Skip to main content

Man Utd want 'Wembley of the North' – Port Vale almost beat them to it with 80,000 dream

There's no such thing as an original idea - and Sir Jim Ratcliffe's "Wembley of the North" vision for Manchester United was previously the ambition of a League One club

A general view of  Vale Park, home of Port Vale during the Sky Bet League One match between Port Vale and Bolton Wanderers at Vale Park on September 30, 2023
Port Vale's home Vale Park would look very different had their ambitions been realised(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)

Manchester United aren't the first club to want a "Wembley of the North" - with Port Vale coining the term nearly 80 years ago.


Sir Jim Ratcliffe is reportedly planning to either upgrade Old Trafford or build a new 90,000-seater stadium for the Red Devils to rival London's home of football. United are in need of new and improved facilities.


And so were the Valiants back in the 1940s when they were evicted from their previous venue, The Old Recreation Ground. Rather than seek out another existing site, the club's owners unveiled grand plans of their own.


READ MORE: 'Missing Man Utd's Champions League final broke my heart – I partied until 5am instead'

READ MORE: AI predicts what Man Utd's new 'Wembley of the North' will look like in stunning image

Get all the sport you could ever ask for
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Content Image
£22 a month
Sky
Get it here

Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the only way to watch all the action this year.


They announced their intention to build an 80k-capacity ground with room for 1,000 parked cars, and the development became known as 'The Wembley of the North' due to the size of the stadium.

There was one ever-so slight problem - they didn't have anywhere near enough money to realise that dream, with the club languishing in the third tier. The supporters club set to work trying to raise funds.

What's your favourite footy stadium? Let us know in the comments section.


Artist's impression of Port Vale's Wembley of the North
The "Wembley of the North" plans were ambitious, to say the least, from Vale's owners
READ MORE: 'I had a fag in Liverpool's showers alongside chairman minutes after our Istanbul comeback'READ MORE: Ex-QPR and Italy international footballer is now politician who is Mayor of Verona

Life-time seats were sold for £100, the cost of around 200 matches and worth approximately £2,800 today, but less than 100 fans bought one.

Not only was cash an issue, but so was the construction. Given World War II had not long ended, materials for non-essential work were difficult to attain. Vale were also lacking support from the Stoke-on-Trent Corporation and the Ministry of Works


By the time it was opened in 1950, £50k had been spent and it was able to hold 40k supporters. But it was entirely uncovered, had temporary changing rooms and just 1k seats.

Content cannot be displayed without consent

A club-record crowd of just over 30k attended the first match, a 1–0 victory over Newport County, when the ground was christened Vale Park.


Draining issues caused regular postponements throughout the 50s, but when they could get on the pitch the team earned promotion and rejuvenated hopes of rivalling Wembley.

AI has predicted how a new Man Utd stadium could look
AI has predicted what Manchester United's new 'Wembley of the North' could look like(Image: Instant Casino)

The capacity was increased to 50k for the turn of the 1960s, earning a new record attendance on February 20, 1960 for a FA Cup fifth round tie versus Aston Villa.

Article continues below

But as they fell back down the divisions, crowds dropped to as low as 3,000 and the 'Wembley of the North' dream was a thing of the past.

New safety regulations introduced in the 80s reduced the capacity to 16.5k, similar to the current day Vale Park, which was brought up to Championship standard in 2022 after investment from current owners Kevin and Carol Shanahan.

Follow Daily Star:



Manchester United FCPremier LeaguePort Vale FCLeague One
reach logo

At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the saleor sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Privacy Notice.