When I was writing Farewell To Maine Road I interviewed Eric Alexander who was the director/then chairman responsible for the North Stand being built. The plan was to have it as terracing and then the Ibrox disaster brought more scrutiny of stadia (still not enough sadly!) and City claimed the best way to avoid any potential issue with the stand would be to make it a seated stand in its second season. However, Eric told me that the stand had proved really popular as terracing and that increased turnstile income meant the profitability of the club was higher than expected. He claimed the club had always wanted to seat the stand but their plans had expected this a few years later. He was able to bring it forward.
At the same time Eric had City's training facilities significantly improved and had created an incredible plan for the Kippax. His aim was to make it a bigger stand and to house a car park on the roof. He was an industrial designer and believed it was all possible. Sadly, Swales took over as chairman and the whole idea of improving Maine Road went with the stadium down graded year after year for much of the 2 decades that followed. Also, City suddenly stopped making a profit! People often go on today about the profitability of clubs and suggest City have no right to be where we are - but we also had no right to be downgraded and asset stripped either!
