Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

[bluebanana83]

I'm in Rochdale and I don't use the train or tram link purely because of the shit service, on a nice day its much easier to park around Oldham Rd (or nearby) and walk, and if its a howling wind and torrential rain its easier to park around Oldham Rd (or nearby) and walk.
Problem is I can't have a beer doing it that way and that's frustrating

Same from Didsbury. It’s easier just to get the bus or met into town and then do the 20-25min walk from town. I used to drive in and park until several years ago now street parking is only free from 8pm and no longer free on a Sunday.

the problem with public transport is you are either going to get piss wet through when the weather is bad or you get home at a stupid hour for the night games - saying that it’s similar with a car due to the traffic around the stadium. So you park a distance away and that mitigates the advantage of not getting absolutely sodden in favour of not getting stuck in the gridlock.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

It does strike you as very naive and hoping for the best when they talk about minimal cross over of events. I'd guess there'd be something on at the Arena every Saturday as that's obviously peak time. If we have a 3pm kick off that day it can take a good hour or so for the blue car park to be cleared so that's 6ish. And that's with all cars going in the same direction and leaving. Throw in vehicles coming in the opposite direction and trying to get into the car park at the same time and it'll be gridlocked.

I work in the live music sector, so here's my two cents:

Artist agents and national/international promoters operating at arena scale won't give two shits about potential date clashes with City. If City have a home game on a Tuesday night and, say, for ease of tour routing it'd be most convenient for Ed Sheeran to play Manchester on that same Tuesday night, then the gig is happening. The attitude will be to kick the problem further down the food chain and local operational staff will just have to deal with it.

The whole plan to avoid diary clashes is a nonsense, especially when you factor in that football matches aren't confirmed until often only a couple of weeks before they take place (TV games moving, Champions League and cup draws etc). Arena tours are planned 2 years ahead.

Someone needs to seriously invest in crowd control and transport and catering infrastructure.

City will have spoken to the likes of SJM and Live Nation about this, as well as the venue operator I'm sure.

Edit: The alternative would be for the venue to block out availability for match days. This would cost them a fortune in lost revenue, and isn't even possible for a lot of occasions as matches move dates all the time.

 

[Corky]

Wallsall have never had an afternoon game on a Sunday as they have a car boot sale on the surrounding car park.

Football can be planned around existing events.

 

[Keeper!]

Wallsall have never had an afternoon game on a Sunday as they have a car boot sale on the surrounding car park.

Football can be planned around existing events.

Maybe in Walsall, just ridiculous suggestion in Manchester.

 

[Corky]

Maybe in Walsall, just ridiculous suggestion in Manchester.

It already happens, it will just get more complicated.

 

[somapop]

Never just settle for mediocrity.

Manchester was a city with no imagination for three quarters of a century, and a lot of that still carries over with a lot of attitudes even in the 2020s. But, don’t forget what Benjamin Disraeli once said; “Have you seen Manchester? Manchester is as great a human exploit as Athens!”, and; “What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow!”

That’s more of what we should be aspiring to.

Forget those post-industrial decades that shaped a declining city, and the attitudes of its citizens and of onlookers for too long. Manchester is an important city on the world stage and should be striving to see projects that are at that level.

Agree with that abs a good post.
Although after walking around Manchester at the weekend there are some seriously grim streets in the ‘actual city centre’.

high street/Arndale for one.

 

[JGL07]

Wallsall have never had an afternoon game on a Sunday as they have a car boot sale on the surrounding car park.

I recall Walsall, at the old Fellows Park Stadium, when they had a wall behind one goal where a laundry was situated. The laundry refused to sell and the club were only were able to get supporters behind that goal in May 1965.

My father reckoned that the goal posts were ‘painted on’ the Laundry Wall!

 

[warpig]

I can remember city v Forest getting pushed back as it clashed with the Nottingham Goose fair.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Never just settle for mediocrity.

Manchester was a city with no imagination for three quarters of a century, and a lot of that still carries over with a lot of attitudes even in the 2020s. But, don’t forget what Benjamin Disraeli once said; “Have you seen Manchester? Manchester is as great a human exploit as Athens!”, and; “What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow!”

That’s more of what we should be aspiring to.

Forget those post-industrial decades that shaped a declining city, and the attitudes of its citizens and of onlookers for too long. Manchester is an important city on the world stage and should be striving to see projects that are at that level.

Love it.

 

[HelloCity]

Asked about the North Stand expansion the other day. Sounded like it’s not on the agenda in the near future and there just isn’t the demand for 60,000+ tickets week in week out.

Makes you wonder if there ever will be that demand if it isn’t there under Pep. We might have to wait until the younger generation around the country that started supporting City in the last 10 years grow up and start coming to games. Our continued success will mean we’ll have one of the biggest supports in the country, outside of the home city in the coming years.

Kinda feel like we might have dropped a clanger not building the North Stand as a ‘home end’ single or larger double tiered stand first of all and then doing the South Stand later on though.