The forgotten plans for Manchester's original 'Wembley of the North'

New Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes he can build a 100,000-seater replacement for Old Trafford, potentially using public funds. He wants it to be the 'Wembley of the North', capable of holding FA Cup and Champions League finals.

By 1992, with new government legislation for urban renewal opening up funds to purchase the site, plans were well under way, but Sydney handed awarded the 2000 Olympics and Manchester turned its attention to the 2002 Commonwealth Games. There was a proposal to the Millennium Commission for the stadium to become a Millennium Stadium but that was turned down. In 1995 Manchester won the right to host the Commonwealths at the Eastlands site.

The rebuild of Wembley cost more than £800m and encountered years of delays. Manchester built the City of Manchester Stadium for £110m and then converted it to a football ground. The original 80,000-seat design had been costed at £150m. In his new book, Bernstein reveals how the original designs for the football stadium after conversion were for a larger capacity.

Who owns the City of Manchester Stadium? Manchester City Council own the stadium and charge City rent for use of the venue. Originally, as Bernstein explained, the rent was based on attendances, worth about £2m per year for the council. The Etihad was built using money from government grants, Sport England funding and from the council with City spending money to convert it to a football stadium. Money raised from City's rental agreement is directly paid back to supporting sports facilities in east Manchester and elsewhere in the city.

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