More detail than you asked for above, Marvin. I just happen to be waiting for a piece of work to come through and thought that any anoraks like me might appreciate the full stats.
We drew 55,023 for a 2-0 win against Derby in April 1972 as we came up just short in the title race. That's still bigger than any City home gate since, but obviously will be beaten when the rebuilt North Stand is in operation.
Earlier that season, in November 1971, we pulled in 63,326 for the classic 3-3 game against the rags. That's the last time we had a home gate bigger than the capacity will be once the current expansion work on the North Stand is completed.
In 1971/2, the new North Stand had been completed but was a terrace in its first season. Capacity therefore remained over 63,000. However, by the start of the 1972/3 season, the seats were in place and the capacity dropped accordingly, though for over a decade from that point we had more seats than any other club ground in the country. The biggest gate in the first season of the completed North Stand was 54,478 against Sunderland in an FA Cup fifth round tie in February 1973 which we drew 2-2. However, Maine Road's capacity was reduced for safety reasons after incidents at the 1973 Sunderland game.
That attendance against Sunderland has been topped since the South Stand at the Etihad was extended. The record at this ground is the 54,693 who saw the 3-1 defeat against Leicester in February 2016 and it's also our biggest gate in the 50-plus years between April 1972 and the present day. Owing to a small capacity reduction since, the crowd for that 1973 fixture, however, can't now (and for some time hasn't been able to) be beaten again until the expanded North Stand is open.
Meanwhile, from the summer of 1973, the maximum figure Maine Road could accommodate was usually quoted as 52,600 and the Cup tie against the Mackems was therefore the last time a Maine Road gate officially exceeded 53,000. The biggest crowd at the old venue between the reduction in capacity in the summer of 1973 and the stadium closing 30 years later was the 52,532 that watched City turn Everton over 3-1 in the FA Cup quarter final in March 1981 (quite a night for us FOCs who remember it).
The last attendance of over 50,000 at Maine Road was the 52,089 who in March 1984 watched Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 in the League Cup final replay. The last in a game involving City came in October 1981 for the 0-0 draw against the rags, when 52,037 officially attended.
Thanks to the BM history section for the stats.
