Rita_Poon
Player Valuation: £90m
Club would do well to heed the lesson of the 'class of 92' issue with the hotel and complex over the road from old trafford. Buy the land and clear it and put a club owned entity on it, hotel, gym, restaurant, bars, vip, penthouse etc. The chefs cooking on game days work in the restaurants over the road. Taylor Swift and entourage get friendly rates on the penthouse suites, bigger picture, lead the way, if you build it they will come, if you stock the bars the masses will turn out for a few beers.... It's all there for the taking, have a bit of vision. Ferries will drop off and pick up, provide a hub for such etc....In transport terms, the relative proximity to the city centre and the Northern Line is the main saving grace of this site. Everyone in the city region has access to public transport serving the city centre.... however, bridging the gaps between existing hubs and services and the stadium is the key issue, because the site itself has little to no existing services less than 1 km away.
We need both soccerbuses AND freed up dedicated lanes for them to operate effectively in. Without the latter and a significant modal shift to public transport, they are as gridlocked as all the other traffic and cannot shift the numbers of people required. They also need quick turn arounds, as there isn't an unlimited number of buses/drivers available. A quick turnaround could be achieved along the Dock Rd/Great Howard St corridors, taking people to/from the edge of the city centre, if those roads become bus only routes.... perhaps with a few buses serving Lime St station only.... but that would incur a much longer turnaround time.
Hopefully, in the future a dedicated trackless tram could serve the site to give greater connectivity with the city centre. A new station at Vauxhall was part of the original plans. This would go a long way towards better marshalling of fans post match.