Manchester United have £496m NFL blueprint for Old Trafford which Tottenham haven't capitalised on

With Sir Jim Ratcliffe reportedly wanting to create a ‘Wembley of the North’ for Manchester United, there is some discussion over what that should look like.

Old Trafford has been United’s home since 1910, and while it may look a lot different now than it did then, it is nonetheless woven into the fabric of the football club, the scene of some of its greatest triumphs. But there is an awkward conversation to be had over whether sense trumps sentimentality, and whether or not the club chooses to spend money on redeveloping their existing home or start afresh on land adjacent, focusing on creating a world-class stadium for a club that wants to be at the vanguard of the game moving into a new era.

Tottenham Hotspur had a key decision to make when it came to White Hart Lane: remained wedded to tradition or start afresh. They chose the latter and what they now have is a £1bn stadium, one of the world’s state-of-the-art sporting venues, where everything is designed to generate revenue beyond a matchday: from the contract that exists with the NFL to stage regular season games - with the retractable pitch all but confirming the stadium as the long-term home for the NFL in the UK, a market it could land a franchise in further on down the line - to the F1 Karting Experience that now exists underneath the stadium.

READ MORE: How a new Old Trafford will benefit United on the pitch and off it

READ MORE: United heading towards a civil war as Old Trafford plans debated

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was debt-financed, but there is good debt and there is bad debt. If a business can service that debt and it doesn’t impede the growth of the business, with the debt used to grow revenues into the future, there is little to be