Fergie Stopped City Ground Share

During the 1990's plans were hatched by  Manchester council to build an 80,000 seater stadium for both United and City to share. At the time Old Trafford's capacity was 55,000 and could not meet demand for tickets on a weekly basis. Talks about the ground share got to an advanced level until Alex Ferguson stepped in and rejected them. He felt the move would disrupt the sides performance and the club decided to go ahead with the plans to extend the current stadium. The revelations came to light in author Gary James new book "Manchester – A Football ­History."

Labour MP Graham Stringer, who was leader of Manchester City Council at the time, is quoted as saying: “Discussions with United were serious and went to a high level – the highest level. The view was that if United could move to the stadium then the capacity could be around 80,000. It seemed perfectly logical in the 90s that United should consider the move. Of course, there were some significant issues to overcome. The biggest was ­undoubtedly the significance of Old Trafford to supporters. I fully understand why United decided not to make a permanent move, but Old ­Trafford’s capacity was too small. The idea developed that perhaps European games could be played at the new stadium. United would play at Old Trafford for ­domestic fixtures and move to the new stadium for European games.” The MP added that “Alex ­Ferguson was involved in the discussions and I think he, quite rightly, considered the impact on players.