Manchester City fans are expected to line the city’s streets on bank holiday Monday as a Man City Parade winds from the Northern Quarter to the Etihad Stadium, with celebrations also planned at the arena site after the final whistle of a remarkable season. The open-top bus will move through Ancoats and along Ashton New Road before finishing at the Etihad, where the club will celebrate trophies collected by the men’s, women’s and academy sides.
Build-up begins at 4pm in the Northern Quarter, and about 100,000 people are expected to turn out across the afternoon and evening. The day marks the men’s FA Cup win, the women’s Women’s Super League title and the academy’s FA Youth Cup success, a sweep that gives the parade a wider club-wide feel than a single-team victory lap. Fran Wilkinson said it was set to be a special day for the blue half of Manchester, with fans coming together to celebrate an incredible season across the men’s, women’s and academy teams.
Transport for Greater Manchester is warning those heading into the city to plan ahead. Public transport will run to a bank holiday timetable, some bus routes will be diverted because of road closures, and there will be no tram services between Victoria and Rochdale while essential improvement work continues on the Oldham-Rochdale line. Trams to Etihad Campus will only run between Piccadilly and Ashton-under-Lyne and will operate every 15 minutes because of work at Piccadilly Gardens.
The travel pressure is not limited to the parade itself. Demand around the Etihad Campus is expected to rise sharply after the event, especially for fans heading to the sold-out after-party at Co-op Live, where 17,000 people are expected. The walk from Piccadilly to the Etihad Campus takes around 25 minutes, but officials say the trip may take longer than usual as crowds build and services are reduced. Wilkinson said that with very large crowds expected and services running to a bank holiday timetable, people should plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys, adding that changes to the tram network because of essential works will also slow travel.
The parade comes against a wider backdrop of disruption across the region’s network, with major upgrade work still under way between Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds and replacement buses in operation. For fans, though, Monday is being staged as a day to stay close to home and close to the club: a city-centre procession, a stadium celebration and then a full house at Co-op Live before the traffic and transport squeeze begins to ease.
