Manor Ground (Oxford)

The Manor Ground was a football stadium in Oxford, England, the home of Oxford United (previously known as Headington United) between 1925 and 2001. It hosted United's record crowd of 22,750 against Preston North End in an FA Cup 6th Round match on 29 February 1964.[1]

The Beech Road stand (seating)
The Cuckoo Lane end
For the former home of Woolwich Arsenal, see Manor Ground, Plumstead.

Manor Ground
London Road terrace
LocationLondon Road, Headington, Oxford, England
OwnerOxford United F.C.
Capacity9,500
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Built1925
Opened1925
Expanded1946
Closed2001
Demolished2001
Tenants
Oxford United F.C. 1925–2001

The main seating stand was the Beech Road stand (on the west), the 'home' terracing was the London Road stand (south), the 'away' terracing was Cuckoo Lane (north) and on the fourth side was the Osler Road stand (east).[2] In 1966, with the demolition of Sandfield College, a new entrance to the ground was created onto London Road.[3]

With the advent of the 1990s and the Taylor Report, the Manor Ground's terracing was rapidly becoming antiquated, and it gained a reputation amongst fans as one of the more dilapidated stadiums in English professional football. The location of the Manor Ground was unsuitable for conversion into an all-seater stadium, so the club decided to move to a purpose-built all-seater stadium (later to be named the Kassam Stadium) on the outskirts of the city, on land near the Blackbird Leys housing estate. Construction work began in the early part of 1997, but was suspended later that year due to the club's financial problems. Construction of the new stadium resumed in 1999 following a takeover deal and Oxford moved there in 2001.[4]

The last league match at the Manor, on 1 May 2001, was a 1–1 draw with Port Vale: Andy Scott opened the scoring after 82 minutes as the Us looked set for a final home victory, but a minute from the end Tony Naylor dampened the party with an equaliser. Oxford's final season at the Manor Ground was one of the worst in their history. They finished bottom of Division Two with a mere 27 points and were relegated to Division Three, their lowest standing in 35 years.

The stadium was later demolished and is now the site of The Manor Hospital, a private hospital owned and operated by Nuffield Health.[5][6]

References
  1. Adams, Duncan (2004). The Essential Football Fan: The Definitive Guide to Premier and Football League Grounds. Aesculus Press. p. 195. ISBN 9781904328223. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. Williams, Janet; Johnson, Mark (1996). Football Fan's Guide. CollinsWillow. p. 184. ISBN 0002187582.
  3. "Headington United". Headington.org. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
  4. "Wright hands out a grilling". Oxford Mail. 13 August 2001. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  5. "Hospital in U-turn over Nuffield title". Oxford Mail. 13 May 2003. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. "Oxford, The Manor Hospital". Nuffield Health. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.