Was Maine Road haunted?Updated: June 9th, 2008
We’re all familiar with the gypsy curse supposedly put on Maine Road, but according to the Daily Telegraph from 1997, that wasn’t the only supernatural problem the club faced.
Former winger Roy Clarke, who spend 50 years at the club as a player and administrator, told the paper:
“There is definitely a certain presence in the ground. Stan Gibson, our long-serving groundsman, had an alsation who would not go into H Block under any circumstances. If taken to the entrance his hair would stand on end, and he would react violently as though there was something evil there. A cleaner told me that in the North Stand doors would start banging for no reason on a windless day.”
“Another story I’ve heard was that where the ground now stands there used to be a quarry with a deep pool that a man with a horse and cart slid into and drowned. Over the years he has been seen at different spots around the ground by different people. The tea ladies used to call him Fred. The ground is certainly haunted, and it would make sense that the curse still bedevils the club.”
The McVittee newsletter took the story further, describing similar problems Birmingham City had in the Eighties. Ron Saunders, now a “reclusive born-again Christian” according to The Observer, had the soles of the players’ boots painted red and put up crosses on the floodlights to ward off evil spirits.
Although the North Stand encouaged chi (beneficial energy) the new Kippax was sending malign energy (sha) all round the place. Worse still, the toilets in the south-east corner were in the “wealth area”, which could have a negative impact on finances.
Money down the drain at City? Surely not.