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

If Maine Road had been developed into a modern stadium with proper facilities then I would have been happy to remain there.

Unfortunately the place had become a dump with poor facilities and mismatched stands right in the middle of a crime ridden part of the city.

The Etihad is far superior in every way.
 
jazzy said:
Had my first and last pint of greenhalls bitter standing in the kippax , absolutely fucking awful beer NOT surprised it's no longer brewed. No I wouldn't go back good memories but the past should stay in the past
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Didn't that wise old sage Peter Swales sell off the the beer for £75k so that we didn't get another penny when a pint was sold. No wonder we were in a state financially with that fool in charge
 
The Mighty Marmoush said:
Yes magical moments, but they were us winning the league, do you think that atmosphere would be like that when playing Swindon midweek?
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But it wasn't like that at Maine Road either. We played teams week in and week out where the atmosphere wasn't great, think about the Huddersfield match for instance where there was only 19.000 there when we won 10 -1 but the atmosphere wasn't great but it was a great day but then you get the derbies and the Charlton promotion match all great , but for every great atmosphere we'd have ten games that wernt so great. It's looking at it through rose coloured glasses. Talking about Swindon, my Dad spoke to me regularly about the time in the early sixties when we had 8,000 against them and the gates in general plummeted the atmosphere in them days obviously wasn't great. You always get better with atmospheres with bigger games and the more successful the team is. It's human nature. Go and have a look on YouTube at some old games at Maine Road, the noise is no different to now and in quite a lot of games worse than now. It wasn't always bouncing at Maine Road.
 
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Alan Oakes Shinpads said:
Lived 10 minutes walk from Maine Road as a youngster/teenager in the 60s and 70s

Loved the ground and the atmosphere and the fans(no tourists to be seen)

Wonderful,mad,exciting and dangerous time in my life following the team I love.
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Same for me lived moss side Alexandra park estate 10 min walk great memories with my dad RIP but life moves on
 
eastmanc said:
But it wasn't like that at Maine Road either. We played teams week in and week out where the atmosphere wasn't great, think about the Huddersfield match for instance where there was only 19.000 there when we won 10 -1 but the atmosphere wasn't great but it was a great day but then you get the derbies and the Charlton promotion match all great , but for every great atmosphere we'd have ten games that wernt so great. It's looking at it through rose coloured glasses. Talking about Swindon, my Dad spoke to me regularly about the time in the early sixties when we had 8,000 against them and the gates in general plummeted the atmosphere in them days obviously wasn't great. You always get better with atmospheres with bigger games and the more successful the team is. It's human nature. Go and have a look on YouTube at some old games at Maine Road, the noise is no different to now and in quite a lot of games worse than now. It wasn't always bouncing at Maine Road.
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I said in a previous post that the Atmosphere wasn't always great in terms of the stands, but the atmosphere between fellow blues was much better, there seemed to be a togetherness amongst the fans and much more fun to be there, I remember city training on the university fields near northern Moor, the girl I was seeing at the time her little brother was a mad blue, we walked to the fields and stood and watched city train, the players gave us drinks and had a kick about with her little brother after training, do you think that would happen now?
 
The best thing about Maine Road was the standing Kippax and the various pubs. Once the former went it got gradually worse and became unfit for purpose for a club with bigger ambitions. There’s no way we could be still playing there now and have 4 in a row league titles including a Treble! The Etihad and its facilities for the players and staff just oozes best in class. Maine Road just oozed piss from the God awful bogs - but we still loved it!
 
With a big standing section definitely go back to Maine Road. The new Kippax killed it for me and we were ready for change, but as amazing a stadium the Etihad is the atmosphere bar a few games a season is terrible, flat as a pancake. As is just about every other premier league stadium as well
 
Gray said:
If Maine Road had been developed into a modern stadium with proper facilities then I would have been happy to remain there.

Unfortunately the place had become a dump with poor facilities and mismatched stands right in the middle of a crime ridden part of the city.

The Etihad is far superior in every way.
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The Eyihad stadium is leagues apart but the fanbase isn't. Maine Road pisses all over the Etihad in regards to that
 
eastmanc said:
Talking about Swindon, my Dad spoke to me regularly about the time in the early sixties when we had 8,000 against them and the gates in general plummeted the atmosphere in them days obviously wasn't great.
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I was there, along with a few others on here, on the freezing cold terraces of the scoreboard end, remember it well, the ground was virtually deserted, only 8015 in there, and to cap it all Mike Summerbee scored for them.
 
Fordyboy46 said:
The Eyihad stadium is leagues apart but the fanbase isn't. Maine Road pisses all over the Etihad in regards to that
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That is football in general though. In the 90s football was still the game of the working class and generally men of all ages walking to the ground via various pubs. I could afford it working a few evenings in a pub wile at collage.

Times change. Young people don't go to pubs anymore and the working class have been priced out. If we were still at Maine Rd that would still be true. You look at the championship and league 1 the attendance is pretty poor at the big stadiums.
 
The Mighty Marmoush said:
I said in a previous post that the Atmosphere wasn't always great in terms of the stands, but the atmosphere between fellow blues was much better, there seemed to be a togetherness amongst the fans and much more fun to be there, I remember city training on the university fields near northern Moor, the girl I was seeing at the time her little brother was a mad blue, we walked to the fields and stood and watched city train, the players gave us drinks and had a kick about with her little brother after training, do you think that would happen now?
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Obviously it wouldn't happen now times have changed, players are untouchable now.
 
JOGAMIGMOG said:
The best thing about Maine Road was the standing Kippax and the various pubs. Once the former went it got gradually worse and became unfit for purpose for a club with bigger ambitions. There’s no way we could be still playing there now and have 4 in a row league titles including a Treble! The Etihad and its facilities for the players and staff just oozes best in class. Maine Road just oozed piss from the God awful bogs - but we still loved it!
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The Osbourne
 
Fordyboy46 said:
The Eyihad stadium is leagues apart but the fanbase isn't. Maine Road pisses all over the Etihad in regards to that
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Don’t forget when we were are Maine Road most matches were played on a Saturday at 3pm and you got into a habit pattern.

Now you don’t have a fucking clue what day and time your team will be playing. It is basically the almighty TV companies that have destroyed the atmosphere.
 
jazzy said:
Had my first and last pint of greenhalls bitter standing in the kippax , absolutely fucking awful beer NOT surprised it's no longer brewed. No I wouldn't go back good memories but the past should stay in the past
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Agreed - bloody awful beer - Greenalls. We used to enscribe on the bog walls in indelible marker - "Flush harder lads - we really need you - the Brewery" only Watneys red barrel came close to that shite.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
The only downside to the Etihad is where it is and the shite transport links.
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Maine Road was awful to get to if not within walking distance. Traveling by limited stop bus from Wythenshawe meant jumping off near the bus depot on Princess Rd., ... if the driver slowed (rag drivers would slow then speed up) or a long walk from the Raby Street stop. If you missed the match day buses parked on Claremont Road it was unlikely to catch a bus before 6pm as all were full coming from town. You left early and ran to be sure. Remember most men worked Saturday mornings and those at Trafford Park would hang around for United games.

Driving and parking was never easy with the jeopardy of "mind your car mister". My dad was known by the kids for being daft as he always gave low value foreign coins I gave him from my travels so was known and never bothered. Clever fella.
 
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