Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, Charity Shield matches, a League Cup final and England matches and, because of its high capacity, gained the nickname Wembley of the North.
When Maine Road opened, it was the largest club ground in England with a capacity believed to be between 80,000 and 100,000, the second largest in the country after Wembley Stadium. Maine Road's record attendance was set in 1934, when 84,569 people attended an FA Cup tie between Manchester City and Stoke City, a record for an English club ground. Maine Road also holds the record for the highest attendance at a League game, 83,260 for Manchester United v Arsenal on 17 January 1948.
Upon demolition, Maine Road had an obvious haphazard design with stands of varying heights due to the ground being renovated several times over its 80-year history. Maine Road was an all-seater stadium, with a capacity of 35,150. The 2002-03 season was Manchester City's last at Maine Road, with the last match played on 11 May 2003. The following season Manchester City moved to the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, situated a mile from the city centre and near where the club was originally formed in 1880.
Read more about Maine Road: Pitch, Other Uses, Legacy, Maine Road Football Club
Famous quotes containing the words maine and/or road:
“I have been oranging and fat,
carrot colored, gaped at,
allowing my cracked o’s to drop on the sea
near Venice and Mombasa.
Over Maine I have rested.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)