Stadium Geography

North Road was Newton Heath's first football ground but there was many problems with the pitch. According to this website the pitch was covered in smog from a near by chemical plant and one end of the pitch was described as hard flint and the other end was described as a 'mudheap'. Around 12,000 people could fit around the pitch and this number was increased to 15,000 when a stand was built in 1891. In 1893 Newton Heath LYR were forced to move from North Road.
They moved to the Bank Street ground in Clayton. 10,000 people attended their first league game at the Bank Street ground. Originally there was no stands but when they moved to Bank Street, two stands were built. The pitch here was not any better than the pitch at North Road. In 1895 another stand was put up and this stand could hold about 2000 fans. By 1906, Bank Street had stands the whole way around the pitch and could hold about 50,000 fans. Bank Street also had the first covered stand in England.
Manchester United grew as a club and they won their first league title in 1908 and won the FA cup a year later. As their popularity increased, John Henry Davies decided that he wanted the club to build an even bigger stadium. Five miles away from Bank Street, a site was picked to be built on. Archibald Leitch, a Scottish architect, was appointed to design the new stadium. The stadium was built and it could hold about 80,000 people. The new stadium set an attendance record when 70,054 people watched Manchester United versus Aston Villa in December, 1920. Then in 1939 a new attendence record was broken when 76,962 fans watched the FA Cup semi-final between Wolves and Grimsby. This attendance record still stands to this day.

During the second world war, Old Trafford was bombed twice. There was only minor damage from the first bombing in December, 1940. However in March 1941, a second bomb struck Old Trafford. This time there was significant damage and most of the stadium and the pitch was destroyed. They had to play at Maine Road which was Manchester City's stadium. They ended up playing there for 8 years. After the war had ended in 1945, money was put forward to clear the debris and also to build the stands again. In 1957, plans had been put forward to increase the capacity of Old Trafford to 100,000. However this changed after the Munich crash in 1958. In 1960, the capacity increased to 66,500. Old Trafford is the second biggest stadium in England with a capacity of 75,653 and it is the biggest stadium in the premier league.

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Manchester United Introduction

Manchester United was founded in 1878 but they weren't originally called Manchester United. They were originally called Newton Heath LYR( Lancashire and York Railway). They joined the football league in 1892, four years after it was founded.
They struggled in the financial department and they nearly went bankrupt. At the start of the 20th century, it looked like Newton Heath LYR would have to fold as a club. In 1902 this changed as a local business man called John Henry Davies invested in the club. The club changed its name from Newton Heath LYR to Manchester United after the investment.

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Introduction

Hello, my name is Jamie and I am doing a blog on Manchester United.