Does anyone wish we still played at Maine Road and why?

[Eaststander1]

Don’t forget the Charlton game…

Yep, absolutely ...... excellent atmosphere that day, and the three Charlton fans i spoke to at Piccadilly Station after the game were really impressed .... their side had just been hammered 5-1, yet they told me they had had a great day, and it had been a pleasure to experience that atmosphere !

 

[Eaststander1]

Looking back at clips of games from the late eighties and through the 90s on YouTube. Let's be honest, there were times when there were plenty of empty seats at each end of the ground.

Yep, it I suppose being a 'yoyo' club hardly helped our attendances back in those days ...... with our erratic perfomances we could never quite be sure which league we were gonna be playing in the following season !

 

[xgorton]

Maine Road was finished when the seats went in the Kippax,I started going 62 we had a few 63,000 crowds back when it was standing at the old scoreboard end.So I don't wished we still played at Maine road but I miss the pubs and pay on the gate and standing with all my mates.

 

[dadnlad]

I remember when I was about ten going to City on the 53.

The bus pulled up near Belle Vue Dog track, a few people jumped up on the platform at the back, and the bus was jam packed,

As it was about to drive off a woman tried to get on, but the conductor said "Sorry we are full"

She opened her coat revealing a low cut dress and a big cleavage

He said "Never mind that luv'. I've got to get these lads to the match"

Was it Olive ?
And why did dogs only shit in allies

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Yes because despite now being nearer to the city centre the Etihad is 10X harder to get to and from on public transport or by driving. Maine road was a breeze to get to and from

Now imagine Maine Road with 55,000 every game and trying to get away!

 

[uwerosler28]

Now imagine Maine Road with 55,000 every game and trying to get

Did that at least twice in the 60s, don't need to imagine it.

 

[big gaz]

I'm 62 not 16, no way I'd want that now no.

What hot Bovril ?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Did that at least twice in the 60s, don't need to imagine it.

Different times from the 60’s. How many walked there? How many caught public transport and how many came in their own vehicles. I doubt back in the 60’s even 5,000 came in their own vehicles. Now you’d be looking at 20,000 plus vehicles looking for somewhere to park.

 

[argyle]

Think some of you are just missing your youth and the good times you had.

Great atmosphere at times for sure, but so has the Etihad during many games.

I do miss the cheaper reasonable prices than the rip off it's become but that's for another thread.

 

[uwerosler28]

Different times from the 60’s. How many walked there? How many caught public transport and how many came in their own vehicles. I doubt back in the 60’s even 5,000 came in their own vehicles. Now you’d be looking at 20,000 plus vehicles looking for somewhere to park.

Alright mate you win transport too and from the Etihad is a breeze.

 

[RiversideBlue]

Apart from the memories, the only things I really miss are the atmosphere, the absence of tourist fans, and that great shop on Claremont Road that sold City T shirts (Roslers grandad,etc).

 

[citytill1die84]

Absolutely not. State of the art Etihad much better

 

[Eaststander1]

Did that at least twice in the 60s, don't need to imagine it.

I think Rodney Marsh's debut game at Maine Road against Chelsea pulled 55,000 in .... that was early 70s.

And the home FA Cup match with Sunderland , a 2-2 draw, might have done too ....

 

[DD]

Nostalgia is great. It allows you to default to the highlights reel and forget the rest of the game.

Much as I loved Maine Road and cherish the memories, times change, and the older I get, the more I appreciate better comfort and much better views.

It's a part of my history that I'd never change, but the Etihad is home now and has been for a very long time.

I'm happy with my proverbial detached house with a big garden and all it's given me. Despite the great times I had there, I don't miss my old terraced house with the outdoor shitter.

 

[Fiftyyearsandcounting]

I had to work a lot of Saturdays, when I did get one off it was great to be able to simply turn up at the gate, pay over a bit of silver and find a space on a Platt Lane bench.

 

[the blue panther]

Think some of you are just missing your youth and the good times you had.

Great atmosphere at times for sure, but so has the Etihad during many games.

I do miss the cheaper reasonable prices than the rip off it's become but that's for another thread.

I started working in 1974 as an office junior on £14 a week. I'm guessing that it cost about 25p to get in the Kippax. Don't know what conclusions to draw from the £50-60 ticket price for an adult today - best not go there as it'll get weird.

80s &90's - avoiding shit in the alleyways and watching shit on the pitch. Wouldn't have missed it for the world though.

Got to make the most of this cycle we're in right now.

 

[blubanjo]

Times change and rose tinted glasses need to be removed. The match day demographic was completely different back then and whilst the pubs were miles better we did have some awful days and terrible atmospheres.
Some things are better now, others aren't so good, however our club is in a different stratosphere now.
Would I go back...........dont think so, just happy to have been part of it at the time.

 

[dadnlad]

Now imagine Maine Road with 55,000 every game and trying to get away!

Burham would've put parking restrictions in place anyway

 

[GOULDYBOBS]

Don't worry City will make up for the lack of pubs with the new fan zone. Poorly paid, unskilled workers treating each order like it's their first time. Queues and queues of blues waiting because some cunts ordering a smashed avocado and a lactose free mocha chockafucking latte

 

[.db.]

As my Mother is from Moss Side and that’s where City were from when I built my connection to them, I have much more connection to Moss Side than I do Bradford.

I have these:




But I’d never buy a pair of Bradford if Adidas ever brought them out.

However, as I’m 43, I’ve known the Etihad longer than I ever knew Maine Road. The Etihad now has more history of success and big moments than Maine Road ever did in my time watching City.

We obviously had some huge historically big games and attendances at Maine Road over 70 years, but they all happened well before my time and I only really experienced cult moments there like the odd Derby win and promotions.

We’ve massively eclipsed anything I ever witnessed at Maine Road, at the Etihad. So the stadium itself and what’s gone on, on the pitch there; the Etihad is more important to me now, even if Moss Side means more to me than Bradford… the Hamburg atmosphere (never been beaten), the FA Cup trophy parade ending in a full Etihad, Kompany header/Yaya masterclass derby win, ‘Agüeroooooo!’, Džeko+Yaya against Villa, West Ham final day, the football played in 2017-18 and 2018-19, City v Liverpool 3rd January 2019 (highest quality game I’ve ever watched), ‘where do you want your statue Vincent Kompany?’, greeting the team outside the ground before the great PSG CL SF win (although not actually being allowed in the ground due to Covid), the comeback against Villa to win the league on the final day, the run to the treble (4-1 v Lpool; 4-1 v Arsenal), those CL nights against Leipzig (7-0) Bayern (3-0) and Madrid (4-0), West Ham final day again…

Plus, Maine Road wasn’t even nice when we left in 2003. We’d made a mess of it. To be there now I think either the early-80s plan would have to have come into place:



54,000 with some decent symmetry on the sides facing each other. The old standing Kippax remaining as it was with the same roof as the Main Stand. Platt Lane mirroring the North Stand.

It would have been a top class ground and if it was that we left in 2003 I’d probably have been against moving.

Or the mid-90s plan would have to have come into place:



45,000 with the new Kippax Stand going all the way round. Would have also been great.

Instead we had this. Half the 80s plan and a third of the 90s plan with a poor effort at Platt Lane and silly scaffolding stands in the corners, what a mess!:



To think it once looked like this… proper magnificence:




So in the end I wasn’t too bothered to leave Maine Road and I have more connection to the Etihad, the stadium, with memories of big moments than I do Maine Road, the stadium. So I wouldn’t want to go back now, no.

There are a few things missing from the Etihad though:
1. we’ve never had a proper vocal stand and it’s something that is conspicuous in its absence for me. Get that right and the Etihad would be even better… and we do have an opportunity to get it right (let’s fucking do it!)
2. there is a proper shit pub scene around the Etihad (not sure that’s ever going to get any better as it’s got progressively worse), before and after the game around the Etihad was better 20 years ago when there were more pubs to go to.
3. there’s a distinct lack of groups of ‘lads’ at City these days, many won’t agree but I miss the edgier, harder, less family and less tourists support we used to have.