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Miss the old place

Cracking that , Thanks

Watched it from the Twitter link earlier, really enjoyed it and great to see the old place again.

One of my favourite ever sights was coming through the tunnel into the Kippax and seeing the pitch open up in front of you!
Magic; and made up for all the times I was then squashed flat against a barrier when we scored!

bayblue wrote:One of my favourite ever sights was coming through the tunnel into the Kippax and seeing the pitch open up in front of you! Magic; and made up for all the times I was then squashed flat against a barrier when we scored!

I have similar memories of attending my first game aged about 9 or 10 with a bunch of mates (all parents let nippers wander far afield in the early 70's) and approaching the ground through the side streets and entry's hearing the rising murmur of the crowd already in the ground. Then getting in through the turnstile and going through the concrete tunnel to the L/H side of the kippax and walking out into a cauldron of noise so heavy that it shook my diaphragm - awesome and fantastic!

I grew up sitting in K Block of the North Stand. It still upsets me to see those photos of it razed to the ground.

Not really enough of the 'Old Place' there for me although it does seem very wierd that Bond was the manager when I was about 10 years old!

No Gene Kelly, not enough of the 'real' Kippax. Good, memorable, but not quite there.

Can't complain though, I'm sure my Grandad would've been giving it large about the tiny crowds and lack of suits and caps if the tinternet was arounf in his times ;-)

How big was Maine Road? And how did the inside look like?

Herb wrote:

bayblue wrote:One of my favourite ever sights was coming through the tunnel into the Kippax and seeing the pitch open up in front of you! Magic; and made up for all the times I was then squashed flat against a barrier when we scored!

I have similar memories of attending my first game aged about 9 or 10 with a bunch of mates (all parents let nippers wander far afield in the early 70's) and approaching the ground through the side streets and entry's hearing the rising murmur of the crowd already in the ground. Then getting in through the turnstile and going through the concrete tunnel to the L/H side of the kippax and walking out into a cauldron of noise so heavy that it shook my diaphragm - awesome and fantastic!

me too , although i was a bit older (about 12/13) when i started going on my own, (mid 70's),i used to get the bus up to the ground (147/157?? can't remember now) and the walk up Platt lane with building anticipation and the hit of noise in the ground was fantastic, there was one match , and i can't remember for the life of me which one, where somebody managed to get a dustbin into the ground from one of the back alleys and the city fans and away fans were lobbing it backwards and forwards between them ,(i guess you had to make your own entertainment sometimes ,even in those days).

anyone know why there used to be the 'celtic/rangers' call and response chant sometimes? I never knew , but i used to hear it a fair few times.

I went during the leaner years when it very rarely sold out. One game that did though was a sixth round FA Cup tie vs the dippers. The atmosphere was fantastic but we lost 4-0. Couldn't even clutch at straws and call it a moral victory.

branny wrote:I went during the leaner years when it very rarely sold out. One game that did though was a sixth round FA Cup tie vs the dippers. The atmosphere was fantastic but we lost 4-0. Couldn't even clutch at straws and call it a moral victory.

I was there too, and we can - Hansen booted Stewart from one end of the pitch to the other - at one point we had a clear pen denied - and their first goal was a clear handball by Barnes before he crossed it for Houghton to score - at that point things had been pretty even and White had gone damn close to scoring a few minutes earlier - so it was bent refereeing again - some sort of moral victory - a bit like the League Cup QF v the dippers again a few years earlier where the ref disallowed a perfectly clear Reeves goal . . . .for "illegal jumping" . . . ????

Those weren't straws to clutch at, they were tree-trunks

Really does bring it back that, my first city memories were of sitting in the North stand with my dad and brother, not that long ago really I suppose (being 28), went and got myself a couple of bricks and a seat when it got knocked down which reside in my loft

RodneyRodney wrote:
I was there too, and we can - Hansen booted Stewart from one end of the pitch to the other - at one point we had a clear pen denied - and their first goal was a clear handball by Barnes before he crossed it for Houghton to score - at that point things had been pretty even and White had gone damn close to scoring a few minutes earlier - so it was bent refereeing again - some sort of moral victory - a bit like the League Cup QF v the dippers again a few years earlier where the ref disallowed a perfectly clear Reeves goal . . . .for "illegal jumping" . . . ????

Those weren't straws to clutch at, they were tree-trunks

Be careful, you might get charged by the FA.

RodneyRodney wrote:

branny wrote:I went during the leaner years when it very rarely sold out. One game that did though was a sixth round FA Cup tie vs the dippers. The atmosphere was fantastic but we lost 4-0. Couldn't even clutch at straws and call it a moral victory.

I was there too, and we can - Hansen booted Stewart from one end of the pitch to the other - at one point we had a clear pen denied - and their first goal was a clear handball by Barnes before he crossed it for Houghton to score - at that point things had been pretty even and White had gone damn close to scoring a few minutes earlier - so it was bent refereeing again - some sort of moral victory - a bit like the League Cup QF v the dippers again a few years earlier where the ref disallowed a perfectly clear Reeves goal . . . .for "illegal jumping" . . . ????

Those weren't straws to clutch at, they were tree-trunks

Yes remember it well enough a miserable wet day in Manchester, the refereeing was poor, I remember a lad jumping out of the crowd to remonstrate with the ref near the corner between the main stand and the north stand. We were well up for it at the start the atmosphere was electric.

I probably have happier memories of the Plymouth tie to be honest when we won 3-1 with the clincher in pretty much the last minute - Paul Simpson I think The place went mad as it had been a close run thing as they had pushed on for an equaliser.

rosbif cuisson 'bleu' wrote:
anyone know why there used to be the 'celtic/rangers' call and response chant sometimes? I never knew , but i used to hear it a fair few times.

The celtic/rangers thing was because there was a sectarian bias in club support and in those days where City were seen as leaning towards protestant (though we were actually open to all) and united had the catholic link with celtic (ego rod stewarts divisive sectarian line about celtic / united . . twat).
I remember seeing combined City / Rangers badges and even City / UVF badges on occasion because football was a recruiting ground for nutters - while there's still a sectarian influence in scottish football, that's all changed in the last 40 years in England and thank goodness for that eh?

Kind of apt to remember this today; FA Cup/Old ground etc.

I remember the Barnes handball etc. Our one hope was to hang in the game 0-0 & pinch something. That was gone with most of the game left to play.

Today's team, in that ground (with the scoreboard end standing) would be like nothing on earth.

Spurge wrote:

RodneyRodney wrote:

branny wrote:I went during the leaner years when it very rarely sold out. One game that did though was a sixth round FA Cup tie vs the dippers. The atmosphere was fantastic but we lost 4-0. Couldn't even clutch at straws and call it a moral victory.

I was there too, and we can - Hansen booted Stewart from one end of the pitch to the other - at one point we had a clear pen denied - and their first goal was a clear handball by Barnes before he crossed it for Houghton to score - at that point things had been pretty even and White had gone damn close to scoring a few minutes earlier - so it was bent refereeing again - some sort of moral victory - a bit like the League Cup QF v the dippers again a few years earlier where the ref disallowed a perfectly clear Reeves goal . . . .for "illegal jumping" . . . ????

Those weren't straws to clutch at, they were tree-trunks

Yes remember it well enough a miserable wet day in Manchester, the refereeing was poor, I remember a lad jumping out of the crowd to remonstrate with the ref near the corner between the main stand and the north stand. We were well up for it at the start the atmosphere was electric.

. . . that was ME
I loved the Kippax - f*in monkey house. But by Navas I got p*d off that day - Hansen was a f* animal & the ref was a cheating b*td

RodneyRodney wrote:the ref was a cheating b*td

Was it not george courtney? I hated that bastard.

A very frustrating afternoon that was.

Tokyo Blue wrote:Was it not george courtney? I hated that bastard.

A very frustrating afternoon that was.

George Courtney was even more in the dippers pocket than Webb ever was in the rags. An utter twat of a referee and the term referee is being very generous