Here is an edifice to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s dreams and ambition for Man United, writes CHRIS WHEELER… but some fans will never be happy with the idea of bulldozing Old Trafford to the ground

Thinking big or a circus big top? The gateway to an exciting future or an insult to the past?

With a club the size of Manchester United, you are never going to please everyone. Not with a global fanbase like theirs.

As Sir Jim Ratcliffe chatted in front of an audience at the offices of Foster + Partners on Tuesday, he recounted the story of being one of the first Westerners to cross the Mongolian border from the Gobi Desert after Covid.

‘They didn’t want to see our passports, just talk about Manchester United,’ he smiled.

Some fans were never going to be happy at the prospect of bulldozing Old Trafford to the ground, preferring to see the place redeveloped.

United aren’t the first club to face accusations of heresy for leaving their spiritual home, albeit by a few metres.

The project has been spearheaded by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, who are in charge of football operations

Manchester United will tear down the stadium that they have called home for 115 years

Some will embrace change, particularly if it means a 25,000 increase in capacity, the kind of status and income that puts United back among the high rollers, and a roof capable of keeping the rain out.

There will be others who would rather see the money invested in a team that currently languishes in 14th place in the Premier League table.

But it has been clear for some time that a brand new stadium is Ratcliffe’s preference, and his vision was displayed in all its glory in London on Tuesday.

Talk of a £2billion project seemed rather incongruous coming just a day after he stared down the lens of a TV camera and predicted that United, one of the world’s biggest clubs, could have gone bust by Christmas.

It is hard to imagine he and the Glazer family watching their crown jewel disappear down the plughole without lifting a finger, but maybe the Doomsday prediction was designed with Tuesday’s events in mind.

Here was the polar opposite of oblivion. An edifice to Ratcliffe’s dreams and ambition for United.

It remains a conceptual design for now. Not the finished article. But Sir Jim is rather pleased, we were told, so it would be a surprise if the stadium that opens some time around 2030 doesn’t look remarkably like the designs we saw in London.

What if the fans don’t like it? There is still time for consultation, came the reply. Only there won’t be. This is happening and always was. Get with it. The circus is coming to town.