Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
In recent decades, some Premier League clubs have invested heavily in building or expanded their stadia to increase revenue and to attract new fans. Football matches today often require more than just a seat to occupy whilst watching a game and several clubs have gone above and beyond to provide top-notch facilities for fans.
One of the most recent clubs to redevelop their stadium was Tottenham Hotspur. On the site of the old White Hart Lane, the club built the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a 63,000-seater stadium.
Other top-flight clubs to undertake similar projects over the last decade include West Ham, who moved into the old Olympic Stadium in East London and redeveloped the venue as a football ground. Arsenal also built the Emirates stadium, which opened in 2006, while other grounds, such as Anfield, have undergone redevelopment in recent years to improve facilities and increase capacity.
But, with the ever-changing face of Premier League football grounds, which club will bet next to revamp their ground?
Despite being one of England’s biggest clubs and boasting one of the most iconic grounds in English football, Man United have done little to improve Old Trafford in recent years.
The last development of the stadium took place in 2006 when additional seating was installed in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the stadium. These instalments increased the capacity to 76,000.
But, without any development in 15 years, criticisms about the standard of Old Trafford have risen amongst fans. In particular, issues have been raised about the leaking roof in the Bobby Charlton stand and the failure to match the ambition of Premier League rivals by expanding the stadium.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham have built and moved into new stadia since United did any improvements to Old Trafford. Also, fierce rivals Liverpool have completed an expansion project of Anfield, while Chelsea are determined to push through an expansion of Stamford Bridge and Everton are set to complete their 52,888-capacity stadium in time for the 2024/25 season.
As Old Trafford was built in 1910, there are concerns among the fanbase that the ground is now not fit for purpose to host modern football matches. The stadium remains the biggest ground, in terms of capacity, in the top-flight, with the ability to hold nearly 10,000 more fans than Spurs’ new stadium.
Despite the shortcomings, expansion plans have been proposed in recent years. Discussions have been ongoing about increasing the capacity to more than 80,000 and making significant improvements to the Bobby Charlton Stand. Further updates would include, more modern media facilities and further hospitality areas around the ground, which would reportedly be central to funding any rebuilding.
However, although the potential expansion seems promising, no official deadlines, costings or start dates have been confirmed yet. As a result, the work may take a significant amount of time to start and finish and while Premier League clubs throughout the league continue to modernise their facilities, United appear to be lagging behind.
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