City Ground (Cambridge)

The City Ground (also known as Milton Road) was a football stadium in Cambridge, England. It was the home of Southern League Premier Division club Cambridge City F.C.

History

The City Ground was Cambridge City's home ground from 29 April 1922 until 27 April 2013.^[1] It is located in the Chesterton area of the city, approximately 1km north of the city centre.

In the first game at the ground, Cambridge Town, as the club were then named, played Merton Town. The ground was one of the largest outside the Football League and was estimated to have a capacity in excess of 20,000, although the highest recorded attendance was 12,058 against Leytonstone in 1961. From the late 1960s the ground was used for greyhound racing,^[1] and crowds were often higher than for football matches. However, dwindling gates and crippling debts led to part of the site being sold for development in 1985.^[1] The ground was demolished and a much smaller but functional ground was built in its place, at 90° to the former ground, with the remainder of the site being developed for offices. The club had a bar and lounge which is open on match days, and was available for hire to the general public.

The ground itself had a capacity of 2,300. The Main Stand, together with its extension (built to house the Cambridgeshire FA) seats approximately 500 people. Opposite the Main Stand, a narrow terrace provided covered terracing for approximately 220 supporters. The middle section was popularly, though not officially, known as "The Shed" and attracted City's more vocal supporters. At each end of the ground, the School End and the Westbrook End were narrow and had no cover or formal terracing.

The ground, which was sold by a previous Board of Directors for £2.2 million despite professional estimates of the site's value being around £12 million. The landlords, Isle of Man company Ross River, which is linked to former City Director and property developer Brian York, gave City a lease to stay at Milton Road only until 31 May 2007, but the club fought this. After several months a High Court ruling stated that "the club is entitled to rescind the [sale of the land] - having been induced to make it by a fraudulent misrepresentation for which Ross River are responsible". The consequence of this is that City were able to stay at the City ground until 2013, and can share in 50% of future profits from development of the site.^[2]

In April 2008 the City Ground failed an FA ground inspection. As a consequence Cambridge City were automatically demoted from the Conference South to the Southern League Premier Division, despite the club appealing the decision.^[3]

The club have been involved in negotiations to move to a new Community Stadium on the edge of the city, which they could potentially share with local football rivals Cambridge United and/or Cambridge rugby union football club, but in late 2012, it was announced that club president Len Satchell had purchased 35 acres of land in Sawston, with a view to building a 3,000 capacity stadium, along with community facilities for Sawston and the surrounding villages. As of April 2013, this project is going through public consultation.

A three-year groundshare with Newmarket Town F.C. was arranged so that Cambridge City would play their home games at Jockeys Cricket Field Road ground in Newmarket for the 2010-2011 season, but an extension to the lease at Milton Road meant that the move was never made. Once confirmation had been made City would need to vacate Milton Road at the end of the 2012–13 seasonthe club agreed a two-year ground share with Histon from the start of the 2013–14 season.

Final season

Cambridge City reached the First Round proper of the 2012-13 FA Cup, and the City Ground hosted its first televised match - ESPN screened a 0–0 draw against Football League One side MK Dons.

On 27 April 2013, with City having missed the play offs of the Southern League Premier Division, they played their last match at Milton Road, playing host to Redditch United. The day was marked with various events, including over 30 former players being in attendance at the game. A crowd of 814 saw City legend Adrian Cambridge score the only goal of the game to ensure City ended their stay at Milton Road with a win.

Final lineup

1. Zac Barrett
2. Tom Pepper
3. Will Lawton
4. Dave Theobald
5. Lee Chaffey
6. Robbie Nightingale (C)
7. Luke Allen
8. Adrian Cambridge
9. George Darling
10. Adam Marriott
11. Ieuan Lewis
12. David Prada - Replaced Lee Chaffey after 12 minutes
13. Craig Calver
14. Ashley Fuller - Replaced George Darling after 65 minutes
15. Miles Smith - Replaced Tom Pepper after 8 minutes

References

External links

• Cambridge City website