Premier League
Manchester city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester, which has had city status since 1853, has a population of 441,200. Manchester lies in a bowl-shaped land area bordered to the north and east by the Pennine hills, a mountain chain that runs the length of the Northern England and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is on the east bank of the River Irwell, near the confluence of the River Medlock and the River Irk and is relatively low-lying, being between 35 and 42 metres (115 to 138 ft) above sea level. The Manchester area has been settled since at least Roman times.[29] The Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola constructed a fort on a defensible hill in the area, as a staging post on the road between Chester and York. The settlement that grew up around the fort was named Mamucium (Celtic for "breast-shaped hill").
The 48,000 seat City of Manchester Stadium was first occupied by the Manchester City at the beginning of the season in August 2003. The stadium had originally been built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. It had been decided that on conclusion, Manchester City Football Club would inherit the stadium as their new home ground to replace Maine Road stadium in Moss Side. After the Games the Stadium was further developed, a new North Stand was installed and the running track was removed and re-laid at other sporting venues. The Stadium can also be easily reached by rail and bus, being just a 20 minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly Station and the city centre.
Walk it from the city centre we did as many seem to do, there are buses that do the same journey but when the regular match and shopping traffic is in full flow you often find that the pedestrians overtakes the buses.
On this particular occasion Manchester City did everything but score in front of a 46,842 crowd. Spurs rode their luck throughout and only came to life in the final minute when they might have stolen all three points. The Pieman would not have complained but does acknowledge that it would have been 'daylight robbery'.
The Pieman's first visit to Main Road
