Category Archives: Maine Road

The 1990s: Manchester’s 1996 Olympic Bid Plans

On this day (14 March) in 1990 the Manchester Evening News featured Bob Scott’s plans for Manchester’s 1996 Olympic Bid (remember this was not the first bid by the city either – there was an attempted bid for the 1992 Games). These articles make interesting reading now. Note also the involvement of Rick Parry – a man well known in football circles then and now (he later was one of the key figures behind football’s league restructuring).

I’ve included this as part of my feature on Manchester City in the 1990s as ultimately these Olympic bids led to the building of the City of Manchester Stadium (present day Etihad). Back in 1990 though the preferred site for a new stadium was in Trafford and Manchester City had held discussions even then on moving to the new stadium even though it would have meant City moving out of the City of Manchester.

Notice how the footballing activities were to be shared between City, United, Everton and Liverpool. Also, the velodrome is mentioned as the Tameside Velodrome but it is of course the one build near the present day Etihad.

Click to access bl_0004985_19900314_070_0070.pdf

Click to access bl_0004985_19900314_071_0071.pdf

This feature is part of my series on Manchester City in the 1990s and you can read about the opening months of 1990 below. This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? The following 1,300 word article on the end of the 1989-90 season is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

Subscribe

If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

How To Subscribe

The 1990s: A Stadium Move?

Here’s a 1990s reminder of how things can change. This cutting is from November 1998 – a time when Manchester City fans were still dismayed at how the club had ended up in the third tier of English football for the first time. Remember 6 years earlier City were challenging for a top four finish in the Premier League (ultimately finishing 5th for the second season). Despite being in their lowest ever position the fans were asked about the possibility of moving to a new 48,000 capacity stadium.

Overwhelmingly they said yes and, well, the rest is history. Without this commitment would any of the modern day success have happened?

The 1990s: Prince at Maine Road

Alongside all the football at Maine Road the 1990s saw a series of major concerts held at Manchester City’s old stadium. On this day (9 March) in 1990 tickets for the following August’s concert by Prince were advertised.

You can find out more about Maine Road and its first concerts here:

A Kind Of Magic: Cassidy, Queen and Maine Road

100 Years of a National Crowd Record for MCFC!

Today (8 March) marks the centenary of a record Manchester City set on this- the record is the highest attendance on a club ground! Happy 100th anniversary! The record set in 1924 saw 76,166 attend City v Cardiff. City had moved to their new Maine Road stadium in August 1923. The capacity of the venue was estimated at around 90,000 but was actually approximately 83,000 when the stadium opened (it was enlarged in 1931 and 1935).

In its first season the capacity was tested and, on this day (8 March) in 1924 the largest attendance for any footballing fixture (including three FA Cup Finals) in Manchester gathered to watch the Blues. This was also, at the time, the record crowd for any game played on an English club ground. It was beaten ten years later when 84,569 watched City v Stoke – so It’s 100 years of this record for the Blues!

You can read about the remarkable day in 1924 below:

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (access to everything) or £3 per month (see below).

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (see above) or £3 per month (cancel anytime; access to everything posted since 1 October 2022).

Subscribe

You can read about the attendance that brought this record (again by City at Maine Road) here:

A National Record – 84,569

Other record crowd articles can be seen here:

Welcome to Gary James’ Football Archive

Subscribe to get access

This has been a sample of the material on http://www.GJFootballArchive.com If you would like to read all the in-depth articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and the audio interview with John Bond) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Each subscriber gets full access to the 260+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.

Subscribe

The 1970s: Booth and Hartford

Another 1970s flashback today with film of Tommy Booth and Asa Hartford both scoring for Manchester City on this day (7 February) in 1976. The Blues had gone a goal behind to Aston Villa before great work from Hartford helped to change the course of the match. All goals can be seen in this clip here:

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.

Subscribers get access to everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 5,320 word article is on the 1975-76 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

Subscribe

If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

How To Subscribe

Haaland Throw In Photo

On this day (6 January) in 2001 Manchester City defeated Birmingham City 3-2 in the FA Cup third round. This photo of a Alfie Haaland throw in from that game has caught my eye because it says so much about football at that time. This was of course taken at Maine Road and the stand on the left of the image is the North Stand.

As this was a FA Cup tie, a larger than normal away section was allocated to Birmingham and you can see from this image that they have roughly half the North Stand and the uncovered temporary stand in the corner (dubbed the Gene Kelly – fans would be ‘singing in the rain’).

Birmingham only brought 1,038 fans that day, hence the large empty Gene Kelly and North Stand sections.

The stand to the right is the ‘new’ Kippax Stand which was almost 6 years old that season.

A Alf Haaland throw in during the 2001 FAC third round tie between City and Birmingham at Maine Road

Royal Blues

On this day (20 October 1934) King Charles III’s grandad attended Maine Road to watch Manchester City face Derby County in the League. It wasn’t the first time a senior member of the royal family attended a City home game, nor was it the last time a future monarch or monarch attended Manchester City’s home. You can read about those visits here:

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Read this 1,600 word article when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or £20 a year. As well as this article you get to access books, videos, history talks, interviews and other articles.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Annual subscribers access everything since the site went live in December 2020. Monthly subscribers get everything since 1 October 2022. All subscribers access new posts throughout their subscription.

Subscribe

COMPETITION WINNER: From Maine Road To The Etihad 100 Years Book

The winner of a copy of the new book on Maine Road and the Etihad has been drawn. It is Steve Doohan. Congratulations Steve. The publisher, Reach, will be posting it out soon.

The question was: Who was the architect of Maine Road when it was first built in 1923?

The answer was Charles Swain. We had dozens of correct answers so we’ll done to Steve.

As for the book…

I’m delighted to say I’m one of the co-authors on the new book which focuses on Maine Road and the Etihad stadia (the two most recent permanent homes of Manchester City).

I’ve contributed the Introduction, the story of Maine Road’s first game and the 100 Maine Memories of Maine Road. I tried to make sure the 100 Maine Memories cover both the great and the unusual so, inevitably, Colin Bell is featured but so is the wonky North Stand scoreboard! If you attended Maine Road it will all make sense and if you didn’t it’ll give you a great feel for what life was like at the old place.

Please enter the competition and good luck with it.

While you’re here, why not subscribe to the website and unlock all the articles on here? See:

How To Subscribe

City Directors Crash

After watching Manchester City reserves defeat Sheffield United reserves 2-0 on this day (2 October) in 1937 two City directors were involved in a crash. Lawrence Furniss and William Shaw were in a car that collided with a bus as it left Maine Road.

COMPETITION ENDS TONIGHT: From Maine Road To The Etihad 100 Years Book

Fancy winning a copy of the new book on Maine Road and the Etihad? The publisher, Reach, has offered to post out a copy of the book to the winner of a competition (Sadly, only UK postal addresses will be allowed). See below for details of how to enter…

The competition ends tonight (Sunday 1st October) at 9pm UK time and only one entry per person will be allowed. To enter simply send the answer to the following question, along with your name and location (not your address, just your nearest town/post town), via email to: comp@GJFootballArchive.com

The question is: Who was the architect of Maine Road when it was first built in 1923?

The answer does appear on my website in a variety of locations, so go search for it if you don’t know and then enter the competition. The winner will be selected at random from all the correct entries received on Monday 2nd October and will be informed later that day.

As for the book…

I’m delighted to say I’m one of the co-authors on the new book which focuses on Maine Road and the Etihad stadia (the two most recent permanent homes of Manchester City).

I’ve contributed the Introduction, the story of Maine Road’s first game and the 100 Maine Memories of Maine Road. I tried to make sure the 100 Maine Memories cover both the great and the unusual so, inevitably, Colin Bell is featured but so is the wonky North Stand scoreboard! If you attended Maine Road it will all make sense and if you didn’t it’ll give you a great feel for what life was like at the old place.

Please enter the competition and good luck with it.

While you’re here, why not subscribe to the website and unlock all the articles on here? See:

How To Subscribe