Peninsula Stadium – Salford City

The Moor Lane football ground is now unrecognisable from what it was like just a few years ago. The old ground has been completely replaced by four new stands, with the corners enclosed, effectively making it a new stadium. Considering that this was all done in just ten months, it is a remarkable achievement. The last stand to be opened was the new South Stand on the Nevile Road side of the ground. This mainly all seated stand, replaced the former Main Stand and is a fairly simple affair with six rows of seats. Oddly at the back of the stand, there is a small area of standing, towards the East Terrace, which I can only think was placed there to replicate a traditional standing area from the old ground, as otherwise, you would expect it to be all-seated. At the very back of the stand, there is quite a tall retaining ‘wall’ going up to the roof. The team dugouts are located at the front of this stand. On either side of the Nevile Road Stand located in the corners are elevated boxes, which serve as security control and a television/press area.

Although this stand on Nevile Road replaced the old Main Stand, it is the new Moor Lane Stand opposite that has more facilities, with glassed corporate areas at the rear of it. It too is all-seated and is of a similar height to the Nevile Road Stand. Both ends have newly covered terraces, with the West Terrace, being the first of the new stands to be constructed of the new stadium. The East Terrace opposite is almost a replica of the West Terrace and this terrace is allocated to away supporters. The pitch has quite a noticeable slope going down from the Moor Lane Stand towards the Nevile Road Stand opposite. This can also be seen in the angle of the West Terrace roof, which also slopes.

Overlooking the ground at the North Eastern corner is the tall spire of St Pauls Church and generally, there are a number of tall trees on view outside the stadium perimeter giving it a leafy look. Probably the most memorable part of the stadium are the floodlights. Shaped as the Club badge, they are particularly eye-catching with an illuminated red outline around the light panels. The teams emerge before kick off to the Pogues song ‘Dirty Old Town.’

In October 2017 the new Moor Lane ground was officially opened by Sir Alex Ferguson. It was also renamed the Peninsula Stadium in a corporate sponsorship deal.

Away fans are mostly housed in the East Terrace at one end of the ground, which has a capacity of around 1,200. This terrace comprises of 12 steps and is covered. The acoustics of this terrace are quite good, meaning that a relatively few numbers of fans can make themselves heard. It also helps that as the stand is prefabricated, that fans can bang the panels at the back of the stand, to make some more noise. Although above them below the roof the metal panels are mesh-like with holes in them, which certainly let the wind through, which I can only assume is to help the pitch grow at the expense of spectator comfort.

In addition, 200 seats, spread across six rows are made available to visiting supporters in the Moor Lane Stand, at no extra cost to the entrance fee. Both the seating and terraced areas are accessed via the same turnstiles and stadium entrance. Away fans are separated by the seated home fans by a small area of tarpaulin and a row of stewards. At some grounds, this would attract an element of the home support to take up the area closest to the away fans to taunt and berate visiting supporters at every opportunity. I am pleased to report that this is not the case at Salford.

With the stadium being erected so quickly then the facilities for fans have yet to fully catch up, with only basic temporary facilities in place, such as small portaloos. Food on offer inside the ground includes; a selection of Pies (all £3), Pies with peas and gravy (£3.50), Double Burgers (with cheese and/or onions £4.50), Burgers (with cheese and/or onions £3.50), Plain Burgers (£3), Hot Dogs (£3.50), Sausage and Chips (£4), Cone of Chips (£1.50) and Tray of Chips (£2, with curry or gravy £2.50). For those of you who have watched the ‘Class of 92 Out of their League’ documentary about the Club, then you will recognise the lady running the food area as Babs. In fact, judging by the sight of cameramen wandering around filming the crowd, during the game, they must be working on a new series.

Although outside the back of the stand is open to the elements, the Club does not allow smoking to take place. This is monitored by cameras with stewards being dispatched to politely ask for people to put out their cigarettes. Generally, I found the club staff and stewards to be both welcoming, polite and helpful. Away coaches are parked in Moor Lane right outside the away entrance. There was also a burger van parked outside the ground on my visit.

There is a club bar at the ground, but this is for home supporters only. Although the Peninsula Stadium is situated in a largely residential area, there are surprisingly no pubs close by. Although there is a large bar inside the ground behind the Nevile Road Stand, this is for home supporters only. Alcohol is available to away fans from a unit behind the away end. It has draught Boddington’s Bitter (£3.50) and bottles of Carlsberg Pilsner, Somersby Cider, Strongbow Dark Fruits and cans of Guinness. This area behind the stand is open to the elements, so don’t complain that the Club have been watering down the beer if it is raining!

Chris Shiel informs me; ‘There is the Fairways Lodge on George Street in Prestwich is around half a mile, or a ten minute stroll on foot, along pleasant public footpaths that go through Prestwich Golf Course and over the moor, a ten minute stroll. If the weather is bad the route along the road is more preferable and is about one mile. Fairways Lodge, sometimes known locally as ‘The Village’ (from a previous name) is a hotel with gym facilities and function rooms but there is a public bar that is frequented by a few locals. It is normally fairly quiet as it’s slightly off the beaten track down a long cul de sac but it is the closest to Moor Lane’.

Jim Simpson informs me; ‘Probably the nearest pub to the Peninsula Stadium that welcomes away fans is the Star Inn on Back Hope Street in Higher Broughton. It’s a 10 to 15 minute walk from the ground. It can take a bit of finding but is well worth it. It’s a traditional old-style boozer which is co-operatively owned after being bought by its regulars 10 years ago.’

Just over a mile way off Bury New Road (A56) is the Friendship Inn. This Joseph Holt pub offers real and also does food. Whilst a couple of miles away in the Prestwich area is the CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed Church Inn on Church Lane (again off the main Bury New Road – not far from Junction 17 of the M60). The pub which is literally outside the gates of St Mary’s Church (which is handy if you want to also say a quick prayer for your team) offers up to four real ales, a couple of which are normally local beers. Opposite Church Lane on the Bury New Road is a Joseph Holt pub called the Red Lion, which also shows Sky Sports.

With Salford City’s quick recent rise up through the non-league pyramid and with ambitious owners in place, who have targeted the Club achieving Football League status by 2020. Then the Club are now showing their ambitions off the pitch as well as on it. by commencing with the building of a new stadium at Moor Lane, which will meet Football League membership criteria. This will see the construction of four new stands at the ground, as well as new changing rooms, social club, club shop, media area, plus Directors and Sponsors boxes. Both ends are to be covered terraces, with seated stands running down both sides. Work has already commenced on two sides of the ground at both the West End and North Side, with works to the other sides set to begin at the end of this current season. Once completed the ground will have an overall capacity of  5,106 capacity, including 2,240 seats. You can watch a video showing a computerised mock up of the new stadium on YouTube.

Moor Lane is located just over two miles away from Junction 17 of the M60. The ground is not located in Salford itself, but in the nearby area of Kersal.

From the M60 at Junction 17 take the A56 towards Manchester City Centre. Keep straight along the A56 and after passing a Lidl stare on the left with a Carphone Warehouse on the opposite side of the road, then take the third turning on the right (at the traffic lights and signposted Oaklands Hall/St Pauls Church) into Moor Lane. For the main entrance take the next left into Nevile Road and you will reach the ground down on the right, after the school.

There is no parking available at the ground for visiting supporters, plus the streets around most of the ground have a residents-only scheme in operation (although I noted on my visit that a number of Salford fans seem to have acquired residents passes, judging by the number parking up). So please check signage on lamp posts for details of parking restrictions, as wardens out on patrol in force on matchdays. However, there is street parking to be had on Moor Lane itself (the same road as the away entrance) and other streets located a little further away from the ground, such as Kersal Moor Road. Parking here also has the added benefit that you can get away pretty easily after the match, as at the top of Kersal Moor Road, you can turn right towards Prestwich (for M60 North) or left towards Swinton (for M61 and M60 South).

Park & Ride

For most matches, the Club operates a Park & Ride service from the IT Lab premises, on the Agecroft Industrial Estate (M27 8SJ). The cost is £2.

The nearest Metrolink Tram Stop is Crumpsall Tram Station, which is on the line to Bury. However, it is around 1.5 miles away from the Peninsula Stadium and is a good 30-35 minute walk. At the top of the stairs at Crumpsall, take a left onto Station Road and then turn right onto Seymour Road. Follow this road to the end and then turn right onto Bury Old Road. Follow this road until you see a white sign on your left saying “City of Salford.” Turn left here onto Singleton Road. Follow this road for about a mile (slight right at Upper Park Road) until you come to a set of traffic lights. Continue straight over onto Moor Lane. The ground will be on your left-hand side, right outside the away end. The tram can be caught from Piccadilly or Victoria Stations in Manchester City Centre.

Thanks to Giles Lawrence a visiting Northampton Town fan for the walking directions above.

Although there are some smaller railway stations that are slightly nearer to Moor Lane, it is not worth travelling out to them as you’ll still be almost three miles away from the ground. Manchester Victoria is the closest mainline station, which is just over three miles away and probably too far to walk. Either take a taxi up to the ground or from the Victoria Station approach you can catch First Bus No: 97 or 98 along Bury New Road towards Bury. This bus stops just after the end of Moor Lane (the road not the ground), just past the Hazeldean Hotel. The journey time is around 18 minutes. There is also the X43 Witchway Bus that also goes along Bury New Road towards Skipton. It runs every 15 minutes on Saturday afternoons. It can be caught from Manchester City Centre at Chorlton Street (Stop EZ) or at Princess Street/Arora Hotel (Stop SG). In addition from  Chorlton Street (Stop EZ) you can get the Red Express X41 (destination Accrington) that drops off at the end of Moor lane on Bury New Road. The cost for an adult is around £4 return. More information can be found on the Transport For Greater Manchester website.

Andrew Beverton a visiting Leyton Orient supporter adds; ‘We took a taxi from Manchester Piccadilly to the Salford City ground which cost £12.50. We were unable to get a taxi after the match had ended and so we walked up to the main road and caught a bus into Manchester City Centre which cost £2.50 each’.

The nearest Metro Tram stop to the Peninsula Stadium is at Crumpsall, which is approximately one and three-quarter miles away to the east and would take about 35 minutes to walk.

Booking train tickets in advance will normally save you money! Find train times, prices and book tickets with Trainline. Visit the website below to see how much you can save on the price of your tickets:

Although Salford were founded back in 1940, they didn’t move into Moor Lane until some 38 years later. The stadium remained largely untouched for decades but a major revamp in 2016 took the capacity of the Salford stadium up to 5,108.

Adults £10
Concessions £5
Under 5’s Free*

Concessions apply to those who are aged 60 and over, Under 16’s and Students with ID.

*When accompanied by an adult.

Tickets for the home areas are available to buy online at: http://bit.ly/SalfordCityTickets

Official Matchday Programme £3 (It is also available as a free download from the Salford City website).

Salford City FC fixture list (takes you to the BBC Sports Website).

Salford vs FC United of Manchester rivalry

The rivalry between these two clubs has been ‘created’ somewhat but it still attracts a fair bit of attention – especially in Greater Manchester – when meetings occur. Salford are owned by a number of the famous ‘Class of 92’, who shot to fame with Manchester United. FC United of Manchester meanwhile was a club created in protest of Man United. As such, there are plenty of little subplots to the game albeit with Salford now operating at a much better standard. The game has been dubbed a ‘mini-Manchester derby’.

Salford vs Curzon Ashton rivalry

Salford and Curzon Ashton formed what is best described as a friendly rivalry in their shared non-League days. Salford have pulled well clear in the pyramid now but with just 12 miles between the two clubs, any meetings – friendly or otherwise – will always pull in a decent and banter-full crowd.

Salford City FC fixture list (takes you to the BBC Sports Website).

Record Attendance

4,518 v Leeds United
League Cup 2nd Round, 13th August 2019.

Average Attendance
2019-2020: 2,997 (League Two)
2018-2019: 2,489 (National League)
2017-2018: 1,611 (National League North)

Official website: www.salfordcityfc.co.uk/

Unofficial website: Fans Forum

If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, then please e-mail me at: [email protected] and I’ll update the guide.

Thanks to Will Moorcoft of Salford City Football Club, Dave Hollands and Dwayne Owen for providing the photos of the new stands at the Peninsula Stadium Moor Lane Salford City.