Manor Ground, Oxford

The Manor Ground was a football stadium in Oxford, England, that was 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 February 29, 1964.

The main seating stand was to 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). In 1966, with the demolition of Sandfield College, a new entrance to the ground was created onto London Road.^[1]

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 for being one of the more dilapidated stadiums in Britain. Redeveloping the ground was too costly so the club decided to move to the purpose-built all-seater stadium on the outskirts of the city. 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. The last league match at the Manor on 1 May 2001 saw 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 a private hospital.

References

External links

• Details from the Old Football Grounds Guide
• MincheryFarmWeb — an OUFC fansite with Manor Ground information and photograph gallery