I’ll be talking more about fan loyalty in future weeks but today’s feature on the 1990s is a nice reminder of how City fans were viewed during the mid 1990s. Today certain rival fans or people within the media portray the supporters of Manchester City in negative ways. It’s bonkers but I guess that goes with the territory of being a strong, successful club. They can’t criticise the success so they focus on fans, even when that is misplaced. Ah well!
This cutting is from January 1996 when Premier League City were struggling but still selling out game after game. Of course, things got worse that decade but support actually went up as a series of temporary stands were added. The lower City dropped the more determined fans became it seems.
A new series of articles starts tomorrow on Manchester City in the 1990s. There will be a seasonal journey through a truly important decade when Manchester City began the decade hoping to challenge for the Premier League. People often forget how things changed that decade. A giant of a club at the start of the decade and one that the whole football world recognised as being part of English football’s aristocracy. By the end of the decade it was the loyalty of fans that most recognised the club for.
Those that claim City has ‘no history’ may learn something about a decade that is often highlighted for its failings but which actually had some wonderful, incredible, positive moments too. This series of features will show how that decade actually went and will hopefully help to explain why the narrative of ‘third tier club that got lucky’ is so wrong! For the entire month of March there will be features to make every Blue proud, while also recognising the true nature of football – some times it’s great being a fan and sometimes it’s awful. That’s football!
Re-live the highs and lows of the 1990s decade from tomorrow onwards.
If you’d like to read everything in this series then please subscribe. Details below:
Following on from the series of articles and features on the 1970s and 1980s over the last few months a new series on Manchester City in the 1990s will be starting in March. As with the 1970s & 1980s there will be different content posted each day from indepth articles on each of the seasons through to on this day reminders of games, players and more.
Some of the material will be available for subscribers only and some will be free for anyone to read. If you’d like to know how to subscribe and read all the incredible content on here then see:
Feel free to send in ideas or areas that you’d like me to discuss on 1990s Manchester City. I’m always open to adapting stories or content based on feedback. Thanks for reading.
It took a long time to come but on this day (4 November) in 1995 Manchester City won their first League game of the 1995-96 season. Look we could dwell on all those miserable days under manager Alan Ball for months but instead of that let’s just read this Paul Hince match report and remind ourselves that on this day we did think there was a bit of hope. I know it was soon dashed but let’s read this and think ‘yes, City have turned the corner’…
Day 55 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game is a follow on from one from a few days ago. I posted a 1994 plan of what might have been in terms of Maine Road’s development and here’s more on that plan.
This image is of how the entire stadium was supposed to look. To explain the colour image looks towards the stadium from above the Kippax car park. The North Stand is on the right and the Platt Lane on the left. The black and white image is from the other side of the ground, looking towards the Kippax from the Main Stand.
1990s Maine Rd redevelopment plans as seen in Farewell To Maine Road
You can see from the black and white image that the plan was to replicate the general look of the new Kippax (being planned at this stage – this was January 1994 and the old Kippax was still standing) around the ground. The North Stand was to have a second tier added and hospitality boxes between the levels, like the new Kippax. The Platt Lane was to have a second tier added above the two lines of existing hospitality boxes.
The Main Stand would have part of the seating chopped away and a new second tier added.
To facilitate all of this some houses were to be bought and demolished on the streets immediately behind the North Stand and the Kippax/Platt Lane corner.
The new Kippax was the first phase of the development but Manchester’s bids for the Olympics changed thinking. Couple that with relegation in 1996 and the wholesale redevelopment of Maine Road was postponed after the Kippax opened and then dropped completely.
As mentioned previously, Lee’s plans would have seen the new Kippax followed by a phased development of each of the other three stands. These images might give an indication of how it would have progressed.
This 1971 aerial image shows the proximity of the housing on Thornton Road (bottom left, near number 6) and behind the North Stand (number 10). They were planned to be demolished in Lee’s 1994 plan.
Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road
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.
The 54th post in my series counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game is a simple reminder of City fans and players paying their respects. The main image is from the game with Liverpool at the end of the 1995-96 season. That day City fans and the players paid tribute to former chairman Peter Swales. We all knew it would be respected even though many fans had not forgiven Swales for how he and his supporting directros had transformed the club from a major, profitable European trophy winning club into one that was struggling financially and out of touch with its traditional rivals.
There have been many minute’s silences, or two minutes in many cases going back, at Maine Road. This image is from the two minutes silence for King George V in January 1936. That day City faced Luton. Note: back then we did not cancel games the weekend after a monarch’s death.
Here are two photos of King George V in happier times when he visited Hyde Road in 1920:
King George V at Hyde Road in 1920 The King with the Mayor in Hyde Road’s ‘Royal Box’. Notice Lawrence Furniss stood, behind the King. Furniss was a major figure from the 1880s to the 1940s at City.
Here’s an image from a film that Will McTaggart and I showed during our Boys In Blue film show. This was from a film profile of the Manchester City chairman Peter Swales.
You can use this 1971 image to work out where the images of fans/players paying their respects were taken. The colour image of City v LFC was taken from the new Platt Lane Stand which was built where numbers 4 & 5 are. I was sat in the stand that day, looking towards the North Stand (10). The King George V silence sees the players lined up in front of the players tunnel (1) with the camera on the pitch looking towards that tunnel.
Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road
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.
For day 49 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted this plan of what might have been. These were developed in January 1994 shortly after Francis Lee became chairman.
The Kippax needed to be replaced and the plans by former chairman Peter Swales and his supporting directors had been to bolt plastic seats on to the lower part of the original Kippax terracing with a reprofiled second tier behind. Lee ripped up those plans and within days had created a plan which would see the entire ground extended, not simply the building of a new Kippax.
The new Kippax was the first phase of that development but Manchester’s bids for the Olympics changed thinking. Couple that with relegation in 1996 and the wholesale redevelopment of Maine Road was postponed and then dropped completely.
Lee’s plans would have seen the new Kippax followed by a phased development of each of the other three stands. I haven’t got chance to work through every step here but these images might give an indication of how it would have progressed.
1990s Maine Rd redevelopment plans as seen in Farewell To Maine Road
Here’s an aerial photo of the ground in 1995 with the Kippax nearing completion:
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.
Day 6 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game asked you to name the year this aerial photo was taken. I gave a few clues which may help date this:
None of the temporary stands have yet been constructed in the corners
The MCFC lettering appears at the bottom section of the North Stand
The Souvenir Shop still appears to be operational and doesn’t look like it’s been turned into offices yet
Both the Platt Lane Stand and the Kippax have been replaced BUT what about the end panelling of the Kippax? Is that complete?
The answer is 1995.
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.
On this day (16 March) in 1996 Georgi Kinkladze scored a brilliant goal for Manchester City when they defeated Southampton 2-1 at Maine Road. He actually scored two that day. Subscribers to this site can relive that game and day here:
Prior to this weekend’s game with Spurs, Manchester City have had players from 41 different nations score for the Blues in the Premier League. Can you remember them all? The following 1200 word article tells the story…
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