Manchester United stadium task force plans concern charity

A charity has said having "only white people" on a task force looking at a new Manchester United stadium makes it "institutionally racist".

The club unveiled a task force after new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe revealed he wanted to build a new ground.

It includes Lord Coe, Andy Burnham, Gary Neville and a number of others.

Anti-racism charity the Anthony Walker Foundation said it was "disappointed but ultimately not surprised" by the lack of non-white representation.

But Manchester United stressed that the task force membership was not yet finalised.

They said they had appointed key partners - such as Trafford Council - but would be increasing the size of the panel over the coming months.

A club spokesman said: "Of course we want to reflect all communities around the stadium - this is a community project. It wouldn't make any sense to not to reflect the diversity of the area."

"Further appointments" would be made to the task force in the coming weeks, the club said, and the complete group would be made up of people with a "variety of experiences, skills and backgrounds".

The task force, which includes Trafford Council chief executive Sara Todd, academics and a fans group representative alongside the World Athletics president, Greater Manchester's mayor and United's former captain, was revealed after Sir Jim spoke about how his preference was to replace Old Trafford with a "new stadium for the North".

Trafford Council welcomed the proposal as part of its plans to regenerate the wider Trafford Wharf area, but supporters' group South Stand United said the club were "alienating" fans over the plans.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Anthony Walker Foundation's chief executive Kaushik Mistry said the charity was "disappointed but ultimately not surprised" that the task force "has only white people appointed to it", adding that it meant it was "structurally and institutionally racist from its implementation".

"Our diverse communities are filled with great talent, leaders and experts whose lived experiences vastly differ from those appointed to the board," he said.

"We deserve to be at the head table."

He said the task force's make-up was an example of the "same old systematic problem".

He later told the BBC the charity had wanted "to raise this issue" at an early stage and address the structure of the task force "which needs to look different".

He added that Manchester was a "massively diverse" city and it "made no sense" for the group to have no non-white members.

A Manchester United representative said the "announcement of the task force last week was the start of this process, and further appointments will follow".

They said it would eventually be "made up of people with a variety of experiences, skills and backgrounds, representing all the key stakeholder groups whose support we need to turn the vision for a regenerated Old Trafford into reality".

"This is a complex and ambitious project that stretches beyond the stadium - with the aim of delivering social and economic benefits for our diverse local community and the wider region," they added.

"We want to hear from the full range of voices and perspectives as we build a shared plan to deliver those objectives."

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