Sell-Off Old Trafford, Man Utd legend Gary Neville Urges Club

Manchester United icon Gary Neville has urged the club to sell the naming rights to their Old Trafford stadium - so they can use the cash to slash ticket prices for younger fans.

The Premier League giants are among the most well-known brands in the world and have, in recent years, agreed a string of big-money commercial deals including the eight-year £15m-a-season agreement with training ground sponsors AON.

Club chiefs, however, have previously maintained that they have no interest in selling the naming rights to their state-of-the-art Theatre of Dreams home.

But Neville reckons that his controversial idea is worth considering, believing that the plan could earn the club £800m over a decade and ultimately allow them to lower their ticket prices.

Speaking on Stan Collymore's The Last Word podcast , Neville said: "The Glazer family, and to be fair, they’ve said it for correct reasons, have said that they’ll never put naming rights on Old Trafford, the brand of Old Trafford.

"I would sell the naming rights to Old Trafford if I was at Manchester United for £60, £70, £80million-a-year.

"On the understanding that all of the money generated – £800m over ten years – would mean that the whole of the Stretford End would be £10 or £12 to get in, and a proportion of those tickets would go to young people.  "It’s the first time I’ve made that suggestion, but I’ve thought it for many, many years.

"You would consult with the fans, you’ve sold sponsorships in every other area of the club.

"Old Trafford is an iconic stadium in name. I’ll never change calling it Old Trafford.

"But for the sake of it, let’s say you sponsor it for £80 million-a-year, and you call it 'Stan Collymore’s Old Trafford' or the 'Jamie Carragher Arena' it would subsidise ticket prices for ten years and it would be wonderful.

"It would allow the communities of Stretford, Salford, Broughton, of Ordsall, to get into Old Trafford for the price of a Costa Coffee."