GLAZER PENNY-PINCHING HAS LEFT THE THEATRE OF DREAMS TO ROT

IT WAS last April’s Old Trafford Manchester derby which provided proof, if any were needed, that the stadium they like to call ‘the Theatre of Dreams’ has become careworn, unloved and utterly outdated. Rain poured in torrents through the roof and on to the seats before kick-off. This was such an obvious metaphor for the structural flaws of the Manchester United team, who lost 2-0, that the leaks featured prominently in match reports. Nothing seems to have changed since. Seats have been drenched again this season. In a career as a mining engineer which involved precision and care, 80-year-old John Whale would have expected better from his beloved club. Images of the man who set off to Old Trafford for the December 2017 derby — immaculate cream jacket and pressed shirt — suggest an individual for whom attention to detail mattered. But the antiquated, narrow concourses around the bottom bowl of the stadium and grim toilets were just a part of the world of penny-pinching he would be subjected to. United are also one of the many clubs who have cut stewarding costs, reducing their outlay to Greater Manchester Police so much that these days officers do not even patrol Sir Matt Busby Way, which runs adjacent to the stadium. United’s great managers did not foresee it coming to this. It was an article of faith for Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson that Old Trafford would be the best football theatre in the land. The new biopic Busby is a reminder of Sir Matt’s mission to build it up, while Sir Alex often spoke of the need for architectural balance. As one stand was built up, so the others should follow. But the stadium has not changed since work started on two quadrants in 2005-06. The club have outgrown the brick-built dug-outs which Ferguson sanctioned to such an extent that some of the

coaching staff now find themselves among the fans in adjacent seats. It is the way that other aspirational clubs are leaving United so far behind which makes this such a painful source of discussion for supporters desperate for some signs of dynamism amid clubrecord revenues of £627.1million this year. Tottenham have raised the bar, of course, and Arsenal before them, while the Commonwealth and Olympic stadiums gifted to Manchester City and West Ham have also shown United what modernity looks like. There is a majesty about the way Barcelona are building a stunning shell around the Nou Camp, embracing the new while not leaving the old behind. Privately, United indicate that the cost of developing and expanding their ancient, untouched South Stand to create a 90,000 stadium is unviable and impossible within the financial model on which the Glazers concluded their leveraged £790m takeover in 2005. Some sources put the cost of developing the stand at £200m. It’s a fiendish logistical conundrum — entailing an extension up and over the adjacent railway line. United would also require an alternative stadium while work was under way, though there is not the Wembley-type option that Spurs found. Some with close knowledge of United’s deliberations say that building a new stadium on land adjacent to Old Trafford has been suggested as more viable financially. That would be anathema to millions of fans. Those same supporters will argue that money should be no object for a club of United’s commercial might, which should be imagining a long-term future in which they set the architectural, digital and entertainment standard. But this anachronistic, outdated club seem to lack any such vision. The cash machine keeps ringing for the Glazers, as corporate partners are hoovered up, yet the owners are squeamish about spending. Sources have indicated that an unanticipated level of transfer and wage costs in recent years has made redevelopment less viable. No one needs reminding that Liverpool have shown the way. Faced with an awkward logistical problem of their own, they expanded Anfield’s Main Stand upwards and are now in possession of a wonderful, airy structure from which to watch football. Of course, the family of John Whale will have no particular desire for a modern Old Trafford. They simply wanted a stadium to which their husband and father, enjoying retirement after a long career, could go to in safety. If there is anything for the public to take from the tragedy, it is their right to tell stewards to move should they be blocking their exit. The details of Mr Whale’s court case — stewards watching the game instead of doing their job, a lack of stewarding regulation, no accident report after the death — are a scandal. In the days when coroners’ courts press benches were full, there would be no secrecy about it. Local reports would have brought immediate demands to know what the club intended to do. Instead, it has taken an investigation to uncover this tragedy and, by last night, there had not been one word of public apology to the Whale family for what they have been put through. Just ‘condolences’. United have basked in the glory of Ferguson’s success these past six years, though it was bricks and mortar he often alluded to when discussing complacency, which he detested. ‘I was always eager to stamp out the slightest trace of it,’ he said. ‘It’s like dry rot or woodworm. You don’t notice the damage until it’s too late.’