“Our No.1 goal is to get our teams winning and to get the men’s team competing for all the titles consistently. We are not going to deviate from that.”

Sir Alex Ferguson, who won 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues as United manager and delivered many memorable, iconic moments at Old Trafford, backed the plans.

“Manchester United should always strive for the best in everything it does, on and off the pitch, and that includes the stadium we play in,” Ferguson said. “Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.”

United believe the project could take five years and aims to start it this year, emboldened by government support.

Ratcliffe said: “It’s a bit more than a new stadium. It’s obvious that the more iconic or more extraordinary that the stadium is, the more successful the regeneration scheme will be. I think a really good example is the Eiffel Tower. Everybody around the world knows the Eiffel Tower and I’m sure that many people here who have visited Paris, you stay in a hotel, you go to the Eiffel Tower.

“We have one billion people around the world who follow Manchester United. They will all want to visit this stadium. You can see the design and take your own view on how iconic you think it is, but I think everybody in the world who is interested in Manchester United – and football – will want to come and visit this stadium.”

Despite having the highest EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of any club in Europe, United have lost £313 million in the past three seasons alone.

This is largely a consequence of calamitous recruitment and the cost of servicing the debt loaded on to the club by a hostile takeover in 2005, with £37 million spent in interest alone last season.

Asked if United would need to restructure their gross debts of £515.7 million, which excludes more than £300 million owed on transfers and £210 million drawn down from their revolving credit facility, Berrada said: “These are all options we will be looking at.”

Loading

Berrada said a new stadium could result in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), which is used to evaluate a company’s core performance and operating efficiency, soaring by up to £130 million annually.

“We’re a PLC so we have to be very careful about giving any revenue forecasts, but the initial business planning shows that we can increase our EBITDA significantly, potentially increase it by £120 million to £130 million,” he said.

United currently earns about £5 million per home game, but it is understood this could double at a new stadium with an additional 25,000 fans and vastly improved hospitality provision.

Berrada said there was the possibility of selling naming rights to a new stadium.