Day 41 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game follows on from yesterday’s feature. Today I cover ticket prices for Maine Road’s last season and provide a bit more on the additional temporary seating. This was of course a Premier League season, but the temporary seating had started to be added several years before, being used in 1998-99 as mentioned yesterday.
The most expensive seat was in the centre blocks B & C at £29 for the highest category game. The cheapest adult seat was £16 for the uncovered temporary stand UU, also known as the Gene Kelly Stand (see yesterday for naming details), and HH (dubbed the ‘Alan Ball Stand’ by one fanzine as it was small and didn’t make much noise!).
Other temporary stands were now in place in the tunnel between Platt Lane and the Main Stand (block G1 on the plan) and behind the security box (block H1 on the plan). As these were covered they were more expensive than the uncovered temporary stands.
You can see the temporary seating behind the stadium control box here – this would have been an empty space in previous years.
People often forget about these extra temporary stands, focusing only on the Gene Kelly and ‘Alan Ball’ (or Gene Kelly 2 as it was sometimes called). Even those two uncovered stands increased in size over the years. I typically sat in block Y of the Platt Lane this season but I did sit in the ‘Alan Ball’ for the Newcastle game early in the season. It poured down!
This image shows the ground before any temporary stands were built. This was 1995 (the Kippax is still being completed).
Compare the two plans from 2002 (above) and from 1998 (below) to see the additional temporary stands.:
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Donate
Gary James' Football Archive 
I had my first ever season ticket in HL1 in 02/03! Well, this was the first season my Dad and I paid a City/Carrington staff member to use the complimentary season tickets they had per game – and this continued until 2010 when we finally got our own in our own name(s).
I can’t recall which turnstile we went in unfortunately, but feel like it was the first one on the left when looking at the main stand. Could be wrong though.
Struggle to find any photos of that block, so this is a nice surprise.
The view from that block was fine, but we had the pleasure of one the huge pillars being in the way for a decent portion of the pitch! Leg room wasn’t so generous in the front row either, but the security box did provide a helpful bit of storage for the game!
When Marc Vivien Foe scored against Aston Villa on Boxing Day that season, he runs towards this block and points directly at us (at least that what 11-12 year old me beloved – and still do now!)
LikeLike