As you might be aware, Manchester United and Manchester City understandably dominate football tourism in the city. Although maybe due to recent news, we might have to remove City and their fraudulent owners from that table.
With that in mind, it might be best to escape the rampant commercialisation at the higher end of the game and instead spend a very enjoyable weekend in Greater Manchester without seeing either of them.
Go further down the football pyramid and you’ll find old grounds, supporter-owned clubs, packed terraces, cheap tickets and the increasingly rare pleasure of watching a match without needing binoculars to see the opposite goal.
For football groundhoppers – or anybody who simply fancies something different – here are five non-league clubs worth building an afternoon around.
Altrincham FC – Moss Lane
If you want a traditional introduction to Manchester’s non-league scene, start with Altrincham.
Founded in 1891, the Robins are one of the great historic names of English non-league football. Long before the National League existed in its current form, Altrincham developed a reputation as formidable FA Cup giant-killers and became one of the country’s most recognisable clubs outside the Football League.
Then there’s Moss Lane.
Now officially known through sponsorship as the J. Davidson Stadium, Altrincham’s home still feels reassuringly like a proper football ground. There are terraces, tightly packed stands and residential streets surrounding it rather than several acres of corporate hospitality and car parking.
The town centre is within walking distance too, so you can comfortably make an afternoon of it. Find somewhere for lunch or a pint, walk down towards Moss Lane and join a crowd that can comfortably reach several thousand for bigger National League fixtures.
Current adult admission for a standard National League game is around £23, although prices vary by fixture and should always be checked before travelling. But generally, you can expect to have a budget and stick to it at this level.
FC United of Manchester – Broadhurst Park
Of course, we had to go with this one. And especially with the issues pervading at Manchester United from the Glazer ownership, I personally implore more United fans to show some love and support to this club.
It was founded in 2005 by Manchester United supporters, with Malcolm Glazer’s takeover of United acting as the final catalyst for fans increasingly frustrated by ticket prices, commercialisation, changing kick-off times and the direction modern football was heading. Twenty years later, FC United remains supporter-owned.
That alone makes visiting them interesting, but Broadhurst Park is worth seeing in its own right. Opened in 2015 with a friendly against Benfica, the 4,900-capacity stadium became the first new football ground in Britain built by a supporter-owned club. Fans raised millions towards its construction through community shares and fundraising.
There’s plenty of standing, supporters are close to the pitch and the ground was deliberately designed around the sort of football experience FC United’s founders felt was disappearing elsewhere.
You don’t have to agree with every aspect of the club’s philosophy to find the whole thing fascinating.
Manchester is home to two of the richest and most commercially powerful football clubs on Earth. A few miles away in Moston is a football club effectively created in opposition to that entire direction of travel.
West Didsbury & Chorlton – Brookburn Road
West Didsbury & Chorlton play at Brookburn Road, tucked away in leafy Chorlton in south Manchester. They’re much further down the pyramid than Altrincham, but that’s rather the point.
This is grassroots football with a distinctly modern following.
West have developed a strong local identity and attract crowds that compare extremely favourably with many clubs playing at similar levels. Brookburn Road is small, intimate and particularly enjoyable when there’s a healthy crowd packed around the pitch.
Chorlton also makes this one exceptionally easy to turn into a proper afternoon out. The surrounding area is full of independent bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants, so there’s no need to arrive five minutes before kick-off and immediately disappear afterwards.
It’s also a nice reminder of how varied non-league football can be.
Not every groundhopping trip needs to involve an enormous old stand or a former Football League club. Sometimes a tiny ground, local beer and several hundred people standing within a few yards of the pitch is exactly what you’re looking for.
Curzon Ashton – Tameside Stadium
Head east out of Manchester and you’ll eventually reach Ashton-under-Lyne, home of Curzon Ashton.
The club was formed in 1963 following the merger of Curzon Road and Ashton Amateurs and has gradually climbed through the north-west non-league system.
Curzon moved into the Tameside Stadium in 2005, with none other than Sir Alex Ferguson officially opening the ground. Manchester United supplied the opposition for the opening match, with a rather decent collection of youngsters including Gerard Piqué, Giuseppe Rossi, Jonny Evans and Fraizer Campbell involved.
The stadium holds around 4,000, including 524 seats, with terracing around all four sides. Outside you’ll also find a statue celebrating three World Cup winners born in the wider Tameside area: Geoff Hurst, Jimmy Armfield and Italy’s Simone Perrotta.
Curzon don’t receive anything like the attention afforded to Manchester’s bigger clubs, which makes them exactly the sort of place worth seeking out.
A good ground, a club with genuine history and football without much fuss.
Maine Road FC – Brantingham Road
The name probably gives this one away.
Maine Road FC were founded by Manchester City supporters, with the club’s roots stretching back to a supporters’ team established in the 1950s. They eventually entered Saturday football and adopted the Maine Road name, creating one of the more unusual links between professional and non-league football in Manchester.
No, they don’t actually play at Maine Road. That would be difficult for several reasons.
Their football is played in Chorlton, and the experience is considerably more modest than visiting the stadium their name commemorates. That’s exactly what makes it interesting, particularly if you’re interested in Manchester’s wider football culture rather than simply its biggest attractions.
For City supporters, there’s an obvious historical curiosity here. For everybody else, it’s a chance to go considerably deeper into the pyramid and watch football at a level most tourists visiting Manchester probably don’t even realise exists.
Pick up a programme or badge while you’re there too. The Maine Road name makes for a rather nice little piece of Manchester football memorabilia.
The Non-League Scene in Manchester
If you’re travelling specifically for football, you could easily turn Greater Manchester into a groundhopping weekend.
Watch Altrincham on Friday night, find a Saturday afternoon fixture elsewhere and suddenly you’ve experienced a completely different side of one of Europe’s great football cities.
That’s what makes non-league football so enjoyable. You’re closer to the pitch, tickets are usually obtainable without weeks of planning and the clubs tend to reflect their immediate communities in a way that’s increasingly difficult at the elite level.
Each of these five offers something slightly different. Altrincham gives you proper non-league heritage. FC United tells one of modern English football’s strangest supporter stories. West Didsbury & Chorlton offers a brilliant community matchday, Curzon Ashton takes you further into Greater Manchester’s football landscape and Maine Road preserves an unusual little connection to the city’s past.
United and City aren’t going anywhere (maybe for the latter). Next time you’re in town, try somebody smaller.
Because you just know that the club will respect you more than perhaps any elite club will.
What’s your favourite non-league ground in Manchester?