As it becomes clearer what the North Stand will look like once the expansion is completed, it is still far from apparent what it will sound like

06:00, 04 Mar 2026

At the beginning of the season, Manchester City would have been hoping to be able to call on extra fan power for their biggest games of the season. When finished, the North Stand expansion will add more than 7,000 seats and take the capacity above 60,000.

It still isn’t clear when it will be finished though. Senior club officials were hopeful last year that it would be January but we are now more than a month past that; an FAQ on the club website says that it is ‘due to open before the end of the season, although a date has not yet been confirmed’.

Obviously it is better to be done properly than to be rushed, but it will be a shame if – as is looking likely – there is no extra boost in time for the two huge matches that are up in the next six weeks. With test events needed before it officially opens, Real Madrid in a fortnight looks out of the question and Arsenal in late April would be a stretch.

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But it is getting there. All the seats are in and the suggestion is that the covers may have been removed in time for the Nottingham Forest game on Wednesday, meaning completion is getting nearer.

It is close enough for the question to be asked of what the new North Stand will sound like and how much of a boost it will give City and their manager, who regularly calls on the fans to help the team in the moments where they need them most. How much of an improvement will the improvement be?

That is something nobody can answer at the minute amid uncertainty over the makeup of the stand. Whether it comes before the end of this season or at the start of the next one, who will be sitting in the seats?

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, City’s chairman’ gave encouragement to the idea of a blue wall akin to Dortmund when he was asked about it years ago in his annual address with club media, and that gave hope to supporters who dreamed of a wall of noise. Supporters currently in the South Stand, the noisiest part of the ground, were open to moving across to have a whole stand behind the goal that was not interrupted by away fans.

Such talk of relocation has seemingly died down despite the confirmation of 3,000 rail seats for the top tier, and the announcement in May that there would be at least 4,000 new Flexi Gold tickets – with half ringfenced for Under-18s – certainly keeps the emphasis on family stand. Losing the next generation of supporters has been a major concern for fans in recent years so this was well received by fans who are keen to start taking their kids regularly to games.

The top tier could be a natural home for the 500 fans being moved from their seats behind the goal to make way for a new hospitality space, especially given the evident difficulties in moving groups to other parts of the stadium that are already pretty full. However, even those able to move up two tiers will want it reflected in the pricing and may also want to know they are still sitting with loyal season ticket holders rather than people buying tickets as part of a hotel deal or from a third-party site.

City’s wish to make the Etihad Campus a tourist destination for every day of the year, it seems natural to think there will be some kind of relationship between the new hotel that is opening and that they own and the stadium. And more seats in general makes the club more vulnerable to third-party sites whether official and unofficial.

There’s also the issue of the new hospitality area behind the goal, City Hall. With season tickets coming in at around £2,600, is that really likely to attract fans who already go every week? The Tunnel Club is currently the most exclusive part of the ground and that is practically empty for five to 10 minutes at the start of each half as guests are pre-occupied with the service they are getting inside; to have empty seats behind the goal at the start of each half certainly wouldn’t help atmosphere.

City fans showed against Newcastle how good the atmosphere can be and have the opportunity to do so again in the Forest game, even if prices and ticket restrictions have been cut ahead of Wednesday’s game. Similarly, when the new North Stand opens fully it will undoubtedly make a difference in a stadium that has already helped to down some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

It’s just that, as it becomes clear what it looks like, it still isn’t clear what it will sound like.

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