Man Utd have no need to demolish Old Trafford, my house had a leaky roof but that didn’t make it unfit for purpose

IT TOOK four companies and several thousand pounds before the leak in the roof of my front bedroom finally got fixed.

In the end I was pointed in the direction of Moggsy — who I only  recognised previously from drinking bitter in the Royal Oak — as the answer to all my problems.

And he was and it hasn’t leaked since. But at no point during this time did I feel the house wasn’t fit for purpose or that it was time  to move to a new-build.

You know, one of those that looks like the rest of the houses in the street and has a kitchen island.

“Oh a kitchen island, we’ll be so happy here.”

My house is more than 100 years old and it’s quirky —  it has a few doors that hang not in the way they were designed to and it can get very cold in the winter.

I completely misjudged the size of the new sofa, so it no longer looks as “open plan” as it did.

But it’s my home, where my two children grew up and it holds a lot of memories.

There was much the same feeling among Manchester United fans last week when it was revealed that minority stakeholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe (below) planned to move them to a brand new stadium.

A “Wembley of the North”.

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If you asked most United fans 99 per cent would, given the chance, rather see that money spent on another striker and midfielder than another  stadium. They don’t want to leave Old Trafford.

It is still a great,  atmospheric football ground full of passion and most importantly full of memories.

Where “Dad used to go”, “where Grandad used to stand”, “where mum went to her first game” — where people fell in love with  football,  fell in love with Manchester United and want to take their kids to do the same thing.

There is understandably a fear that on the field the club is in  danger of becoming just like any other club in the Premier League.

If it moves to a new stadium it very much could.

A distant relative from Spain was visiting a year ago and guess what was top of his list?

He wanted to see Old Trafford and, while there was no match on, he was bowled over to get his wish.

My son’s friend Matzua from Mexico City is a Chivas fan — Javier Hernandez’s old club to which he has just returned — and came to stay with us.

Guess what his dream was? You would have thought he just found out he had won the EuroMillions as we approached the back of the Stretford End to park up.

Off my son took him to see the Munich Tunnel — and the various statues around the ground —  before seeing United win. He was floating.

It was much the same when I went to Benfica’s original Stadium of Light — not the new one that looks like the Emirates. Like when I went to Atletico Madrid’s Vicente Calderon, not their  new ground that looks like Benfica’s Stadium of Light as well as the Emirates.

Walking up from below ground out of the tunnel at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana in its original guise is something I’ll not forget.

Now of course nostalgia should never rank higher than safety and, as we sadly know, some stadiums were death traps.

Some needed seats bringing in, modernising or bulldozing altogether.

But Old Trafford? There is much for Sir Jim to do but building a new stadium or training ground should not be top of the list.

Believe me, there is nothing wrong with Carrington.

I sit in a great spot in the press box at Old Trafford and — while there will be exceptions — mates elsewhere around the ground say it is fine, it just needs a bit of TLC here and there.

Yes, there is a leaking roof but I can put United in touch with Moggsy.

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Ian Tuckey

February 12, 2024 9:30 pm