Editing Manchester United F.C. (section)

==Grounds==
{{wide image|Old Trafford WV banner.jpg|1200px|United's current ground, Old Trafford, after its expansion in 2006|alt=A stand of a football stadium. The seats are red, and the words "Manchester United" are written in white seats. The roof of the stand is supported by a cantilever structure. On the lip of the roof, it reads "Old Trafford Manchester".}}

===1878–1893: North Road===
{{main|North Road (Manchester)}}
Newton Heath initially played on a field on [[North Road (football ground)|North Road]], close to the railway yard; the original capacity was about 12,000, but club officials deemed the facilities inadequate for a club hoping to join The Football League.<ref name="white_21">White, Jim (2008) p. 21.</ref> Some expansion took place in 1887, and in 1891, Newton Heath used its minimal financial reserves to purchase two grandstands, each able to hold 1,000 spectators.<ref>James (2008), p. 392.</ref> Although attendances were not recorded for many of the earliest matches at North Road, the highest documented attendance was approximately 15,000 for a First Division match against [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] on 4 March 1893.<ref>Shury & Landamore (2005), p. 54.</ref> A similar attendance was also recorded for a friendly match against Gorton Villa on 5 September 1889.<ref>Shury & Landamore (2005), p. 51.</ref>

===1893–1910: Bank Street===
{{main|Bank Street (football ground)}}
In June 1893, after the club was evicted from North Road by its owners, Manchester Deans and Canons, who felt it was inappropriate for the club to charge an entry fee to the ground, secretary [[A. H. Albut]] procured the use of the [[Bank Street (football ground)|Bank Street ground]] in [[Clayton, Greater Manchester|Clayton]].<ref name="shury_21-22"/> It initially had no stands, by the start of the [[1893–94 Newton Heath F.C. season|1893–94 season]], two had been built; one spanning the full length of the pitch on one side and the other behind the goal at the "Bradford end". At the opposite end, the "Clayton end", the ground had been "built up, thousands thus being provided for".<ref name="shury_21-22">Shury & Landamore (2005), pp. 21–22.</ref> Newton Heath's first league match at Bank Street was played against [[Burnley F.C.|Burnley]] on 1 September 1893, when 10,000 people saw [[Alf Farman]] score a [[hat-trick]], Newton Heath's only goals in a 3–2 win. The remaining stands were completed for the following league game against Nottingham Forest three weeks later.<ref name="shury_21-22"/> In October 1895, before the visit of Manchester City, the club purchased a 2,000-capacity stand from the [[Broughton Rangers]] [[rugby league]] club, and put up another stand on the "reserved side" (as distinct from the "popular side"); however, weather restricted the attendance for the Manchester City match to just 12,000.<ref>Shury & Landamore (2005), p. 24.</ref>

When the Bank Street ground was temporarily closed by bailiffs in 1902, club captain Harry Stafford raised enough money to pay for the club's next away game at Bristol City and found a temporary ground at [[Harpurhey]] for the next reserves game against Padiham.<ref>Shury & Landamore (2005), pp. 33–34.</ref> Following financial investment, new club president John Henry Davies paid £500 for the erection of a new 1,000-seat stand at Bank Street.<ref name="inglis_234">Inglis (1996), p. 234.</ref> Within four years, the stadium had cover on all four sides, as well as the ability to hold approximately 50,000 spectators, some of whom could watch from the viewing gallery atop the Main Stand.<ref name="inglis_234"/>

===1910–present: Old Trafford===
{{main|Old Trafford}}
Following Manchester United's first league title in 1908 and the FA Cup a year later, it was decided that Bank Street was too restrictive for Davies' ambition;<ref name="inglis_234"/> in February 1909, six weeks before the club's first FA Cup title, Old Trafford was named as the home of Manchester United, following the purchase of land for around £60,000. Architect [[Archibald Leitch]] was given a budget of £30,000 for construction; original plans called for seating capacity of 100,000, though budget constraints forced a revision to 77,000.<ref>Inglis, pp. 234–235</ref><ref>White (2007), p. 50</ref> The building was constructed by Messrs Brameld and Smith of Manchester. The stadium's record attendance was registered on 25 March 1939, when an FA Cup semi-final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]] drew 76,962&nbsp;spectators.<ref>Rollin and Rollin, pp. 254–255.</ref>

Bombing in the Second World War destroyed much of the stadium; the central tunnel in the South Stand was all that remained of that quarter. After the war, the club received compensation from the [[War Damage Commission]] in the amount of £22,278. While reconstruction took place, the team played its "home" games at Manchester City's [[Maine Road]] ground; Manchester United was charged £5,000 per year, plus a nominal percentage of gate receipts.<ref>White, John (2007), p. 11.</ref> Later improvements included the addition of roofs, first to the Stretford End and then to the North and East Stands. The roofs were supported by pillars that obstructed many fans' views, and they were eventually replaced with a [[cantilever]]ed structure. The Stretford End was the last stand to receive a cantilevered roof, completed in time for the [[1993–94 Manchester United F.C. season|1993–94 season]].<ref name="barnes_19"/> First used on 25 March 1957 and costing £40,000, four {{convert|180|ft|m|adj=on}} pylons were erected, each housing 54&nbsp;individual floodlights. These were dismantled in 1987 and replaced by a lighting system embedded in the roof of each stand, which remains in use today.<ref>Barnes et al. (2001), pp. 44–45.</ref>

The [[Taylor Report]]'s requirement for an all-seater stadium lowered capacity at Old Trafford to around 44,000 by 1993. In 1995, the North Stand was redeveloped into three tiers, restoring capacity to approximately 55,000. At the end of the 1998–99 season, second tiers were added to the East and West Stands, raising capacity to around 67,000, and between July 2005 and May 2006, 8,000 more seats were added via second tiers in the north-west and north-east quadrants. Part of the new seating was used for the first time on 26 March 2006, when an attendance of 69,070 became a new Premier League record.<ref>{{cite news |title=Man Utd 3–0 Birmingham |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4820120.stm |work=BBC Sport |date=26 March 2006 |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-date=25 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725212757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/4820120.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The record was pushed steadily upwards before reaching its peak on 31 March 2007, when 76,098 spectators saw Manchester United beat [[Blackburn Rovers F.C.|Blackburn Rovers]] 4–1, with just 114 seats (0.15&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent of the total capacity of 76,212) unoccupied.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nick |last=Coppack |title=Report: United 4 Blackburn 1 |url=http://www.manutd.com/en/Fixtures-And-Results/Match-Reports/2007/Mar/Report-United-4-Blackburn-1.aspx |work=Manchester United |date=31 March 2007 |access-date=3 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216043425/http://www.manutd.com/en/Fixtures-And-Results/Match-Reports/2007/Mar/Report-United-4-Blackburn-1.aspx |archive-date=16 December 2011 }}</ref> In 2009, reorganisation of the seating resulted in a reduction of capacity by 255 to 75,957.<ref name="inside_united">Morgan (2010), pp. 44–48.</ref><ref name="record_gate">{{cite news |first=Steve |last=Bartram |title=OT100 #9: Record gate |url=http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/The-OT-100-News/2009/Nov/OT100-9-Record-gate.aspx |work=Manchester United |date=19 November 2009 |access-date=3 December 2010 |archive-date=16 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216030119/http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/The-OT-100-News/2009/Nov/OT100-9-Record-gate.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> Manchester United has the second highest average attendance among European football clubs, behind only [[Borussia Dortmund]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Barclays Premier League Stats: Team Attendance – 2012–13 |url=http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/23/statistics/performance?season=2012 |work=ESPN FC |date=3 May 2013 |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715144130/http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/23/statistics/performance?season=2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=German Bundesliga Stats: Team Attendance – 2012–13 |url=http://www.espnfc.com/german-bundesliga/10/statistics/performance?season=2012 |work=ESPN |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715121520/http://www.espnfc.com/german-bundesliga/10/statistics/performance?season=2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Spanish La Liga Stats: Team Attendance – 2012–13 |url=http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/15/statistics/performance?season=2012 |work=ESPN |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715145857/http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/15/statistics/performance?season=2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

===Proposed new ground===
{{main|New Trafford Stadium}}
In 2021, United co-chairman Joel Glazer said that "early-stage planning work" for the redevelopment of Old Trafford was underway. This followed "increasing criticism" over the lack of development of the ground since 2006.<ref>{{cite news |first=Simon |last=Stone |title=Man Utd discussing Old Trafford overhaul |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59020785 |work=BBC Sport |date=23 October 2021 |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207172335/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59020785 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the club's takeover by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2024, it emerged that plans were being made for the construction of a new, 100,000-capacity stadium near Old Trafford and that the current stadium would be downsized to serve as the home for the women's team and the club's academy.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jamie |last=Jackson |title=Manchester United plan to keep Old Trafford if they build new stadium |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/aug/07/manchester-united-plan-to-keep-old-trafford-if-they-build-new-stadium |work=The Guardian |date=7 August 2024 |access-date=18 August 2024 }}</ref> In November 2024, it was revealed that the majority of fans surveyed are in favour of a new-build rather than redevelopment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Agini |first=Samuel |date=2024-11-10 |title=Premier League clubs target stadium upgrades to boost revenues |url=https://www.ft.com/content/984244b4-3da8-4435-85d8-40babe0084e3 |access-date=2024-11-12 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>

On 11 March 2025, the club announced that it had retained [[Foster and Partners]] to construct a new, 100,000-capacity stadium adjacent to Old Trafford.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacInnes |first=Paul |date=2025-03-11 |title=Manchester United to build new 100,000-capacity stadium next to Old Trafford |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/mar/11/manchester-united-new-stadium-next-to-old-trafford-norman-foster |access-date=2025-03-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The new stadium is under consideration as a host venue for the [[2035 FIFA Women's World Cup]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ames |first1=Nick |last2=Garry |first2=Tom |title=New Manchester United stadium may feature at 2035 Women’s World Cup |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/apr/03/united-kingdom-host-womens-world-cup-2035 |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=5 April 2025 |date=3 April 2025}}</ref>