Manchester City – Etihad Stadium
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The Etihad Stadium is a magnificent looking all-seater stadium, with a capacity of 48,000.
It was originally built for the city to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games at a cost of £110 million with the intention of it becoming a new home for Manchester City, who were looking to vacate their Maine Road ground.
Subsequently, the club spent in excess of £20 million in removing the running track and extending the stands closer to the playing surface. Away fans are located in one side of the South Stand at one end of the ground, in both the upper and lower tiers. It has also been used for rock and pop concerts.
How to get to the Etihad Stadium
By Road:
The Etihad Stadium is situated at SportCity, Rowsley St, Manchester M11 3FF. Away fans driving from the North should follow the M60 as far as junction 23, exiting right onto Ashton New Road (A662). The ground is located on the right after the junction with Alan Turing Way (A6010). Visitors driving from the South should follow the M56 for City Centre, which becomes Princess Road (A5103). Continue towards the city centre, taking a right turn onto the elevated A57(M). Follow the A57(M) through 2 sets of traffic lights, turning right into Every Street. At the end, turn right into Ashton New Road (A662) and the ground is located on the left.
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By Rail:
Manchester Piccadilly is the closest main line station and is about a 20-30 minute walk or short taxi ride from the Etihad Stadium. The closest train station is Ashburys which is a 5 minute train journey from Manchester Piccadilly. The stadium is about a 15 minute walk away from Ashburys station. On exiting the station, turn left and the stadium is located on the left. Click here to check the current train timetables
By Air:
Manchester Airport is within 13 miles, with frequent train connections to Manchester Piccadilly Station. Click here to check the current flight times
Taxis
There are several taxi companies in Manchester that can take you to and from the stadium. You can always prebook a private hire taxi, or hail a black cab on any highway.
Calling all Manchester Taxi Companies – Why not advertise your company here?.
Where to Park?
Limited on-site parking is available at the stadium, at reasonable rates. The East Car Park is nearest to the away section. The stadium site itself has 2,000 parking spaces, with another 8,000 spaces in the surrounding area provided by local businesses and schools working in partnership with the football club. A residents’ only parking scheme operates near to the ground, so those relying on on-street parking may be faced with a considerable walk to the ground. Unofficial off-street car parks have emerged, but although these charge reasonable rates, supervision is pretty much non-existent.
Etihad Stadium Tours
Away Friendly Pubs near the Etihad Stadium
There are few pubs near the ground and none can be described as “away friendly.” The Bradford Inn, on Bradford Road is about a 10 minute walk from the ground and is recommended, though very busy on match days. Several visiting fans have recommended the city centre as the best place to drink. The Printworks, near Victoria Station offers numerous bars and an excellent choice of food. Although a 20 minute walk from the ground, it is only a 5 minute cab ride. Apparently, the Queen Victoria, at the bottom of Grey Mare Lane, should be avoided at all costs.
Hotels near the Etihad Stadium
The Holiday Inn Manchester Central Park (pictured, left), 888 Oldham Road, Manchester, M40 2AG, which opened in June 2005, offers modern facilities, air-conditioned Restaurant and Bar with free resident parking. It has received consistently good reviews and is close to the city centre, Manchester City FC and various other attractions.
City Inn Manchester, Piccadilly Place, Manchester, M1 3DG was built in early 2007 and offers excellent modern facilities at value for money rates. It connects directly with Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station, with easy connections to the airport and city centre.
Click here to see all hotels near the City of Manchester Stadium
What have other Away Fans said about their trip to the Etihad Stadium?
The main complaint from visiting fans has been the lack of space between home and away fans, which consists only of a few rows of seats and a row of stewards. Many away fans have reported unpleasant, intimidating “baiting” taking place between the rival sets of supporters which spoilt their enjoyment. Additionally, several fans have noted that there are may exchanges of unpleasant abuse outside the ground.
However, the stadium itself has received excellent reviews from visiting supporters. Several have described the stadium as “stunning” in the looks department. Most have reported that the view of play is excellent, though legroom in the South Stand is only just adequate. Visitors have also been impressed by the facilities on offer, noting spacious, modern concourses, flat screen TVs and a good selection of reasonably priced food and drink on offer.
I actually went to the CIty of Manchester Stadium for an Oasis gig in 2005.
We stayed at the Atrium by Bridge Street Apartments in the city centre and grabbed a taxi to the stadium, which cost around £15. It wasn’t that far however, and we walked back to the hotel after the gig, which took around 25 minutes.
The stadium is huge, and the concourses are really, really wide. There’s also plenty of food and drink outlets, meaning it’s easy to congregate and chat with mates over a pint inside the ground – obviously we were paying “gig” prices for our beer, but I’ve heard it’s pretty reasonable on matchdays.
The view from our seat was fantastic, and I can’t wait to return for a football match – hopefully with Argyle in the premiership!
Make sure you go to the bars before half time inside the ground, shocking service, and slow taps/pumps.
When I visited the Stadium (and what a Stadium) i was impressed by the set up of the ground with many Official car parks so you feel safe leaving your car and all of them with in a easy walk to to the ground and when you arive there is clear indication of where to enter and there is many a burger van so its easy to get refreshment. When you get inside there is plenty of space to sit down and have a drink and watch the TV if there is a game on.
When you get to your seat you are met by a wonderful no matter where you sit in the stadium and when the singing gets going to the sound echos all the way around the stadium due to the shape of it. On this day Forest where doing very well and people where singing, chanting and jumping up and down which made the stewards warn us but never did they stop us having fun which was brilliant and a credit to them.
After the game Fans on the coaches where lead safely to the coaches where as people in cars had to go down dark backstreets which is a little scary in strange place considering theres only two of you and your teams just won 3-0 away from home against all odds!
But all in all an amazing ground and i would love to go again
Went to the Premier League game last year, generally impressed with the facilities and stadium, which looks stunning. We drank inside the stadium, and most others seemed to have done the same, pints were quite standard in price and as everyone was there it was a great early sing-song. Only dissapointment in the game (aside from losing!) was being constantly pelted with coins and bottles from the ity fans, which the police failed to stop. The police also threw out several Chelsea fans for doing, well, not much at all. Overall the policing was just terrible.
The atmosphere was spectacular though, with the lights being turned off before kickoff and Blue Moon being played which built it all up fantastically. We walked back to the city centre after the game, and suffered some taunts and a couple of shoulder barges, but wearin our chelsea tops that was quite expected…Overall a top day, if not slightly ruined by having to dodge the coins…
Went to the Premiership game in 2010 which Everton won 2-0 and have to say the stadium is stunning. The concourses are very spacious but a little bland to be honest but I thought the service was fair and the cost of a pint reasonable.
The view in the away section is very good as I would imagine all seats are good in this stadium. One major problem is the space separating the home and away fans, Just 3 seats covered and 1 line of stewards (who could do very little is anything serious happened). I happened to be on the very outside seat (next to the city fans) who were ready to kick off at any stage. The exchanges between both sets of fans was very heated at times.
After the game there were no difficulties getting back into the city by taxi.
All in all a pleasent-ish experience
Went with a mate to the City of Manchester stadium to watch Newcastle contraversially lose 2-1 and found the stadium to be a fantastic arena. Went by train to Piccadilly Station and was about a 20 minute walk to the ground. Once at the ground found there’s little to do as most pubs etc are ‘home only’ and the ground seems a bit in the middle of nowhere. Once inside the ground the view and facilities are spectacular although some how it doesn’t have a feel of a proper football ground, it’s just too fancy!!! Once the game starts the atmosphere is excellent with City fans either side of the Newcastle fans creating a fantastic noise with ourselves giving it back with equal measure. The downside to this stadium is when the game finished as the police create a compound to keep both sets of fans apart and if you go by coach, you get on the coach and sit until the area is cleared but if you go by car or train you end up leaving the compund onto a main road where loads of ‘shameless’ types who start threatening you at every opportunity, even saw a couple of Newcastle fans attacked outside a Mercedes garage near the ground …Would go again but ONLY by coach..
Went by car to Man City to watch Referee v NUFC which we lost 2-1. Ground in the middle of nowhere with no choice of a drink or food anywhere but within the ground or burger vans located within the area. Most pubs we passed had signs on stating ‘home supporters only’ which when walking past after the game created an intimidating atmosphere. Must be used to having trouble as I’ve never seen as many police lining the road outside the ground. Once inside, it is impressive, banter between supporters was good, but as someone else has pointed out there’s not much security between supporters. Good parking on Ambrose Street off Pottery Lane, £5.
The pub you refer to as “Bradford” got knocked down a few years back. I’m here today for man city v Aston villa As an away fan. No pubs for away fans. To say im disappointed is an understatement
Went to Eastlands in December for the Everton game. Very impressive ground, terrible fans – as our fans made clear on the night. Stewards outside very helpful. From Manchester Picadilly, best bet is the 219 which takes you right outside the ground. Might be a good idea to hide your colours on the bus though, especially on the way back if your team wins – I found out the hard way.
Nowhere to drink outside the ground. Got Fosters, Heineken, John Smiths and Strongbow inside, all about £3.20 a pint. Bar staff are as thick as two short planks and have no idea of what they are doing.
We were sat right by the City fans, which was interesting, especially for Scousers. There was a lot of kicking off at full time at this section in last seasons fixture, but not too much in this one.
To summerise, great ground to look at, terrible fans and facilities.
Great stadium, was very impressed but no boozers close to the ground. Arrived early and parked in a side street and had a 20 min walk into the city centre. Normal Manchester weather made it a cold and wet journey back to the ground but once inside great view and game was great despite 4-3 defeat. City fans made the atmosphere good as they turn themselves around and all hug each other in an unusual celebration which I believe has been copied from some Polish team they played earlier in the season. We did likewise when the comeback was on from 4-1 down.
Been three times. Overall the facilities are good and farely spacious in the concourse. Twice I was right next to the divide in the corner, in pretty much the same seat, and on one occasion my dad got hit with a pie which came from the upper tier of the city side and the second time it seemed to be raining coins… Again policing was pretty poor in the stadium, throwing Chelsea fans out for telling them that we were being bombarded with coins and pies.
After visiting your website before the journey to watch Man City v Swansea (August 15th, 2011), I feel that I want to comment about the trip to the Etihad Stadium.
As a Swansea City supporter, it was a must to watch the first game in the Premier League and took my six year old son to Manchester. Caught the taxi from Piccadilly Station (£6.00 per journey to and away from the stadium). Plenty of stalls within the grounds to purchase food, programmes (£3, plenty of material and a good read) and Man City merchandise. It’s no good taking bottles into the stadium and your bag will be checked by the stewards before entering the turnstiles. Turnstiles were easy to operate and stewards were available to assist you, especially for my son to enter his ticket! The club was offered two levels of seating (£40 for the upper level, £37 for the lower and £22 for my son), I purchased the upper tier and this proved a wise decision as most of the taunting between the fans happened on the lower tier and if you purchase the tickets early from your club, the more central you’ll be amongst your supporters. Food inside the stadium was expensive, £9.70 for a hot dog, pie and bottle of water, there were two stalls available for you to purchase the drinks and food with ease.
The view inside the stadium was amazing and a big screen, on either end, was available to entertain you before and showing highlights during half time and end of the game. Only downside, the majority of the game, we spent standing up and the stewards could ask some supporters to sit down, especially difficult for a six year old to watch the game. Even though we lost 4-0, the stewards left us out alongside with the Man City fans, however, the police does prevent you going towards the Man City fans and show directions towards the buses. There were five double decker buses available to the train station, they were overcrowded with home support and by walking five minutes down the road, taxis were available and clearly lit.
Overall, the visit to Man City was an experience with no trouble at all, even the Man City fans wished us good luck for the rest of the season (possibly a sympathy vote) and my son looks forward to return there next season (fingers crossed).
i go to city home and away and would like to add some notes. most people who get off the train in piccadilly go to the waldorf hotel, or the brunswick. but if you want to go somewhere central for apint,dont take this the wrong way. but go to the gay village just around the corner from piccadilly. good food good beer and very safe .15 mins before kick off get a cab(£6) it beats all the football traffic and gets there for kick off. i do it every week.
Fantastic day. Last minute header from scholes to win us the match and to send the red army balistic. Prices are pretty bad and the queue takes ages to go down. Tons of polics but didnt expect anything else on derby day.Kept in for what seemed like hours after match and when we got let out had a police man usher us all the way to our car, about 2 miles from the stadium allthough this may have been because i was wearing my united shirt. Had a full search before game which was surprising seen as im a kid and tickets are ridiculous, The other time i went not so good, 2-1 loss in the carling cup but at lease we won the replay and went through. Red flares before game were brilliant, right in the middle of blue moon, Haha!
The Manchester City experience is brilliant even when you lose 5-1. We drove and parked for a fiver in a local car wash given over to football parking for the day. There is loads of similar easy parking in the area although getting away afterwards was a little slow so maybe we could have given it more thought. The Man City experience begins outside the ground with a food park, big TV screens and a live band. It felt like a proper community and we walked around feeling like welcome guests. The food was top, top quality. We had Angus beef burgers and curry and chips which were delicious and there was loads more on offer. The food inside the ground is different but just as good. I had a beef in beer pie that was the best I’ve had all season and there was also Rogan Josh curry available as a special.
I was seperated from my brother because Norwich’s allocation sold out and I couldn’t get a ticket so ended up with the City fans in the Colin Bell stand. My seat was a cushion like in a comfy cinema and the view was fabulous. The stadium is beautifully designed and lit and the acoustics are fantastic. When the city fans chant together the noise travels and echoes around the stadium. If they could get their act together, which they didn’t at this game, then the noise would be deafening. I’m not into City’s after goal celebration of standing with their backs to the game and jumping up and down but each to their own and it’s a bit of a laugh to watch. All in all I think this is the best stadium I’ve been to and City are showing the way. Brilliant stadium, great facilities, the best football food I’ve ever had and a proper community club. They might be rich right now but they haven’t always been so good luck to them and well done to them for showing the other big clubs was class is.
Downsided version of the Emirates so vert Coprorate and lacking atmosphere. Rather remotely situated and local traffic is a nightmare. Safe and clean around the ground (nothing much there!). Apparently better for night games with blue lighting? Away section (upstairs) affords a good view and stewards a decent folk. Food expensive inside, but was good quality and well manned outlets.