Etihad Stadium

Manchester has a huge passion for football stoked by an intense rivalry between Manchester City and Manchester United. I paid my first visit to the Etihad Stadium, home to City. CONTINUES BELOW

Tap/click first image for gallery view

Confession time: I’m not a football fan and never have been. It took me a while to appreciate why a failed plan to create a European Super League made headline news this week.

But the Etihad, built in 2002 to host the Commonwealth Games, is a landmark which arouses a lot of positive and negative passions.

The stadium, bereft of fans during the coronavirus lockdown, was very quiet. With my architectural hat on, I enjoyed its lofty struts and ‘tent pegs’ seemingly holding up the entire structure.

It’s on course to welcome fans back from mid-May and is a place meant to bristle with life and noise.

Finally, I learnt my lesson from a lively Facebook post on the topic. Never ask if the Etihad is better than Manchester United’s Old Trafford base!

8 thoughts on “Etihad Stadium”

ckponderings on May 16, 2021 at 10:06 said:

There is always beauty in architecture, even if we don’t understand the concept or passion that a building’s use engenders. Lovely images, Mike! :)

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- mikeosbornphoto on May 16, 2021 at 10:40 said:
  
  Very eloquently put, Richard. I don’t think I could deal with it on a crowded match day. The Cup Final gave me the shivers, it looks so wrong now!
  
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  - ckponderings on May 17, 2021 at 08:49 said:
    
    Haha! I know what you mean… Even reruns of quiz shows on Dave freak me out a bit.. The contestants are WAY too close to each other!!!!!
    
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    - mikeosbornphoto on May 17, 2021 at 09:04 said:
      
      😂😂😂
      
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andy townend on April 25, 2021 at 14:48 said:

Despite following your adventures in Manchester for some time I still find it revelatory to see how Manchester looks compared to the view from my pushchair an aeon ago…

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- mikeosbornphoto on April 25, 2021 at 14:56 said:
  
  Andy, if you’d been in your pushchair less than five years ago you would have barely recognised the place. The Etihad is a relative old timer from just after the turn of this century!
  
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  - andy townend on April 25, 2021 at 15:03 said:
    
    Definitely need to visit sometime sooner rather than later!
    
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    - mikeosbornphoto on April 25, 2021 at 15:06 said:
      
      Yes, it really is hard to keep up with even when you live here.
      
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