My ticket from the club has entry via turnstile M, which is the South stand at the Etihad, opposite to the end last year.
I presume you'll be able to walk round the entire concourse again, so you can go to the opposite end if you want?

You can get right round the concourse without leaving the ground on the unreserved section. Where are Wigan fans gathering in the unreserved bit?

seriously?
last year we took a full picnic and ate it during the rhino-bulls game.
does this mean we may have to eat it outside and miss most of hudds-bulls?

No food & drink allowed into the stadium yesterday..... just a 500ml bottle of water or juice ..... all bags got checked as you entered the outer perimeter AND the stadium itself! And more worrying for you lot, no pies (honestly, that's not a wind up) on sale inside the ground .... just pizzas/burgers/chips etc .......

It did relax off as the day went on but no chance of taking in the picnics we got in last year .... we just nipped back to the car / local shops between matches .... could be a problem if you're going on the train though; may have to find another fan who'll let you leave bags in their car .....

A word of warning as well, the chips and curry sauce £3.50 deal is dire. Tiny portion of chips and watery sauce

I went out between each game through the re-entry gate, got my hand stamped and when I went back in they never checked my bag once. The one time I decided to nip to Asda and bought a few things and got them in no problems.
I know they were stopping people with carrier bags with stuff in probably because they could see the stuff, but I had a shoulder bag and was only shopping for one.