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Long before it arrived I had
thought Manchester City away would be an attractive fixture to attend as I
believed it would be a very even game and it would give me a chance to see
one of football's latest stadium's, which I had heard looked tremendous.
On arrival at the stadium the view of the city of Manchester stadium from
the outside exceeded even my own expectations, the night lights (it was an
8pm kick off) no doubt enhancing it's look even further - it was truly
stunning.
We had set off for Manchester from North West London (we
being eight of us, only two of us going to the game however, the others
simply coming for a night out in Manchester) at around 9.30am, coming into
Victoria coach station about 10.30 with our coach to Manchester set to
leave at 10.45, getting in Manchester at 3.15. The journey up was fairly
enjoyable, the coach being rather empty so extra seats were available to
take a nap in, and at £12 return megabus was a good deal.
We
arrived in Manchester early so we could go out for a bit beforehand. We
had managed to book hotel rooms with Travelodge for £20 for the night
which were only 1 mile from the stadium which was handy.
After a
meal in town and a few drinks back at the hotel we set off for the game.
As we were a bit unsure of our bearings in Manchester we ordered a cab up
to the game which only took about 10 mins. The view as previously stated
was fantastic and the away section easy to find. On entry we were searched
but the stewards doing this were very polite and friendly so no problems
there. Once inside the ground we ordered a few drinks as the atmosphere
began to develop, chants of "beers up if you hate arsenal" particularly
getting the spurs fans going. The view from inside the ground is
impressive but not in the same level as that of the outside. I must also
add that the toilets were the best I've seen in any stadium, lots of them
and very clean
by football standards.
Our actual seats were not
that great being very near to the front but as the away end was not
completely sold out, no doubt due to the ridiculous timing of the game 8pm
on a Wednesday in January!, we managed to find some better seats further
up. The home end was also not sold out, which did make me wonder if the
stadium was perhaps slightly too big as the empty seats definitely took a
bit away from the feel of the ground. The stewarding during the game was
very relaxed with most spurs fans standing and no complaints coming from
the stewards about this which was definitely a plus.
As the game
got under way I found the atmosphere at first a little lacking but this
picked up in the second half with good banter from both sets of fans. The
game ended two nil to the spurs, with goals from Mido and Keane a great
result at a tough place to visit.
When the game finished the
majority of spurs fans went straight to official coaches but me and my
mate instead walked back to the hotel as cabs were very hard to come by.
Throughout the walk, surrounded by city fans I continued to wear my spurs
hat and scarf and experienced no problems whatsoever with the city
supporters.
We ended the night with a trip to the city centre for
some drinks to
celebrate. The Printworks apparently being the town's
liveliest part.
Overall it was thoroughly enjoyable day out and a
ground I would recommend any away supporter to visit. The only negative I
could really find especially from a city point of view was that the
stadium was almost too nice, it did not really have the intimidating
atmosphere of say a Fratton Park or what Maine Road was but I suppose for
Spurs this helped so no complaints from me.
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