FC UNITED of MANCHESTER (Broadhurst Park)

FA CUP 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND, FC UNITED of MANCHESTER 1-1 BUXTON, ATTENDANCE: 2,357

The second part of my weekend FA Cup double led to me to the Moston area of Manchester, where FCUM's brand new ground, Broadhurst Park, is located.

The story of the club set up in reaction to Malcolm Glazer taking over Manchester United is well documented (click here) so I won't bore you with the details but a decade after the club was set up, and after groundsharing at Bury's Gigg Lane, the red rebels finally have a place to call home.

Broadhurst Park is the first new ground to be built and funded by a supporter owned football club. I have to say I was hugely impressed. The ground cost £6.5m and funding came from a variety of sources, with FC United fans themselves raising £2 million from a Community Share Scheme and a further £1 million from other fundraising. The supporters truly putting their money where their mouths are.

The opening match was a friendly between FC United and Benfica on 29 May 2015. In the first ever competitive game at the ground though, in August 2015, Stockport County beat United 2-1. At the moment the 4,400 capacity ground is effectively two-sided, with the Lightbowne Road end and the North Stand flat standing (these parts of the ground will be developed in the future when funds allow).

The Main Stand has a mix of standing and seating whilst the large St Mary's Road terrace behind the goal was once the Dane Bank terrace at both of Northwich Victoria's old grounds, which FC United bought (with the blessing of the Northwich Supporters) when the Victoria Stadium was demolished in 2013.

The ground is easily reached by bus from Piccadilly and, as luck would have, the 81 bus to Moston Lane stops right outside the Marble Arch pub on Rochdale Road. It would have been incredibly rude not to pop in for a couple of halves!




A fellow groundhopper visited Broadhurst Park a few weeks ago and remarked that it was the closest he had come to a German football experience in England. After my visit I got exactly what he meant.

The entrance fee was £9, which is amongst the cheapest in the division, the beer was £2.60 a pint and there was bottle bar underneath the terrace, meaning there was time for a pint of Holt's at the interval, and there was a vast array of food on sale, but being a traditionalist I stuck to my pie, peas and gravy, despite the temptations of proper sausages and chilli.

Then there is the fans. I find the majority good natured and the banter/chanting is amusing. The banners are superb with lots of references to some of my favourite bands. The Megastall (a pun on 'big' United's Megastore) even has a fantastic champions t-shirt in the style of the New Order 'Substance' album cover. 

The aforementioned champions t-shirt refers to the Northern Premier League, which FC United won last season to reach the promised land of the Conference, sorry, National League North (this does beg the question that if they were ultimately to go up, what will happen regards the shifting of games for television?)

Today though was all about the FA Cup and the road to Wembley. FC United's best performance came in 2010 when, after beating Rochdale in the first round proper, the lost to Brighton & Hove Albion in the second round, after a replay

United were hosting Buxton, who my mate informed me are a bit of a bogey side for the reds, especially at home.

After FC United had dominated the first half they got sucker punched right on the stroke of half time when Warren Burrell gave Buxton the lead.

Despite the pressure being ramped up further in the second half, the Buxton defence held firm. With 11 minutes remaining Tom Greaves prodded the ball home to draw the reds level. It appeared that would be the point in which United went on to win.

When Buxton’s Glenn Belezika was shown a second yellow card for a foul and then almost immediately went down to nine men when Alistair Taylor limped off, after Buxton had used all their substitutes, United piled forward but still could not force a winner and Buxton managed to hold on for a lucrative, and I would say deserved, replay.


I stayed behind after the game and headed to the clubhouse at the top of the main stand where there was 'Broadhurst Park' real ale on sale (produced by Red Willow Brewery, it was top stuff) before catching the bus back to Piccadilly in order to get my train home. A most enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

Supporters of HFC Falke had made the trip over
for today's game. Falke, based in Hamburg,
are another fans owned club

with thanks to Jim for the guided tour and information