Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, believes the development of a world-class stadium for Manchester United could spark the “biggest regeneration project in the north of England that we’ll ever see”.
The Premier League giants announced on Friday that a task force has been formed aimed at exploring options to regenerate the Old Trafford area of the city with a top-class ground at the heart of it.
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe favours a new stadium on adjacent club-owned land rather than redeveloping the current ground and called this is a “once-in-a-century opportunity”.
Lord Coe, the London 2012 chief, was named chair of the ‘Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force’, which also includes former United captain Gary Neville and the city’s mayor.
“From our point of view there’s nothing bigger in world football than the name Manchester United,” Burnham said.
“And if we unlock the full power of this club in terms of its power to regenerate then that’s fantastic for Greater Manchester in terms of jobs, new investment into the city-region.
“If you look at this area investment has gone into Media City, but actually if you look around at the wider area there’s not been a huge amount in recent decades.
“This could be the biggest regeneration project in the north of England that we’ll ever see. It could be that big.
“It depends on the club, though. The club’s got a decision to make about is it refurbished, is it new build.
“Whatever the club decides, we’ll support them in that and in either scenario it’s massive for Greater Manchester.
“But obviously we’re standing behind the club, to make sure that the maximum benefit is achieved for the economy of Greater Manchester.”
Asked if it could be on the scale of what London 2012 did for East London, Burnham said: “It absolutely could be on that scale and it could be more because of this club and the desire of people around the world to be associated in some way with this club.”
Burnham was Old Trafford on Saturday to see his Everton side defeated 2-0 by United and, most importantly, speak up the benefits of this project.
“What I have got to do as part of the task force in the next five, six months working with Lord Coe, Gary and others is give all the supporting information to enable the club to make a decision,” Burnham said. “Is it refurbished or is it a new build?
“In either case there will be some requirement to have some public funds involved because of the train station and there’s a big freight depot right behind Old Trafford, which is an issue as well and that’s something we have got to look at.”
While Burnham accepts funding will be a talking point, he highlighted how taxpayers’ money is frequently used when teams build new stadiums.
“You look at any new-build stadium in the last 20-30 years, there will have been some public funds involved in terms of infrastructure, in supporting development,” he said. “That’s just a fact.
“If you look at the example of West Ham, the Olympic Park, lots of public money has gone in to some developments around the country because of what they can bring to those places.”
Burnham believes the changes would help establish Manchester as the go-to place for elite football, with Milan the only other city boasting two Champions League winners.
“If on the west of Greater Manchester you have United at the heart of a new campus of facilities that links to Media City.
“Then on the side of the city you’ve got Manchester City who continue to build out from the Etihad with a new massive indoor arena going in there. Just think about that.
“No other city in the world would be set up in terms of its football infrastructure. No where would come close to Manchester.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
