Some Ground History for Double3

[Hooky]

Double3

The ground was very different in them days, and ground regulations were a little bit lax, they just kept cramming people in.

The capacity at the Vic when it was knocked down was 24,500, most of the lost capacity was because the ground had 2 huge terraces at either end, and a corner terrace which was latter used to hold adverts.

There were crowds of 48k & 47K for cup ties as late as the mid 1970's .

At the end of the 1970's a new Stoke End stand was built, which was part terrace, part seating and housed about 6000 in total. The old Uncovered Terrace probably held 15-20,000 on a good day.

The ground also shed about 3,000 capacity when the exec boxes were built.

as for 51,000 turning up, weren't Arsenal THE team at the time....... and it was the FA cup, and it was a lot cheaper to get in.

My grandad was at the Cup game @ Maine Rd in March 1934 when 84K turned up to see Man City v Stoke City he was 12 and like all the other kids ended up sat on the edge of the pitch, he says about 20,000 stoke fans made the short trip up to manchester (most by train) and that for a child it cost the equivlent of 2 loaves of bread (at todays prices £1-£1.50) I thing he said it was about sixpence when a loaf cost thrupence (sp).
BTW he was/is a Man City fan (he hasn't been in years)

as you can see in this picture it was almost all terracing .. and uncovered .... in manchester ... which is why they could get so many people in

[AlliG]

You could also knock off a few thousand from the capacity of the Boothen End as well.

In the 70's it held somewhere between 13 & 15,000 (I think). In the later years that was reduced to around 9,000 on safety grounds.

[339187]

Ta Dave et al

[Hooky]

if you want any other useless info, like the UK's obsession (in some areas anyway) with certain aspects of american culture..

I just had lunch in "Ed's Easy Diner" at the local Mall ..

an authentic 1950's style american diner with fantastic thick shakes (I had vanila) and made to order burgers..

looks like its straight off the set of Grease or Happy Days. each booth group of seats at the counter has its own little jukebox.

just the cliental look like they are straight out of 2004 outer london conerbation & north kent ... doesn't quite work.