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Sunday's draw against Arsenal saw another sell-out out season at Old Trafford come to a close, just as it has been for every year since 1992.

While the away support varied between West Brom's tiny 340 and several clubs selling out their 3,000 allocation, the overall attendance was 99.5 per cent full across the season.

The highest gate of 75,454 was barely different from the lowest of 75,112. Even with the relatively standard fare of football on offer, those figures could have been much higher had Old Trafford been bigger. So why not extend it?

It's nine years since the last major development when the two quadrants were completed to lift the capacity above 75,000 after a £42 million investment.

Sir Alex Ferguson was so impressed by how they linked up the Stretford and Scoreboard Ends that he suggested that the roof of the main stand should be raised so that it matched the rest of the stadium.

With new stands, that would have raised the capacity further, while Ferguson joked that journalists could be strung from top of the new roof.

Despite selling out week after week, Old Trafford has not been expanded since. The credit crunch was a factor plus that the club seemed to have reached a point of equilibrium where some games only just sold out.

Uncertainty over kick-off times didn't help with fans travelling form afar, nor blanket TV coverage. And there was the problem with expanding the main stand, the only one which hasn't been added to, for the main Manchester to Liverpool railway runs behind it.

It was long thought that a second tunnel would be needed and there was the issue of housing on Railway Road behind, but advances in engineering now mean the stand could be expanded without the need for another tunnel.

If the main stand mirrored the Sir Alex Ferguson stand opposite, with two new quadrants, the capacity would rise to 94,000.

That would be bigger than the Bernabau, San Siro and Wembley - not that the meccano-like construction of Old Trafford has the architectural merit of any of those from the outside.

This could be done in stages, as the North Stand was between 1994 and 2006, with the capacity rising to suit demand.

Only Camp Nou would be bigger, yet Barca are already planning to roof, redevelop and increase their capacity to 105,000. Real Madrid are redeveloping their home too, as are a cluster of leading English clubs.

City are expanding the Etihad by 6,000 seats with the option of another 6,000. After years of uncertainty about their home, Liverpool are rebuilding Anfield's main stand to push the capacity up to 55,000.

They can increase it further by building a bigger Anfield Road stand. Tottenham are rebuilding White Hart Lane, West Ham will move to the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium and Chelsea are still looking to get away from the constraints of Stamford Bridge's relatively modest 42,000 capacity.

Most of the leading French stadiums are being re-developed or rebuilt for Euro 2016 and Marseille's Velodrome, with a daring white roof, is now one of the most striking venues in Europe.

United were the third best-supported team in the world at home this season behind Dortmund (80,408) and Barcelona (76,190).

Madrid's average was 73,973 in the league, Bayern Munich, in fifth is 72,750.

It's welcomed that United have barely increased ticket prices in five years, welcomed too that initiatives such as free entry for big under 21 games continues - that led to the 16,000 crowd against City U21s last week.

But United should be thinking bigger and better. The club were irked at the building of the so far successful Hotel Football on their doorstep, yet there was nothing to stop United building their own hotel.

Have a look inside Hotel Football in the shadow of Old Trafford.

Old Trafford has continued to sell out through every expansion and a bigger stadium would allow cheaper tickets, especially for younger - and local - fans.

The average age of a season ticket holder at Old Trafford is worrying high at 52. United need to think about future fans and the club can continue to exploit the lucrative demand for executive facilities which will held pay for any new sections.

Louis Edwards had a vision for the ground in the 1960s and United remained true to that template when other clubs struggled with a mixture of differently designed stands.

The same attitude should continue, for while the growth in club revenues is coming from television rights and commercial deals; Old Trafford should be as big as the biggest club stadiums. There's demand for it.

The MEN's jury of specialist writers has assembled to deliver its verdict on LVG's first year.... read it here