Gary Neville has reiterated calls for the Glazers to sell Manchester United. He was reacting to seeing images of Real Madrid’s spectacular new stadium.
Real’s stadium is taking shape, it’s currently under construction and planned to open in 2023.
It’s an open secret that major refurbishment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium is required.
The problem is that the club’s owners, the Glazers, lack the funds to finance it.
The Mirror reported that to rebuild the Bobby Charlton Stand will cost an estimated £300 million.
The Glazers would have to borrow money for this, money borrowed against the club, rather than from them personally.
The Mirror‘s report estimates this would plunge United’s total debts close to £1 billion.
And that’s just for one aspect of the required stadium rebuild, and United are looking at major renovations to the Carrington training ground too.
Neville previously said he would be open to a complete rebuild of Old Trafford on a separate site, although this is even less likely to happen as it would be the most expensive option.
The Glazers simply don’t have the money, everything is borrowed, and their plans are simply to borrow more.
As Neville says, they should sell the club to owners who can finance what the club needs.
Prospective owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he was ready to invest £1.75 billion into Chelsea when he was holding talks over getting involved with them, earlier this year. He now wants to buy United, and has the funds and ambition to make a success of it.
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