\u201d to commence.<\/p>\n
Roche, speaking at a property event in southern France, explained that stage two, lasting seven months, is for a \u201cmore detailed design\u201d to be put together. Only concept illustrations have been released so far. The eye-catching canopy in those images might still happen, having been rumored to be dropped, but only with the additional land purchase.<\/p>\n
Roche said the club is working stages concurrently rather than waiting for each to finish. \u201cWhen we get through [the design stage] we will come out with the planning strategy. But we are already starting to work as part of the wider master plan. We\u2019re not starting then; we\u2019ve already started now,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully by the time we get to the planning application, which will be probably in about 12 to 18 months, we\u2019ll have had a lot of conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
United have worked with Foster + Partners on the project since 2024 and have begun consulting construction firms. \u201cWe are not leaving that until further down the track. As a club we are already reaching out to the top partners we think we need to work with,\u201d Roche said.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cWe will lock that in. Then we start to build the plans. It starts now. It will be phased. Everybody says \u2018when will it be built?\u2019 We\u2019ve got to go through planning and that\u2019s only phase one of the stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to decide what we are going to do with the current Old Trafford. This is not going to happen overnight but we are getting those relationships in place, ready to go and hit the ground running very shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe previously estimated completion by 2030. The future stadium has already been included in the U.K.’s bid to host the 2035 Women\u2019s World Cup. An update from the club in March 2025 confirmed: \u201cThere is no suggestion United will be forced to relocate in the meantime.\u201d Once the freight centre is vacated the site should be large enough for a new stadium while the existing Old Trafford remains in normal use; the original ground could later be demolished or adapted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United plan to submit a planning application for a new Old Trafford; land purchase is pivotal timing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,1348],"tags":[1538],"class_list":["post-9081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-manchester-united-news","tag-stadium-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}