Berrada bullish about United's future

Berrada not only discussed the building of an iconic new stadium, expressing his amazement at the concept of a canopy on the site, but also provided a timeline on the Carrington rebuild and was asked about how the major project will be funded.

He also provided his view on Project 150, the mission to win the Premier League and WSL titles before 2028, the year that the club will be celebrating a landmark anniversary.

Moreover, there was support for head coach Ruben Amorim and technical director Jason Wilcox in the work they are doing, particularly ahead of any summer recruitment.

We're at Foster and Partners on an exciting Tuesday morning. We're looking at the plans for what Manchester United and what the area of Old Trafford could look like in five years, maybe 10 years, however long it might take. What are your first impressions of these plans? I think it's fantastic...

"I think we should all be excited by this. It's amazing. Our club deserves to have the best stadium and the most iconic stadium in the world of sports. And the design that we've unveiled today, I think, represents that vision."

Is this project one of the reasons you joined the club a year ago?

"No. I joined the club because I think there's a massive opportunity for us to work together as a team to relaunch the club, to start winning, to make our fans proud, to make our partners proud. And this is the biggest club in the world. We've seen that day in and day out. We have the best fans in the world. They have supported the team in difficult moments, and I know this season has been particularly difficult in the Premier League, but our fans have been behind us. It's also been difficult for our staff with all the changes and transformation that we're undergoing. But I think what we see today is a vision of a very positive future for the club, and I think we should all be proud to be part of this club in this moment in time. We really look forward to being able to bring this to life as part of the wider regeneration project. And I think it's very exciting."

"It's been an integral part, one of the key elements of the brief that was given to Norman Foster and his team is that we wanted to create the best atmospheric experience. Ultimately, we're about football. We're about winning games and having a stadium like this one can give you a competitive advantage. And, when you have fans like ours, that support the team with such passion, giving them a stadium like this will definitely boost our players to perform at the highest level."

One of the things fans will be wondering, no matter how excited they are about the plans, is will I be able to be at this Old Trafford? Will I be able to afford a ticket here? We heard the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, saying one of the key parts of the Task Force was ensuring that affordability of tickets going forward, and that no-one will be left behind. Is that very much on your mind at this early stage?

"Absolutely. So I actually think that the fact that we're going to be aiming to build a 100,000-capacity stadium will give us more opportunities to bring in more fans. So the core fans that have been supporting the club for years, coming to all the matches, we will be able to accommodate them, obviously, but also for fans that can only come once a year or once every few years. And I think that's the beauty of being able to build a new stadium, it's that we'll be able to create more opportunities for all types of fans to come in and to enjoy this experience at an iconic stadium."

And fans will be wondering, given the current status of the team, but also their own pockets, how the club can afford something as extraordinary as this. I understand that's in the early stages of discussion, but what would you say to them?

"It is very much early days. What I would say is all the transformation plans that we've announced, and we put in place in the last few months, have one goal in mind, which is to put us in the best financial position possible. So to stop losing money, to become profitable again so that we can continue investing into our squads, men and women's, so that we can have teams that are able to compete at the highest level, which then allows us to grow our revenues and to be able to invest in infrastructure projects such as this one."

The creation of a stadium like this, you mentioned why you joined this club, and I think it's why people support Manchester United and why people want to work here and play for the club is it has quite a unique set of values and identity. How will that heritage not be lost when we move from there? How will it be maintained in a new ground?

"We want to preserve the essence of this amazing club. The fact that it will be built right next to the current stadium, Old Trafford, staying in the same area that the club has played in for the last 115 years. I think it speaks to that and we want to make sure that we incorporate elements within the design that respect and speak to the history and the legacy of this club, which is, as you know, very, very important and quite unique in the world of sports."

And what is your favourite part of what you've seen so far, from the design?

"The bit that amazed me the most is the canopy. This concept of having a canopy that sits above the stadium and covers the outside area, I think is quite unique, and the design itself, you know, is going to be unlike anything that's ever been done in the world of football. I think we will have people from all over the world wanting to come to see it, because it's going to be an iconic monument, not just an iconic football stadium."

We're in Foster + Partners, who have also been behind the Carrington redevelopment. How is this project, I mean, first of all, is that redevelopment going well? Is that on track to be completed for the summer at Carrington?

"Yeah, we're on track to open it by early August and, again, you know, we should be really proud of what it's going to be. It's going to be a state-of-the-art training facility. And we're going to be able to have some of the best equipment in the new facilities and the best design, which, as you know, has been done by Norman Foster's. So that should really bring the spirits up and, you know, make the players feel that they're operating in an elite environment. And I think we should all be proud of that."

So, on top of that, how does this project redevelopment and regeneration fit in with the Carrington redevelopment, but also the plans that we've heard about Project 150?

"Yeah, it's all part of the vision to getting the club back at the top, right? Project 150 speaks to the 150th-anniversary milestone, which is a massive milestone for us, and it's a way of focusing our minds and our energy to hit certain objectives. And we would like to win the 21st league title by 2028. We would like our women's team to win the first WSL in that timeframe, plus other objectives that we've set ourselves. So I think, you know, when we talk about Project 150, Mission 21, Mission One, all of that speaks to the ambition that we have and the vision that we have of getting the club back to the top and culminating, I hope, in the biggest and most iconic stadium in the world."

You've mentioned Mission 21 and Mission One. What will the status of this stadium with regards to the women's team be? Could this also be a home, a permanent home for Manchester United Women and possibly even the Academy sides as well? It's a 100,000-seater stadium, but there have been mentions of a way it could be adapted to fit multiple different events...

"Correct. So one of the concepts around the design is can we adapt it to open it for games that have a lower attendance? That being said, I would love for a women's team to be using this stadium as their only stadium. You know, our goal is to grow the fanbase, to grow the level of interest into the women's team, so that the average attendance for home games goes up to such a level that the team can play there. This is a dream and there's no reason why we can't aim for that."

"Oh, 100 per cent. I'm an optimist by nature and, as hard as the current situation is on the pitch, I do think that in Ruben and in Jason, we have the right people to lead the men's side, in terms of our football planning for the next years. Ruben has a very clear identity of how he wants to see the team playing. He's working extremely hard with the coaching staff and the wider staff around Carrington to get us to a position where the team can perform better. We need to make sure that we get our recruitment right, and I have full confidence in Jason and the team to do that. We need to improve our capabilities in certain areas, for example, in data analytics. But we have seen progress over the last few weeks. Perhaps it hasn't translated into wins, which is what we all want to see, but we do have the confidence that we have the right people in place and that we're going on a journey that's going to take us back to the top."