Manchester Airport & Manchester Football
Manchester Airport is the third busiest airport in the UK so there’s planes to see all over the place as well as a passenger jet coming in to land.
Also dotted around Manchester Airport there’s giant footballs painted on the grass, one in the middle of some planes, and two at either side of the runway. This is the logo of the Champions League so the satellite photo might have been taken around May 2003, when the final between AC Milan and Juventus took place at Old Trafford.
Old Trafford is the home to one of the most famous football clubs in the world, Manchester United. The stadium is currently undergoing renovation to add corner seating stands and will host preliminary men’s and women’s football matches during the 2012 Olympics.
The City Of Manchester Stadium is the home to Manchester City Football Club and was constructed for the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. The stadium is also home to B of the Bang, the tallest sculpture in the UK (although I don’t think it had been constructed when the satellite photo was taken).
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The view of the City of Manchester Stadium was obviously taken in the period between the 2002 Commonwealth Games and when Man City moved in. The north stand was only temporary for the games and you can see the ‘circle’ being completed in the picture. Also the running track (which most of the competitors agreed was excellent and very fast) has been removed and the level of the football pitch was lowered considerably allowing for more seats to be installed.
The success of the Commonwealth Games (which many Londoners didnt even know about or predicted would be a disaster) went a long way in London winning the 2012 Olympics. I doubt if London will do as good a job as Manchester did- Manchester should have got the Olympics!
Some more points of interest. Just to the nw of Old Trafford is the Imperial War Museum North designed by Daniel Libeskind who is ‘helping’ design the new WTC.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Here is Maine Road - Man City’s old ground before they moved to the COM Stadium.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
And most important of all - here is my house - its the one with the brown door.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
My god, that ‘B of the Bang’ thing is awesome! I can’t wait till they update the satellite images… Hmm, maybe I should just go see it?
The B of the Bang is fantastic but it has been plagued with problems. It cost several times what it was supposed to- it was late - in the mock ups it was a lovely silver colour but is really rust coloured - it swayed dangerously in the wind and finally one of the spikes fell off, so all around it is fenced off and part of the (very busy) road beneath it has been closed for ages. Shame really cos it is pretty awesome and i’m sure Stonhenge and the Pyramids had similiar problems when they were first built but nobody moans about it anymore do they?