What if: Re-developed the Manor

Perhaps Mr K could be persuaded to buy the manor hospital back, he could sell it to another of his companies who could redevelop it into a football stadium and rent it back to us with a promise of first refusal should he ever sell it on. All we need is someone to sign off on the rent for 25 years.

That might work....
 
Had some great memories, some utterly awful memories and everything between.

In fairness, much as in a perfect world I would have loved to have seen it, there was in truth nothing there to renovate. With the new regulations being passed on stadiums around that time there just wasn't the space.

I class myself as lucky to have cut me teeth (so to speak) on the London Road.
 
Osler road, 3 steps up just to the left of the urinal. Watching OUFC take the p*ss.

Never looked back!?
 
With the slope at the Manor some of Mehmeti’s theatrical dives would of taken him twenty foot if we were shooting towards the cuckoo lane end.

The Manor was a unique ground, tighter than a Jewish jock, with stands thrown up at random so we have gone from having 102 to 3, and a slope Eddie the Eagle trained on. Hemmed in by houses, alleyways, hospitals petrol stations, bowling greens etc it created a great match day experience, one that unfortunately can’t be replicated nowadays.

Those who design modern football grounds completely miss the point though, it’s a place you spend a couple of hours at so it doesn’t need to be a pristine, sterile environment, you don’t design a great football ground like The Manor, you grow one, that’s why the old grounds were so much better, a stand put up here and there gives a place character, just lumping identikit stands round a pitch does nothing to create a footballing home.
 
With the slope at the Manor some of Mehmeti’s theatrical dives would of taken him twenty foot if we were shooting towards the cuckoo lane end.

The Manor was a unique ground, tighter than a Jewish jock, with stands thrown up at random so we have gone from having 102 to 3, and a slope Eddie the Eagle trained on. Hemmed in by houses, alleyways, hospitals petrol stations, bowling greens etc it created a great match day experience, one that unfortunately can’t be replicated nowadays.

Those who design modern football grounds completely miss the point though, it’s a place you spend a couple of hours at so it doesn’t need to be a pristine, sterile environment, you don’t design a great football ground like The Manor, you grow one, that’s why the old grounds were so much better, a stand put up here and there gives a place character, just lumping identikit stands round a pitch does nothing to create a footballing home.


"The Manor was a unique ground, tighter than a Jewish jock"

Big grounds,big stands,give the impression of a big pitch.
Small grounds,compact stands,give the impression of a small pitch.

Pretty sure i read years ago,that the playing surface at the Manor was bigger than Old Traffords.
 
It was so big now come Chris Allen used to run out of pitch so often? Lucky he never went to man u then would of needed to move there games to the cricket ground.

It always seemed small, must of been the stands like you say.
 
The Manor was special, it was build and constructed by people who loved their football club, a proper fans ground and old school that would be hard to replicate today, but for all the good memories the ground itself had long past its sell by date, and this romantic view it was packed to the rafters most weeks full of singing and atmosphere is a myth, for all the good "matches" we had there were an lot of awful matches at the Manor.
Most of the people who went to the Manor are of an age when you look back everything was better, well if you had the internet and this forum around in those manor days, you would of really heard some whining about everything, the fans Today don't realise what they have got.

The only thing I would bring to our ground from the Manor is the occasional big match atmosphere.
 
The Manor was special, it was build and constructed by people who loved their football club, a proper fans ground and old school that would be hard to replicate today, but for all the good memories the ground itself had long past its sell by date, and this romantic view it was packed to the rafters most weeks full of singing and atmosphere is a myth, for all the good "matches" we had there were an lot of awful matches at the Manor.
Most of the people who went to the Manor are of an age when you look back everything was better, well if you had the internet and this forum around in those manor days, you would of really heard some whining about everything, the fans Today don't realise what they have got.

The only thing I would bring to our ground from the Manor is the occasional big match atmosphere.


I couldn't agree more.
The last scum game at the Manor,the crowd was 7,400,1500ish scum fans so less then 6k home fans.
Our crowd against Bury that season was 3,600 about 3k less than last Saturday.
People had just had enough of s**t facilities,i think i went about 6 times that season.
 
I couldn't agree more.
The last scum game at the Manor,the crowd was 7,400,1500ish scum fans so less then 6k home fans.
Our crowd against Bury that season was 3,600 about 3k less than last Saturday.
People had just had enough of s**t facilities,i think i went about 6 times that season.
I think people had grown tired of the team more than The Manor, that was probably the most inept side I've ever seen turn out for us. Didn't we concede 100 goals that season?
 
There were actually some plans to redevelop The Manor in the 70's, I remember reading about it Jim Hunts notes in a program from the 80's.
I think it was about 20,000 all seater with a two-tier Beech Road, I'll have to see if I can dig it out.
 
The Manor was special, it was build and constructed by people who loved their football club, a proper fans ground and old school that would be hard to replicate today, but for all the good memories the ground itself had long past its sell by date, and this romantic view it was packed to the rafters most weeks full of singing and atmosphere is a myth, for all the good "matches" we had there were an lot of awful matches at the Manor.
Most of the people who went to the Manor are of an age when you look back everything was better, well if you had the internet and this forum around in those manor days, you would of really heard some whining about everything, the fans Today don't realise what they have got.

The only thing I would bring to our ground from the Manor is the occasional big match atmosphere.
 
I have some wonderful memories of the Manor ground - but it was time to move on.


In the fifties, as a non-league club playing Bolton and Blackburn in the cup, the atmosphere was “magic”.


Also, in the Jim Smith era, in the top division, beating Man Utd, etc.


But, at the other end of the scale, I also remember the very early eighties, standing on the Beech Road terracing in the rain watching us play dire, losing football with a crowd of only 2,500 – 3,000 and no atmosphere except for the “gallows humour”.


I've also enjoyed a great atmosphere at Grenoble Road against Newcastle and Swansea in the cup.

The rules don't really change whatever the ground (four sides helps):

winning team + quality football + big name opposition = big crowd + “magic” atmosphere

Losing team + dire football + nondescript opposition = small crowd + poor atmosphere

Appleton developed the quality football and, much of the time, a winning team, he couldn't choose the opposition but we did have some local derbies so the crowd and atmosphere were decent.

Good pre-match facilities (drinking, eating, etc) and good transport service also help even further but are not the most important.

This is my view, for what it's worth.
 
When you look at aerial photographs of the Manor you can see just how hemmed in it was. It really would have been very very difficult to make it into a stadium for a progressive club in the 21st century.

Having said that, it was a magical place, and if I could have one thing that money can't buy, it would be a time machine to transport me back there for one more game. I still can't believe I'll never stand on the London Rd terrace again!
go and visit goodison park, now that is hemmed in and still work as a EPL stadium
 
I have some wonderful memories of the Manor ground - but it was time to move on.


In the fifties, as a non-league club playing Bolton and Blackburn in the cup, the atmosphere was “magic”.


Also, in the Jim Smith era, in the top division, beating Man Utd, etc.


But, at the other end of the scale, I also remember the very early eighties, standing on the Beech Road terracing in the rain watching us play dire, losing football with a crowd of only 2,500 – 3,000 and no atmosphere except for the “gallows humour”.


I've also enjoyed a great atmosphere at Grenoble Road against Newcastle and Swansea in the cup.

The rules don't really change whatever the ground (four sides helps):

winning team + quality football + big name opposition = big crowd + “magic” atmosphere

Losing team + dire football + nondescript opposition = small crowd + poor atmosphere

Appleton developed the quality football and, much of the time, a winning team, he couldn't choose the opposition but we did have some local derbies so the crowd and atmosphere were decent.

Good pre-match facilities (drinking, eating, etc) and good transport service also help even further but are not the most important.

This is my view, for what it's worth.

Agree whole heartedly. A fourth stand would make such a difference though. Completed corners and it would really feel like a proper home.
 
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go and visit goodison park, now that is hemmed in and still work as a EPL stadium
I think the difference there is that Goodison had a big footprint from when it was created in 1890s so the community grew with it already being there.... with the Manor we'd have wanted to make the footprint bigger, so would have needed to gain land in at least two of the following areas (Beech Road houses; Cuckoo Lane, hospital grounds and Manor surgery; Osler Road, houses and bowls club which had covenants [spelling?] or London Road with removal of telephone exchange, Shell garage, manor buildings where club shop used to be and the flats behind the social club)
The planning around that would be massive, with multiple campaigns against from residence and need for NHS; doctors practice; old school bowls club and multiple houses and developments to be onside... the pity is Kassam never had any intention to finish - complete the ground
 
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I think the difference there is that Goodison had a big footprint from when it was created in 1890s so the community grew with it already being there.... with the Manor we'd have wanted to make the footprint bigger, so would have needed to gain land in at least two of the following areas (Beech Road houses; Cuckoo Lane, hospital grounds and Manor surgery; Osler Road, houses and bowls club which had covenants [spelling?] or London Road with removal of telephone exchange, Shell garage, manor buildings where club shop used to be and the flats behind the social club)
The planning around that would be massive, with multiple campaigns against from residence and need for NHS; doctors practice; old school bowls club and multiple houses and developments to be onside... the pity is Kassam never had any intention to finish - complete the ground

I'm no fan of the "landlord", but it was Keith Cox who decided not to build the 4th stand of the ground and it was he who advised the "landlord" that a 4th stand was not needed.
 
The Manor was special, it was build and constructed by people who loved their football club, a proper fans ground and old school that would be hard to replicate today, but for all the good memories the ground itself had long past its sell by date, and this romantic view it was packed to the rafters most weeks full of singing and atmosphere is a myth, for all the good "matches" we had there were an lot of awful matches at the Manor.
Most of the people who went to the Manor are of an age when you look back everything was better, well if you had the internet and this forum around in those manor days, you would of really heard some whining about everything, the fans Today don't realise what they have got.

The only thing I would bring to our ground from the Manor is the occasional big match atmosphere.

perhaps install a stand that recreates The London Road end terrace at the fence end too ? ;););)
 
Does anybody know what was the original west stand design like? Was it a mirror of the east stand and would it have been the 'home end'?
 
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