North Road is a former football stadium in the Newton Heath area of Manchester , England . It was the first home stadium of Manchester United , then known as the Newton Heat Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, from the time the club was founded in 1878 until 1893 , after which Newton Heat moved to the new Bank Street Stadium in Clayton .
| North Road | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Newton Heath , Manchester , England |
| Built | 1878 |
| Open | 1878 |
| Owner | |
| Capacity | 15 thousand |
| Home team | Newton Heat (1878–1893) |
Initially, the stadium was an ordinary clearing, and about 12 thousand spectators could watch the game of football players. In 1891, spectator stands were erected, which increased the capacity of the stadium to about 15 thousand seats. After the separation of Newton Heat from the railway company, the club was left without financial support and was unable to pay rent for land, which was why it was evicted from the stadium.
Content
History
Start
After the founding of the Newton Heat Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway football club, created at the request of the workers of the railway company of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the question arose of the football field in which the team will hold home matches. The site was chosen “bumpy and stony in the summer and slushy, marshy in the rainy months” [1] . The stadium was located not far from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway railway line, which is why it was often shrouded in thick clouds of steam from passing trains. There wasn’t even a locker room at the stadium where players could change clothes, so they changed clothes at the Three Crowns pub , which was a couple of hundred yards from the stadium on Oldham Road [2] .
The first known matches at the stadium took place in 1880, two years after the club was founded; basically, these were friendly matches . The first match of the North Road, which had tournament significance, was the game of the first round of the Lancashire Cup against the Blackburn Olympic reserve team, October 27, 1883 ; “Newton Heat” lost with a score of 7: 2. The attendance of this match is unknown, but by this time the stadium was already fenced, as spectators were charged entry fees of 3 pennies [3] . In 1885, football became a professional sport in England , and in the summer of 1886, Newton Heat signed the first professional football players. The club’s income was not enough to pay salaries to players, which is why entrance tickets to the North Road went up from 3 to 6 pence [4] .
Expansion and subsequent departure
Initially, the stadium accommodated about 12 thousand spectators, but the club management decided to expand it in order to prepare for entry into the Football League [5] . In this regard, in 1891, Newton Heat used all its modest financial resources to build two stands, each of which accommodated a thousand spectators. However, after this deal, the club’s relations with a railway company deteriorated, which refused to finance this restructuring. [5] There was a split in relations between the club and the railway company, as a result of which the latter refused to pay rent for land under the stadium. The leadership of Manchester Cathedral , which owned the land, decided to increase the rental rate [6] . The club did not have the means to pay for the use of land, so it was evicted from the stadium in June 1893 . Fortunately, club management found a new stadium, which was Bank Street , located in Clayton, three miles from North Road. [7] The club wanted to transfer two stands from North Road to the new stadium, but the idea did not materialize and the stands were sold for just 100 pounds [8] .
Present
The stadium no longer exists, and North Road was renamed Northampton Road. Currently, the Manchester Northern Business Park is located on the site of the stadium, and before that there was the Moston Brook School. On one of the walls of the school was a red commemorative plaque on which it was written that there was a stadium. This plate was stolen, after which it was not replaced [9] .
Notes
- ↑ Tyrrell et al., P. 93
- ↑ Inglis, p.234
- ↑ Shury, pp.6–7
- ↑ Shury, p.8
- ↑ 1 2 White, p.21
- ↑ Tyrrell et al., P. 97
- ↑ Shury, p.21
- ↑ White, p.23
- ↑ White, p.15
Literature
- Inglis, Simon. Football Grounds of Britain. - 3rd edition. - London: CollinsWillow, 1996 .-- ISBN 0-00-218426-5 .
- Shury, Alan. The Definitive Newton Heath FC. - SoccerData, 2005 .-- ISBN 1899468161 .
- Tyrrell, Tom. The Hamlyn Illustrated History of Manchester United 1878-1996. - 5th edition. - London: Hamlyn, 1996 .-- ISBN 0-600-59074-7 .
- White, Jim. Manchester United: The Biography. - London: Sphere, 2008 .-- ISBN 978-1-84744-088-4 .