Stadium Changes

Throughout their history Manchester City called 8 grounds/stadiums their home.

* (1880-1881) Clowes Street/Thomas Street
* (1881-1882) Kirkmanshulme Cricket Club
* (1882-1884) Queen’s Road
* (1884-1885) Pink Bank Lane
* (1885-1887) Bull’s Head Hotel
* (1887-1923) Hyde Road/Bennett Street
* (1923-2003) Maine Road
* (2003-Pres) City of Manchester Stadium/Etihad Stadium

## (1880-1881) Clowes Street/Thomas Street

St. Mark's Church was based on Clowes Street in West Gorton, and earlier histories of the Blues claim the Club's first pitch was on Clowes Street itself. This seems unlikely as most of the Clowes Street area was already occupied by housing and industry. This makes it extremely difficult to locate the exact site of this pitch. The first true clue of where the ground could have been comes from the 'Book Of Football' published in 1905. This states that the site of the first pitch had been developed between 1881 and 1905 into the Brooks & Doxey's Union Iron Works. The iron works was actually on Thomas Street, a road running parallel to Clowes Street, and maps from the late 1880s do show sufficient land next to the original factory for a football pitch. This land at Brooks & Doxey's was more or less directly north of St. Mark's Church and was certainly an extremely short walk from the church, and so could easily have been the Club's first pitch. Unfortunately, after over two decades of research it has yet to be proven conclusively where this first pitch was, though it was most likely to be the land on Thomas Street. This is due to the fact that Club's founding fathers, William Beastow and Thomas Goodbehere, may have been aware of the potential of the land from their working places within the iron works.

***Location***

## (1881-1882) Kirkmanshulme Cricket Club

Having achieved a successful end to their first season, the decision was made in mid-1881 that a more suitable base of operations was required than the simple open ground of the previous year, where one match report had highlighted the unevenness of the surface had caused repeated trips and accidents. The location then chosen was Kirkmanshulme CC pitch near the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, and St Mark's would have benefited further from the cricket club's facilities, even if minimal. The club was asked to vacate the ground after playing only five home games there. Though no exact reason for this expulsion survives, Gary James mentions that it is likely due to the damage to the grass caused by football boots and the large crowd attending the previous game.

***Location***

## (1882-1884) Queen’s Road / Clemington Park

Having been turfed out of their previous ground, St Mark's proceeded to set themselves up on a plot of land off Queens Road. Although the state of the land was not far greater than that of their first land near Clowes Street, match reports – written and submitted by an official of the club – referred to the land as both *Clemington Park* and *Clemington Downs*, although these names appear to be fanciful at best as no proof exists that these names were used for the land in any other setting or by any other group. It is around this time that information on the history of the club itself becomes a little hazy again, as the church team merged with another local club by the name of Belle Vue Rangers F.C. in 1884, though much evidence written a generation later claims that this unison of two local teams actually happened a year earlier. However, after a single season together the two former clubs once again parted ways. The old St Mark's players took the name *Gorton Association Football Club* and left to take up occupancy on a new pitch on Pink Bank Lane.

***Location***

## (1884-1885) Pink Bank Lane

Having left their former partners behind, the newly named Gorton A.F.C. once more took up residence on waste land, this time a patch on Pink Bank Lane, as recommended to them by striker and future manager and chairman Lawrence Furniss. During the following season, a £2 payment was received by the club in compensation for the loss of their playing field, Gary James pointing out that this surely was due recompense for the fact that – for reasons now no longer known but beyond the club's control – the land was made unavailable for use, and for the fourth time in five years a move to a new pitch was required.

***Location***

## (1885-1887) Bull’s Head Hotel

After yet another period spent searching for an appropriate playing surface, Gorton negotiated a deal with the proprietors of the Bull's Head Hotel on Reddish Lane to rent land on their property, with the added benefit of using the hotel as a changing room; the total sum for this deal was recorded at £4 17s 6d a year. Locational instability returned yet again at the end of the 1886–87 season when the landlord of the Bull's Head Hotel increased the rental charge for use of the hotel's land, forcing Gorton once more to prematurely move base. Finally, however, with this move the club would find a base at which it could plant long-term roots when it set up on new premises in Ardwick, on an area of land along Hyde Road.

***Location***

## (1887-1923) Hyde Road/Bennett Street

After the club were forced to seek an alternative venue, then-captain Kenneth McKenzie discovered an area of waste ground on Hyde Road in Ardwick and near to his place of work, and informed the club committee.

***Location***

## (1923-2003) Maine Road

The Club moved to Maine Road in 1923.

***Location***

***Learn More***

## (2003-Pres) City of Manchester Stadium/Etihad Stadium

The club's current home ground is the Etihad Stadium in east Manchester, to which they moved in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923.

***Location***

***Learn More***

1. ↑ James, G. (n.d.). *Clowes Street/Thomas Street Stadium Details*. Retrieved June 8, 2023, from https://bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/
2. ↑ James, Gary (2012). *Manchester – The City Years*. James Ward. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-9558127-7-4.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 James, Gary (2012). *Manchester – The City Years*. James Ward. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-9558127-7-4
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 James, Gary (2012). *Manchester – The City Years*. James Ward. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-9558127-7-4.
5. ↑ James, Gary (2012). *Manchester – The City Years*. James Ward. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-9558127-7-4.
6. ↑ James, Gary (2012). *Manchester – The City Years*. James Ward. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-9558127-7-4.
7. ↑ James, *Manchester City – The Complete Record*, p82