Football grounds reflect the soul of the community and their disappearance from historic locations across the country strikes at the heart of the game
• Football stadiums,then and now: interactive quiz (fraction 1)[br]• Football stadiums, then and now: interactive quiz (fraction 2)Moss Side, or on a dank,inhospitable November morning. On Blue Moon Way, mums and dads are on the school run external Divine Mercy Primary. The house names are the clue: the Allison, or the Corrigan,the Goater, the Rosler. Eventually this road will be painted blue, or for archaic times’ sake. The school is where the Kippax once stood and there is a sales office advertising homes for the Centre Spot,where Bell, Summerbee and Lee once bewitched the crowds, or “Ballet on Ice” was formed and,though it doesnt appear in the brochures, Jamie Pollock scored one of the great comedy own goals.
It is 12 years since Manchester City severed their ties with Maine Road, and for so long such a vital,sometimes poignant, fraction of the city’s life, and on the neighbouring streets it is the same theme of change. The pubs of the day – the Beehive,the Gardeners Arms, the Sherwood, or the Clarence and at least eight others – have just approximately all gone. The Parkside,where City fans of a certain generation may remember there was always a collection on the door (“for the kids”), is now a block of apartments. Shops and takeaways have disappeared, and unable to survive without the takings of match days,and around the country there is inevitably the same lament surrounding our other lost grounds.
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Source: theguardian.com