30th April 1994 - The Kippax's Last Stand

[franksinatra]

Who went on the pitch?!

My Father wouldn’t let me! Looking back he must’ve thought I was an idiot for wanting to, I was only 12 yet thought I was going to face up to Chelsea fans giving it the big’un, haha

We both went to Wednesday away the week after in the home end. He gave me a lecture in the car about not giving ourselves away… the Wednesday fans clocked we were City fans in minutes but they were class, they had a good laugh with us and SheffUtd got relegated so they were in good spirits. Always liked Wednesday and their fans ever since.

I don’t remember there being a pitch invasion?

Most abiding memory of the day was the glorious sunshine and City surprisingly bucking our usual trend of self-destruction and salvaging a 2-2 draw. There were some great games at the back end of that season. Beating Newcastle (David Brightwell goal I think), Villa as well. Small beer compared to today but massively important at the time.

 

[Sky Blue Thinking]

I felt seriously unsafe on the charlton game, I was only 15, never seen the kippax so rammed, only time in my life I’d felt scared amongst our own fans, it was dangerous that day

But there were 'only' 47000 there... would be interested to know the actual attendance that day, I'd say it was well over the official capacity of 52000, lots of fans spilled out of the Kippax to the gap between the wall and pitch. Was definitely dangerously overcrowded, fortunately not aware of any injuries but tragic events in Bradford the same day.

 

[Groenendijk's tin of peas]

But there were 'only' 47000 there... would be interested to know the actual attendance that day, I'd say it was well over the official capacity of 52000, lots of fans spilled out of the Kippax to the gap between the wall and pitch. Was definitely dangerously overcrowded, fortunately not aware of any injuries but tragic events in Bradford the same day.

I got in free with about half an hour left, with my dad and my mate, in the days when they used to open that big blue gate at the Platt Lane of the Kippax wall after halftime (presumably to let the early leavers go?). We wouldn't have been the only ones. It was actually not that packed in the corner between the Kippax and Platt Lane - I don't know if that section had been closed at kick-off and used as an overspill area? I remember looking over at the main Kippax and thinking it was absolutely hammered.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

But there were 'only' 47000 there... would be interested to know the actual attendance that day, I'd say it was well over the official capacity of 52000, lots of fans spilled out of the Kippax to the gap between the wall and pitch. Was definitely dangerously overcrowded, fortunately not aware of any injuries but tragic events in Bradford the same day.

The Kippax was fuller than the 71/72 rag game which was the biggest registered crowd I'd been in at MR but as well as that most of the 3 seated stands had no obvious steps as fans were stood/sat on them as well.

Dangerous as fuck but fucking brilliant day I can still see Simmo beating the keeper to the ball.

 

[Rascal]

Colin Bells comeback game, he came on at half time. The noise the Kippax made that day still sends shivers down my spine.

The FA Cup QF replay v Everton, I am pretty sure I went straight from school in my uniform so we could get above the tunnel and make sure we actually got in as it was pay on the gate. The atmosphere was electric, Bobby Mac.

The Charlton promotion game, officially 47k there hahahahahaha, it was the fullest i ever experienced the Kippax

The devastation of the Luton loss, grown men in tears sat on the steps

The 5-1, the noise and jubilation

The magical UEFA Cup game under lights when Boniek of Widzew Lodz ran us ragged

Like others we moved about, when we first went as kids we were above the tunnel, getting to the ground before the turnstiles opened so we could be first in to grab a spot, then getting older moving into the choir next to the away fans, then in my late 20s having our spot towards the North Stand, my mates brothers mob behind us, the Cheadle Hulme Blues to our left and then it had gone.

I hated the new Kippax, it was a monstrosity, only went in a handful of times, it just felt wrong.

The old Kippax was my home, i first went in there in 1968 with my grandad who sat me as a 3 year old on the wall at the front, I loved it from that point and still love it now. It wasnt always great, but when it was it was unmatched, it was the loudest stand I have ever been in and it was the heart and soul of the club.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I'd never admit it at the time but main Rd was awful once the Kippax was gone. The new Kippax was big, but totally out if sync. And so blatantly cheap.

I'll admit that I'd left England by then (and it was pre-low cost airlines, and that changed everything for me), so I never sat in the new Kippax. Sorry, but it's always looked like an ugly monstrosity to me. Good to see, though, that they kept the old redbrick walls, and those incredibly cramped turnstiles to go through.
The irony is that by the time Maine Road had come to the end of its natural life, it had no unity to it. It was an assemblage of utterly different stands. A hotchpotch. Rather like Old Trafford is today…
I've always, sincerely believed that the Etihad is a good looking stadium, architecturally speaking, (and it can be made even better). Even though it took a long time for it to be in my heart.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

But there were 'only' 47000 there... would be interested to know the actual attendance that day, I'd say it was well over the official capacity of 52000, lots of fans spilled out of the Kippax to the gap between the wall and pitch. Was definitely dangerously overcrowded, fortunately not aware of any injuries but tragic events in Bradford the same day.

The Kippax was fuller than the 71/72 rag game which was the biggest registered crowd I'd been in at MR but as well as that most of the 3 seated stands had no obvious steps as fans were stood/sat on them as well.

Dangerous as fuck but fucking brilliant day I can still see Simmo beating the keeper to the ball.

Isn't it the case that when you're fourteen or so, you absolutely love that, though? I liked the sense of danger.
Boxing Day against Everton, 1968. The official figure (on this site) says only 53,000. Sorry, but I just don't believe that. We were crammed in like sardines on the Kippax. Easily the match at which I was most closely boxed in, anywhere, at any time. If you needed a piss — luckily,I never did, at that age — you were going to do it on the spot. No question of going down the steps for your Wagon Wheel at half-time, either.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Always loved the old scoreboard end before it was redeveloped. Didn't know it for very long. One of the very few times I sat in the Main Stand, us against Liverpool, August 1969. I remember looking over at the scoreboard end and being impressed, I admit — it seemed to be a solid phalanx of LFC fans from one side to the other.
Unless my memory's playing tricks on me, Peter Thompson gave us a good old runaround that night.

 

[WesthoughtonJohn]

I’d have loved to have stood on The Kippax but was yet to go to a match due to my age. What was it like?

Unique for me. I miss those days of wondering where you'd finally end up after we scored :D.
Beats today's sanitised football hands down, but I get the reasons for that. Maybe safe standing will improve atmospheres, but it still won't be quite the same

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Unique for me. I miss those days of wondering where you'd finally end up after we scored :D.
Beats today's sanitised football hands down, but I get the reasons for that. Maybe safe standing will improve atmospheres, but it still won't be quite the same

It'll never be the same, but it had to be done, I'm afraid. After Hillsborough, and by the way there had been deaths at Ibrox and, I think, Hampden Park years before that; and then there was the Bradford City fire, 1985, which is too often forgotten, even if the tragedy did occur for different reasons — 56 dead, by the way, 265 injured. No, it had to be done.