North Stand – Page 2 – Gary James' Football Archive

Maine Road 100 – Day 54

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:

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 50

We’re half way through our countdown of 100 features for Maine Road’s centenary. For day 50 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted three photographs of the view down the same street. These are taken on Wansford Street and look towards Maine Road.

The oldest image (black and white) is from the early 1960s and shows the original floodlights, erected in 1953. The following is one I took in 2003, shortly before Maine Road’s final game, and the one below that is a Google image from this last year or so.

The view down Wansford Street towards Maine Road in 2003

The view down Wansford Street towards Maine Road around 2022

Here’s an aerial photo of the ground in 1995 with the North Stand on the left. Wansford Street can just be seen starting almost opposite the club houses to the left of the photo:

This 1971 image shows Wansford Street – it’s the first street to the right of and above the number 2, opposite the North Stand/club houses.

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 37

It’s day 37 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game and today’s feature is – don’t get too excited – on this corner! I’ve said before that a photograph can say so much if you look closely at it and learn how to ‘read’ images like this. This is true for this simple photo of the corner between the North Stand (left) and Kippax (right). So what does this picture tell us? Well….

This was built as part of the North Stand development back in 1971 but it remained part of the Kippax. It was never roofed – meaning that this corner and the one on the other side of the Kippax were the only areas of Maine Road never to have a roof over them. If you’re counting the Main Stand had 3 roofs/roof developments during its life; the Platt Lane had 2; the North Stand one, and the Kippax two.

This corner was always accessed via Kippax turnstiles and it was always within the Kippax boundary walls. When the North Stand was built the exterior wall behind the stand was removed and turnstiles built into the stand but this corner never had any of that.

I’m not certain why the original corner terracing was ever demolished. Originally this corner had a large tunnel (like those in the other corners) and maybe they demolished that and built the new terracing because they felt it would increase capacity, but the corner is actually a little smaller than the one it replaced.

The rake of the steps is steeper than the rest of the Kippax and is the same as that in the North Stand. This suggests that there may have been plans to carry the North Stand around the corner. Former chairman Eric Alexander, who was primarily responsible for the new North Stand, had a vision of rebuilding the Kippax next but the arrival of Peter Swales as chairman killed that off. Maybe Eric was thinking ahead?

Strangely, there’s a concrete wedge in the middle which looks like newer concrete, roughly where the original tunnel would have been (though somewhat narrower).

Notice the loudspeaker (top right) pointing to this corner from the Kippax to ensure those standing here could hear the tannoy system. They used to test it in an empty stadium and never understood why fans couldn’t hear it in the Kippax on match day!

The floodlit pylon can be seen at the back, left. Also the blue fence on the left trying to stop fans climbing in to the North Stand – I do remember fans sneaking in occasionally.

There’s also the first pitch side fence on the right. This was positioned in front of the Kippax to stop fans getting on the pitch but all they needed to do was climb into this corner and go through the gate in the wall!

The white wall contains a gate where the old police/first aid dug outs used to be (see photo below of the same corner in the early 1960s) and the small seats built into the wall that the police and first aid people used to sit on at the time this photo was taken.

There’s also the corner flag visible.

The following is the Platt Lane/Main Stand corner when first built in 1923. It gives an impression of how the North Stand/Kippax corner would’ve looked at that time too.

1923 Platt Lane/Main Stand corner tunnel

The North Stand/Kippax corner was demolished in 1994 and later the ‘Gene Kelly’ temporary stand was located there.

For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help locate the terraced corner between the North Stand and Kippax. It’s number 9 on this image and you can see the Kippax wall behind it. Note the wall behind the North Stand has yet to be removed from this image, taken in 1971.

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 29

It’s day 29 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. Today – it’s a simple photo of the floodlights being dismantled in 1990.

Crosland Ward senior just happened to have his camera with him while at Maine Road one day and caught sight of the floodlights being dismantled. He took several photos that day (I’m sure I have others somewhere) and asked the men dismantling the lights if they were okay with him taking the photos. This was in 1990.

These were the second set of lights at the ground and these were the ones that could be seen for miles around. I remember getting on the 53 at Belle Vue and seeing the lights from the top deck straight away.

The lights were replaced roof roof lights on the Main Stand and Kippax roofs. You can see a couple of the floodlights on these images from the late 1970s/early 1980s.

The Main Stand’s benches with the Platt Lane Stand’s maroon and yellow benches in the background

1990 Floodlight being dismantled behind the North Stand. Photo by Crosland Ward senior.

The floodlight being dismantled is the one that stood in between the North Stand and Kippax on this 1971 photo (near number 9) and the men are dismantling it behind the North Stand (number 10).

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 26

It’s day 26 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. Today – the Control Room. It’s something few ever went in but it was an important part of the stadium’s last couple of decades.

It was erected behind the block between the Main Stand and the North Stand. This was an uncovered section of seats until 1982.

The control room housed the screens monitoring crowd behaviour and the match commander would be sat in there with other staff, police etc. watching the crowd. These images show the control room as it looked during Maine Road’s final season. It had been expanded by then and these photos were taken by Ed Garvey, club photographer, for my book Farewell To Maine Road (though we didn’t use them all).

You’ll notice in the following photo that one of the temporary stands had been constructed behind the control box to cope with demand for tickets. This stand was erected on scaffolding and was squeezed in above the control box and next to the Maine Stand. I never sat in that temporary stand, though I was often in the block below the control room (when it was uncovered it was the cheapest seats in the stadium and I was there when Bobby McDonald went in nets in 1982.

For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help. This shows number 2, the uncovered section, before it was seated. The control room was roughly to the left of the North Stand roof.

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 23

It’s day 23 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game and today’s feature is on the building of the North Stand. As Manchester City are about to appear in the 2023 Champions League final I thought I’d post images from a much earlier European game. This image of Neil Young comes from the 1971 ECWC semi-final v Chelsea. Notice Young is wearing City’s away colours. People often assume that City rarely wore away colours at Maine Road, but the truth is somewhat different.

Often when there was a clash of colours in a cup game City would wear their away strip. Games in the 1920s right through to 1970s saw the Blues don maroon, red/black and even scarlet at times at Maine Road.

The main image shows that North Stand being constructed in the background. You can see that the roof is not yet complete but that the terracing is in use for this ECWC semi final. The terracing was new concrete and the stand housed bars underneath. It was a terraced stand until summer 1972 when the decision was taken to make it a seated stand.

City chairman Eric Alexander was the main man responsible for the stand’s development and he was a passionate believer in giving fans the best facilities possible. He also had ambitious plans to redevelop the Kippax, however Peter Swales became the chairman soon after and he put Ian Niven in charge of ground developments. From then on, until 1993, the only major development was the erection of a new Main Stand roof in 1982. In the 1990s the club was forced to build – or condemn – the Platt Lane Stand.

Maine Road was a major ground for most of its existence and, even with little investment during from 1973 onwards, it was still selected as a cup semi-final venue. BUT I often wonder how spectacular the stadium would have been had Eric Alexander been left in charge of stadium developments. Instead of penny-pinching and devaluing the ground maybe it would have eclipsed Old Trafford as it had for the first 40 years of its existence?

People always focus on Swales as the cause of all the problems and it is true that he was the chairman and the man ultimately responsible, but he was not the major shareholder. In fact he often talked of how he only had a small number of shares until 1983 (when he made a major purchase following City’s relegation he often said). He was supported by directors who often held many more shares than he did. They could’ve ousted him, but instead supported him. Each director had responsibilities for different elements of the club – Swales often talked of this and the match programme frequently told us who was responsible and what they did – yet once Swales did stand down and Franny Lee took over some of those who had worked with Swales swapped sides and retained their positions. I know, from my own interviews with Swales, Alexander and others, that Swales felt let down and betrayed. Every issue was suddenly made to be ‘his’ fault. He accepted this, saying that he was the main man, but others needed to hold their hands up for the lack of investment in Maine Road etc.

1971 ECWC v Chelsea. Francis Lee. Photo by Alan Jubb

The above image shows Francis Lee at this same game and to the right you can see more of the North Stand under construction.

For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help. The North Stand can be seen with a completed roof on this image (number 10). This was later in 1971 and the stand is still a terraced one.

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

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.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 22

For day 22 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I want to talk about the photographs of Iain SP Reid who captured this image of the burger sellers at Maine Road during the 1970s.

This photo and others in Iain’s collection were taken circa 1977. Iain believed that photography could improve lives. His work is full of joy. Sadly he died in 2000, leaving his fabulous archive of photographs filed away in boxes unseen until his family rediscovered them. He tried to capture images around Maine Road and at Old Trafford too, but he wasn’t interested particularly in match action. Instead he focused on the crowd, creating a wonderful collection.

“It was the way in which the football supporters of Manchester United and Manchester City used to dress and treat the whole match as if it were a carnival”
– Iain S. P. Reid

In August 1977 Iain was featured in a local newspaper and gave his views on what the project was. This makes interesting reading and for those who have seen any of his images it is worth pausing to have a read and a think about what he captured. This was for a Trafford based newspaper and so they focused on Old Trafford at times, but his comments about the Stretford End are as significant and would have been replicated by his thoughts on the Kippax etc.

If you appeared in this photo or in any of the others Iain took during this period then please get in touch with Paul Sorene and all involved at info@flashbak.com who are hoping to trace as many of the people on Iain’s photos as possible. You can look through this Facebook page of Iain’s work at:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=IainSPReidu0026amp;set=a.2606932862855473

I’m always passionate about the capturing and preservation of footballing images and stories. For me football simply isn’t about the players on the pitch but the thousands who dedicate significant time – and money – to supporting their club. If you’re a Blue or a Red who attended games around 1976-77 then take a look at Iain’s collection at

https://www.facebook.com/IainSPReid

For those unfamiliar with Maine Road the photo was taken from the street corner above and to the right of number two, looking towards the Development Association built into the external wall of the North Stand to the right of number 2.

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:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One

How To Subscribe

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.

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