Maine Road

Plans to build Maine Road were first announced in May 1922, following a decision by Manchester City F.C. to leave their Hyde Road ground, which did not have room for expansion and its main stand had been severely damaged by fire in 1920.[4]

Two sites in Belle Vue, East Manchester were suggested, but neither was deemed sufficient.[5] 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 8 acres (32,000 m²) and an available lease of 50 years was deemed too short by the club,[6] 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.[7]

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 F.C., which played at Belle Vue.[8]

The main stand in the 1930s

Facing the Kippax Stand in 1985

A 16.25 acre former brickworks on Maine Road was purchased for £5,500.[9] Maine Road was originally known as Dog Kennel Lane but renamed Maine Road (after the Maine law) during the 1870s at the insistence of the Temperance movement[10] which owned land on Dog Kennel Lane and the local authority accepted its request.[11]

During construction, the stadium was reputedly cursed by a Gypsy when officials evicted a Gypsy camp from the area. This curse was allegedly removed on 28 December 1998.[12] 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, the total cost £100,000.[3] 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.[13]

Progressive capacity and attendances for Manchester City matches at Maine Road

The first match at Maine Road took place on 25 August 1923 when 58,159 fans watched the home side beat Sheffield United 2–1.[14] The first changes to the ground took place in 1931, when the corner between the Main Stand and the Platt Lane end at the south of the ground was rebuilt to incorporate a roof.[2] This renovation was the first of many, as Maine Road's layout and capacity was varied throughout its lifespan.

In 1934, the highest attendance for an English football club playing at their own stadium was recorded at Maine Road, when Manchester City played Stoke City in front of 84,569 fans, in the sixth round of the FA Cup on 3 March 1934.[15] (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.[15] 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.[15] 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.[15] 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 is not considered a home match for either team.

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 around 88,000.[16] Further changes were planned, but suspended when Manchester City were relegated from Division One in 1938, and abandoned when World War II broke out.[2]

The stadium was shared by Manchester United after the Second World War as Manchester United's Old Trafford ground had been damaged during the Manchester Blitz. United paid City £5,000 per season, plus a share of gate receipts.[17] The highest attendance for a league game at Maine Road occurred during this period, when 83,260 people watched Manchester United play Arsenal on 17 January 1948. This figure is a national record for a league game.[18] Maine Road was also used by Manchester United to host three of their four home games in the 1956–57 European Cup, until Old Trafford was equipped with floodlights as required by UEFA.

Floodlights for the stadium were installed in 1953 and further development took place in 1957. This was prompted by the hosting of two FA Cup semi-finals in successive years,[19] the side facing the Main Stand (which until that time was generally known as the Popular Side) was redeveloped and named The Kippax after a nearby street.[20] Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s, the Kippax became the part of the ground where the club's most vociferous fans congregated.[4] In 1963, benches were installed at the Platt Lane end, meaning that Maine Road had more seats than any other English club ground of the time.[20] The next major redevelopment came in the 1970s, with the construction of the North Stand, a cantilevered stand which remained in place until the closure of Maine Road. The 1980s saw ambitious plans for improvements: however, these plans were shelved due to financial pressures after the Main Stand roof had been replaced at a cost of £1 million.

The new, taller Kippax Stand

The temporary "Gene Kelly Stand" in the corner of the ground

By 1990, some areas of the ground were becoming outdated, and there was the need for the stadium to become all-seater following the outcome of the Taylor Report in January that year, and the Platt Lane stand was demolished in 1992. Its place was taken by the all-seater Umbro Stand that also incorporated executive boxes, and was opened in March 1993. The name reverted to the Platt Lane Stand in 1997, when Kappa replaced Umbro as City's kit suppliers.

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,[21] against Chelsea for a 2–2 draw. Immediately prior to demolition the capacity of the Kippax terrace was 18,300.[19] 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 £16million, four times the turnover of the club according to then-chairman Francis Lee.[22] The revamp of the Kippax was the second phase of a five-part development plan that would have cost £40million[23] 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.[23]

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 which 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.

City vacated Maine Road and moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003.

There were plans for further expansion at Maine Road to take the capacity to an all-seated 45,000, but these were abandoned in favour of a move to the City of Manchester Stadium built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

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[24] and a crowd of 34,957, about 100 off maximum capacity filled Maine Road for the final day.[25] 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. Forty-five days later, the player died on 26 June from an undetected heart condition while representing the Cameroon national football team during the 2003 Confederations Cup.[26]

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.[27] 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.[28] 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.[29]

Maine Road Football Ground being demolished

Towards the end of Maine Road's lifespan there were proposals for other sports teams to make use of the stadium following City's relocation; Stockport County once expressed interest in moving there from Edgeley Park,[18][30] and in December 2000 Sale Sharks rugby union club was offered a lease for the stadium.[31] However, none of the proposals came to fruition and some past City players stated their dismay at the stadium not being renovated for mixed-use sport stadium.[32] Demolition began in late 2003,[33] lasting around 10 months.[34]

Two years later the go-ahead was given for a new housing development to take part on the site, consisting of 474 homes.[35] 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.[36][37]