Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says the club has the training ground it deserves, following the completion of the Carrington redevelopment.
The year-long project, led by Foster + Partners, has successfully delivered a leading-edge, high-performance training environment designed to inspire collaboration, innovation and excellence.
Equipment and technology have been upgraded throughout, with a focus on fitness, nutrition, recovery and team unity.
Sir Jim addressed staff, players and reporters on Friday afternoon, as the new facilities were officially opened.
“Manchester United are the biggest football club in the world,”
he began.
“I can testify to that because I travel a lot and everywhere I go, however remote, I always meet Manchester United fans.
“Everyone in the world knows the Manchester United brand, so with those two things the club has to compete at the highest level, that’s appropriate to the brand and the size and the history of the club.
“While a world-class facility won’t take us to that place alone, I think it is one of the key ingredients in the modern world. I think here now we have a world-class training facility.
“When we first arrived, two years ago, I came to Carrington and we had a nice presentation here.
“It’s an excellent facility and I’m sure it was in the year 2000 but 25 years later it wasn’t quite what it needed to be for the top four or five teams in Europe.
“It was pretty much the first big decision we made when we arrived, in the first quarter of 2024, to invest in this training facility.
“There were lots of naysayers around, who said you’re not going to do that within 12 months, it’s going to be a mess, but I’m quite pleased to say that it’s come in on budget, on time and we’ve managed to operate all the teams here in reduced facilities but we made it work in that 12-month period.”
Ratcliffe thanked the club’s executive leadership for delivering the project and praised architects Foster + Partners for putting ‘their heart and soul into the design’.
He also offered gratitude to head coach Ruben Amorim and his assistants for the flexibility shown over the past year.
“Thanks to Ruben and the sports staff for being adaptable for the last 12 months. It was a difficult year, and it was not the perfect training facilities that you had to put up with.
“I hope you enjoy your new home and I hope it helps take Manchester United where Manchester United needs to go.
“I think we should all be proud of this new facility.”