Mancunians are so passionate about their football, that if you’re here to visit the city, it would feel wrong not to check out some of the sporting highlights.
As we previously mentioned, here at Manchester Taxi Tours we offer a bespoke Manchester United tour. However we’re not biased, so our tours of Manchester City are equally as fascinating.
If you’re not a football fan, it’s natural to dismiss the idea of exploring the home of Manchester City over at the Etihad Stadium, but we can ensure you that it’s a delightful experience for everyone. The team’s history is what makes it all so interesting, dating back 136 years ago, just two years before Manchester United was founded.
“I booked a 3 hour “football” tour with John a few months in advance of my trip, first off john was very easy to get in contact with and we communicated alot before my trip. John picked me up from the airport and we began the tour from there, I can spend all day explaining every little point of the trip but instead i will just say that john is a master at his craft, the tour was great, not only did he give me a history of football in Manchester he gave me alot of little insights and tidbits on the history of the city itself.”
-Jim S, TripAdvisor Review
Throughout their impressive career, the Manchester City team has racked up some remarkable achievements, particularly as four-time Premier League winners and five-time winners of the FA Cup. Of course, there’s many more trophies with City’s name on, to go along with their 11 club records broken, including their most recent – highest record transfer fee received at £22 million from Valenfia for Alvaro Negredo back in July 2015.
They were first founded in 1880 as St. Marks (West Gordon), before re-branding as Ardwick Asssociation Football Club in 1887. It wasn’t until 7 years later when the team became Manchester City, and has remained as that for 121 years.
Maine Road football stadium was Manchester City’s home for just under eighty years, before they made the move to City of Manchester Stadium in 2003. The stadium is now known as Eastlands, or, Etihad Stadium after being sponsored by Etihad Airways back in 2011.
“We called John at short notice and he didn’t hesitate to take us on a tour. His immense knowledge about the past/industrialization, his awareness of current topics as well as his sound humour made it an unforgettable trip. He managed to include both ManU and ManCity in our tour and so made everyone of our party happy. He catered for our every wish. If you ever visit Manchester we can only recommend that you call John.”
-Merapeak, TripAdvisor Review
The stadium truly is a sight to behold, especially after their recent expansion which extended the increasing capacity to approximately 55,000. That’s not all, though, as the stadium is in line for even more upcoming expansion, which will see them increasing capacity to around 61,000. The unscheduled expansion is yet to have started, although when it’s finished, that will make the Etihad Stadium the nation’s second largest club ground!
Of course, you wouldn’t expect anything less from one of the wealthiest clubs in the world now, would you?
If you’re a Manchester City fan or just a football fanatic in general, we would highly recommend a trip to see the impressive stadium architecture for yourself. While there, why not explore the stadium some more? Manchester City hold special tours of in and around the club, to add the finishing touch to your experience.
To find out more about our Sports and Entertainment packages at Manchester Taxi Tours, click here.
Copyright Manchester Taxi Tours. All rights reserved
