Product Code Database
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attendance of 84,569 was set in 1934 at an FA Cup sixth round match between Manchester City and Stoke City, a record for an English club ground.
At the time of its closure in 2003, Maine Road was an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 35,150 and of haphazard design with stands of varying heights due to the ground being renovated several times over its 80-year history. The following season Manchester City moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, a mile from the city centre and near Ardwick, where the club originally formed in 1880.
Two sites in Belle Vue in east Manchester were suggested, but neither was deemed sufficient. pp 35–46 To many City fans east Manchester was regarded as City's home and a move to Belle Vue seemed right. But the site was just and an available lease of fifty years was deemed too short by the club, pp 8–9 so it was decided that City would move to Moss Side. The move to a larger stadium at Maine Road was backed by then manager Ernest Mangnall.James, Gary (2008). Manchester – A Football History, pp. 380–385 & 396–401.
Many were disappointed when a site in south Manchester was chosen. A City director, John Ayrton, resigned from the board later in the decade and helped to form a breakaway club, Manchester Central, which played at Belle Vue. Chapter 12: For The Good of Manchester?, pp 147–166
During construction, the stadium was reputedly cursed by a Romanichal when officials evicted a Gypsy camp from the area. This curse was allegedly removed on 28 December 1998. pp 44–45 However, the Gypsy curse is likely to be an urban myth, as such stories are endemic to a number of Football League grounds. Construction took 300 days at a total cost of £100,000. The initial layout of the ground consisted of one covered stand with a seating capacity of 10,000, and uncovered terracing on the other three sides, with gentle curves connecting the corners. Everything under the blue moon, p135
In 1934, the highest attendance for an English football club playing at their own stadium was recorded at Maine Road, when 84,569 fans watched Manchester City play Stoke City in the sixth round of the FA Cup on 3 March 1934. (A larger crowd of 121,919 attended the Crystal Palace ground when it hosted the 1913 FA Cup Final between Aston Villa and Sunderland.) Queues formed four hours before the match, and one journalist stated that Maine Road was packed two hours before kick-off. A decision was taken to close the turnstiles with an attendance at approximately 85,000, 3000 short of what was thought to be the maximum capacity. Supporters witnessed a visiting Stoke team which included Stanley Matthews and City's team boasted players Frank Swift, Fred Tilson, Sam Cowan and Matt Busby. The match was won 1–0 by Manchester City. This is the record home attendance for a domestic match and the record home attendance at a club ground, as the 1913 FA Cup final was played at a neutral venue.
Changes at the Platt Lane end took place in 1935, extending the terracing and providing a roof for the full stand. This marked the peak capacity of the ground, estimated at 88,000. Manchester City: The Complete Record, p93 Further changes were planned, but suspended when Manchester City were relegated from the First Division in 1938 and abandoned when World War II broke out.
The era of standing accommodation at Maine Road came to an end in May 1994 as the stadium became all-seater to comply with the requirements of the Taylor Report, with the demolition of the Kippax Street Terrace, which, unusually for an all-standing area, was located at the side of the pitch instead of behind the goals. The final match with standing permitted took place on 30 April 1994, Waiting for the Whistle, p10 against Chelsea for a 2–2 draw. Immediately before demolition, the capacity of the Kippax terrace was 18,300. A three-tier stand was built in its place, holding nearly 14,000 spectators, and on its completion in October 1995 it was the tallest stand in the country, built at a cost of £16 million, four times the turnover of the club, according to then-chairman Francis Lee. The revamp of the Kippax was the second phase of a five-part development plan that would have cost £40million and increased the stadium's capacity to 45,024. However, the club abandoned these plans as City were relegated from the Premier League in 1996 and from Division One two years later.
The new stand was an impressive modern facility, but it also emphasised the haphazard nature in which the ground had been redeveloped, as all four sides were of differing heights and construction styles. There were further plans for expansion that would have taken the stadium's capacity to 45,000, but these were put on hold following City's relegation from the Premier League in 1996.
The final competitive match before the closure of the stadium took place on 11 May 2003 with a Premiership match against Southampton. Tickets were sold upwards of £250 and a crowd of 34,957, about 100 short of maximum capacity, filled Maine Road for the final day. City lost the match 1–0 with Michael Svensson scoring the stadium's last goal. The final match was followed by performances by musical acts Badly Drawn Boy and Doves.
City's final goal at the stadium was scored on 21 April 2003 by Marc-Vivien Foé during a 3–0 victory over Sunderland. Sixty-six days later, Fóe died on 26 June from an undetected heart condition while representing the Cameroon national football team during the 2003 Confederations Cup.
An auction of the ground's fixtures and fittings took place in July 2003, raising £100,000, which was donated to community projects in the Moss Side area, which was undergoing a lengthy regeneration process. (2026). 9780954013486, WSC Books. ISBN 9780954013486 p234 The two penalty spots and the centre spot were thought to be the most desired mementos, but all three had been cut out from the grass before the auction took place. The auction lasted for seven hours and 1,000 supporters attended the auction, with interest from clubs such as Preston North End and Norwich City for the bigger lots which could be reused.
Two years later approval was given for a new housing development to be built on the site, consisting of 474 homes. There is a public art display commemorating the stadium and features a circular plate half open, symbolising the centre spot and the new emerging development which now sits on the Maine Road stadium.
| +FA Cup semi-finals at Maine Road | ||||
| 1 | 1928 | Huddersfield Town | 1–0 | Sheffield United |
| 2 | 1946 | Derby County | 4–1 | Birmingham City |
| 3 | 1947 | Burnley | 1–0 | Liverpool |
| 4 | 1950 | Liverpool | 2–0 | Everton |
| 5 | 1951 | Blackpool | 0–0 | Birmingham City |
| 6 | 1953 | Bolton Wanderers | 4–3 | Everton |
| 7 | 1954 | Preston North End | 2–0 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| 8 | 1958 | Bolton Wanderers | 2–1 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 9 | 1960 | Blackburn Rovers | 2–1 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| 10 | 1973 | Leeds United | 1–0 aet | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 11 | 1975 | Fulham | 1–0 | Birmingham City |
| 12 | 1977 | Liverpool | 2–2 | Everton |
| 13 | 1977 | Liverpool | 3–0 | Everton |
| 14 | 1979 | Manchester United | 2–2 | Liverpool |
| 15 | 1985 | Manchester United | 2–1 | Liverpool |
| 16 | 1990 | Manchester United | 3–3 | Oldham Athletic |
| 17 | 1990 | Manchester United | 2–1 | Oldham Athletic |
| 18 | 1994 | Manchester United | 4–1 | Oldham Athletic |
Maine Road hosted two England internationals, the first was a 3–0 defeat of Wales on 13 November 1946 and the second a 9–2 win over Northern Ireland on 16 November 1949, England's first ever World Cup qualifier. In addition, a number of wartime internationals were held at the ground. Maine Road was also the venue for a number of rugby league matches, hosting the Rugby Football League Championship Final eleven times between 1938 and 1956. It also hosted the rugby league match of the cross code challenge between Wigan Warriors and Bath Rugby.
Maine Road hosted Manchester United's first three home games of the 1956–57 European Cup, as Old Trafford did not have floodlights installed and so was deemed unsuitable to host matches in the tournament. The first European match at the ground saw United thrash Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht 10–0 in the preliminary round, a competition record which stood for seventeen years.
It hosted many FA Cup semi-finals, the last being in April 1994 when Manchester United beat Oldham Athletic 4–1 in a replay. It hosted the 1984 Football League Cup final replay, which Liverpool won 1–0 against Everton.
The stadium was used for several scenes in the 1948 motion picture Cup-tie Honeymoon. In later years, it was featured in the 2000 film There's Only One Jimmy Grimble and the 2003 ITV drama The Second Coming, which starred Christopher Eccleston.
The stadium hosted concerts by many famous artists, including Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Belinda Carlisle, David Bowie, David Cassidy, Dire Straits, Faith No More, Fleetwood Mac, Guns N' Roses, Jean Michel Jarre, Mavis Staples, Mike and the Mechanics, Motörhead, The New Power Generation, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Prince, Queen, Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones, Simple Minds, Soundgarden, and Status Quo, among others. The most high-profile concert held at Maine Road was that of Mancunian band Oasis (themselves avowed Manchester City fans) in April 1996, a performance which was later released as a video, ...There and Then.
In June 1961, the American Christian evangelist Billy Graham attracted over 100,000 people to the stadium, over the course of four nights, as part of his UK tour.The Guardian, P18, 5 June 1961
Footnotes
Bibliography
|
|
