Old Trafford is a crumbling embarrassment to the 'world's biggest football club'

Midway through the first half of Manchester United’s FA Cup defeat by Middlesbrough last month, there was an announcement at Old Trafford: due to a technical error, there would be no food and drink available at half-time in any of the stadium’s refreshment outlets. The supporter sitting next to me in the South Stand did not seem too perturbed by this news.

“Oh, well,” he said. “Spares me from the usual routine of queuing up for 15 minutes at the bar and missing the start of the second half.”

Indeed, the overwhelming reaction among regulars to the news that Old Trafford is to undergo modernisation is this: about time.

The Theatre of Dreams has been in a state of sleepy decline for nearly two decades, slowly ossifying as much of the rest of the Premier League modernises and overhauls.

Bar a revamp of the disabled section, no significant construction has taken place there since the quadrants opened in 2005.

As Liverpool have redeveloped two sides of Anfield and Manchester City, Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham have all moved into sparkling new super stadiums, Old Trafford remains apparently preserved in aspic. In 18 years nothing has changed, except for the price of the peppered steak pie, which is still served so radioactively hot if you manage to buy one at half-time, you are in danger of a dash to accident and emergency should you take a bite before the end of second-half injury time.

So little attention has been paid to the ground that the South Stand roof leaks in heavy rain (below), subjecting spectators below to an uninvited drenching. And in Manchester, downpours are not an unusual occurrence. The condition of the roof is indicative: everything about the place is fading, sagging, sighing. Shabbiness has become endemic. The modern world of technology, for instance, seems not to have arrived. There is no functioning Wi-Fi. As Paul Pogba found a couple of seasons ago, when he tried to send a WhatsApp as he watched a game from the stand.

Fans in the South Stand can get soaked when the roof leaks in heavy rain Credit: REUTERS

The picture of him grinning before kick-off was not dispatched until the precise point United had conceded a goal, making him look as if he was laughing at his team-mates’ discomfort.

Nor, as anyone in the ground trying to find out what is happening during a Var review will well know, is there anything approaching a giant screen. In the largest club stadium in Britain, you cannot watch a replay of the goals. Which, in truth, might be a relief for United supporters when Liverpool are the visitors.

Everywhere, the creaking infrastructure diminishes the spectator experience. The South Stand, where much of the premium priced seating is located, is a cramped and confused warren of corridors and staircases that would induce a severe case of claustrophobia in the average rabbit. Here, the queue is an unwavering part of match day. You queue for the bar, you queue for the lavatories, you queue to find your seats. And when you do locate where you are sitting, the legroom is so tight, the fan in front of you has their back pressed into your knees.

This would not be a problem if the experience were not so much better elsewhere. Over the past 18 years, United’s rivals have not so much played catch-up as disappeared over the horizon. At the Etihad, the corporate offering sparkles with meticulous attention to detail. In the recently built Main Stand at Anfield, legroom is so extensive, Peter Crouch has been seen stretching out fully. At the Tottenham Stadium, meanwhile, in the hospitality boxes, the seats have internal heating systems. There is no such thing as a cold shoulder at Spurs.

In many ways, the condition of Old Trafford is a metaphor for the way the Glazers have run United.

When they bought the club in 2005, the expansionist policies of the previous administration presented them with a stadium that required no immediate outlay. They could sit in Florida happily banking their dividends without any need to fork out. As with the team they inherited, all that was required was a ruthless monetising of the myth.

At Old Trafford, history was the currency. The trouble was, the owners had no plan for the future. Just as they hoped something might turn up after Sir Alex Ferguson retired, so they left the stadium alone.

Where once they were leaders in every field, under the Glazers’ stewardship United find themselves also-rans, outflanked on the pitch and in the stands, left behind by smarter operators who apply the fundamental rule of business: the future needs investment. Finally, some sort of recognition appears to have dawned on the club hierarchy that it is not just the team in need of refurbishment. We will have to wait and see how radical the stadium overhaul is.

Will this be a sparkling facility even better than Tottenham’s glorious new home? Or will the refit consist of a lick of paint and a fresh set of microwaves to further incinerate the pies? Given the Glazers’ track record as custodians, the match-going United fan would be wise not to hold their breath.