Hyde Road Stadium

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

There's some great old photographs of the team when at Hyde Road... we need to bring back goalies wearing flat caps!

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Love the “boater” on the far right! Now that really is a period piece.
Love the centre partings too. You don't see those around in the modern world. Jack'd look good with a centre parting, I reckon.

 

[Gary James]

Mate, the work you've done on City's heritage is simply irreplaceable.
Forget Bert Trautmann, Billy Meredith, et al. Build a statue to Gary James ;-)

Many years ago, I supervised a piece of research on City by a young French student from Toulouse. It was a serious piece of work, he went over several times and carried out interviews, looked into archives and suchlike. I'm afraid I've forgotten his name, and lost touch with him after that. I do remember that the main thrust of his argument was that City's distant origins at St. Mark's lay in the whole “muscular Christianity” ethos of Victorian England. It was convincingly argued .
He told me he'd met you, of course. He also told me an interesting thing about talking to Sylvain Distin. Distin was looking musingly around the stands at Eastlands (as it then was), and then said, quite casually, “You know, this is a big club here. Its position doesn't reflect what it rightfully is.” I've embellished it, but it was definitely along those lines.
Sylvain, I raise a glass to you.

The student was JF Maille perhaps?
Thanks for the comments I really appreciate them. There are so many myths, errors and inaccuracies out there that get repeated simply because people just take the stories and don’t dig deep. I’ve always (since 1980s) spent considerable time looking for multiple sources and challenging everything we know. People often want to tell ‘their’ story not City’s. I want City and every club to be accurately presented and I want answers to everything. Where we can’t get answers then we need to be open and say that but even in recent weeks we’ve had spin placed on City’s origins by some who do not have the evidence needed to prove conclusively what they say.

Researching a football club is hard if you want the detail and facts. Most of the sources I use for the early years are still not digitized (or microfilmed in some cases). City’s history is hidden away in old newspapers, magazines, diaries, family collections etc. not on the internet.

It‘s one of the reasons I set up my website. I want to get everything posted. So much hasn’t made it yet into my books. At least it should keep me occupied for a few years.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Nevermind how many books..... has he ever been on Eggheads?

Just as crucial — does he agree with me that Morrissey's best work was done with one, Johnny Marr?
If not, then I'm afraid it seriously undermines his authority as an objective historian…

 

[Academica]

Here‘s a list:

About Dr Gary James

Gary James is a Honorary Research Fellow at De Montfort University. He has written extensively on football, with his current research focusing on female participation and involvement in the sport. Since the 1990s, he has gathered oral testimony from females directors, administrative staff...

gjfootballarchive.com

Most are out of print now but you can still pick them up secondhand. Two books (Manchester A Football History and my first book From Maine Men To Banana Citizens), plus lots of my other writing is now available to subscribers to my website. Monthly subscription is £3 per month (cancel anytime, so you could subscribe, get what you need then cancel but I guess I shouldn’t say that!) or you can pay £20 a year.

There are history talks (I’m doing one online tonight re 2005-2009 for free), interviews (audio and written) plus other stuff.

Details of tonight’s talk:

Next Free History Talk: Manchester City 2005 to 2009 on 29 March

I’m delighted to say I’ll be performing the next free online History Talk on Wednesday 29 March at 6pm until 7pm. This talk will be on Manchester City FC between 2005 to 2009. It’…

gjfootballarchive.com

You can see what you think too by watching an earlier talk on Maine Rd and fans here:

Video of my online talk on history of MCFC Support/Match Day at Maine Road

Earlier today (Saturday March 5 at 3pm UK time) I did an online talk/presentation on the history of Manchester City's support and match day at Maine Road. It was a celebration of fans and a reminder of Maine Road. I've now posted below a free to view video of the talk for anyone to watch...…

gjfootballarchive.com

I hope this all helps. Cheers

Thanks Gary I will subscribe later

 

[Oyster28catcher]

Subbutteo would be about the right size lol

Brookdale Park between Newton le Heath and Failsworth has a lovely tiny sculpture at the BMX/skate/scooter park. Catching The Air marks heritage and modernity. Surely an establishment as historic as City needs a marker at its first home.

https://www.wescover.com/p/public-sculptures-by-adrian-moakes-at-brookdale-park--PSJZO0MhyI

 

[AliBobbyJ]

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Ah, now - Peter Craven and Peter Collins say hello.

 

[Stephen230]

Sorry if it’s already been discussed. But I once got told and so always believed that the ground was where that skid pan bus thing was, which was right next to the railway line on the left as you came out of Piccadilly, just before that big train depot place. Is that right?

 

[Gary James]

Here you go…. This is one I took and then used in my first book published in 1989. I took it from a similar angle to the earlier photo above specifically so I could do a comparison. I was surprised that the pedestrian crossing was still there (and it still is now - you can still see some of the original bricks and stones if you wander the site).

Bugger! I’m having problems attaching the image! Watch this space.

Sorted at last:

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Sorry if it’s already been discussed. But I once got told and so always believed that the ground was where that skid pan bus thing was, which was right next to the railway line on the left as you came out of Piccadilly, just before that big train depot place. Is that right?

Correct

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Sorted at last:

Thanks Gary.
I went in there maybe 3 or 4 times.
Sky blue carpet downstairs, with red and black carpet upstairs!

 

[dario2739]

Sorted at last:

If the gates led to the ground, there must have been access under the railway lines then – a tunnel, or arches?

 

[Stephen230]

Correct

Thanks for confirming. I told all my kids and various other people over the years when we were setting off on train journeys… That’s where City’s ground was.

And then it dawned on me one day, that I’ve no idea how I know that or even if it’s true. Nice to prove not to be chatting shit for once in my life.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

A few questions spring to mind. Was Hyde Road unique in having a railway track between one of the stands and the pitch?

There is this one in Slovakia

 

[DTKOAG]

I'm sure that it is where all the seafreight containers are stored at the back of the old GUS building.
I was born just off Higher Ardwick and never realised how close the old ground is to where i was born.
Next time i drive i will go round Bennett Street and take some pictures and post them on here.

 

[dario2739]

I'm sure that it is where all the seafreight containers are stored at the back of the old GUS building.
I was born just off Higher Ardwick and never realised how close the old ground is to where i was born.
Next time i drive i will go round Bennett Street and take some pictures and post them on here.

Spot on - as you approach Piccadilly, just before the small (unused?) Ardwick station - the shipping containers on the left are where the stadium was.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

The student was JF Maille perhaps?

You know what, I've been mulling this over. I think that's who it was. Jean-François. You have some memory. Useful thing for a historian to have, mind.
He was a nice lad, and I had all the more respect for him that, in a period when it was distinctly unfashionable to support — or even show an interest in — City outside of Manchester, and when that other lot from beyond the city boundaries seemed to be hogging the headlines, he was very clear about which club he supported and wanted to work on. Not at all common in France twenty years ago.
We'll have all the plastics now. That's what television and the media do…

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Spot on - as you approach Piccadilly, just before the small (unused?) Ardwick station - the shipping containers on the left are where the stadium was.

I've always wondered about that station. Never seen a soul there, and it has always looked distinctly decommissioned.
As for the shipping containers, I must have looked at them a thousand times without realising what had been there. Particularly fascinated by all the ones that obviously come from China. That tells its own story about how it has now become the workshop of the world.

 

[cyan]

If the gates led to the ground, there must have been access under the railway lines then – a tunnel, or arches?

I'm wondering that as well - no path indicated on the maps. Is that still your view or has that been revised?

 

[eastmanc]

Some photos of The Hyde Road Hotel.
Can't believe I can't find one of The City Gates.
The 2nd picture must have been after 1967 as it has the Whitbread sign.
The City Gates opened early 80"s so assuming the 3rd picture is from the 90's going off the posters stuck to the boards
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George Heslop was the landlord.

 

[BLUE PEANUT]

Stumbled across this image from 1906/1907. Is actually a Liverpool website but has some great reports/articles on Hyde Road and City

Hyde Road – Manchester City F.C. football ground

Saturday, April 13 – 1907 (Yorkshire Evening Post, 13-04-1907)

playupliverpool.com

Manchester City to build a new stadium

Wednesday, June 10 – 1914 Manchester, which already possesses one of the finest football enclosures in the country, is to have another and even larger ground, the Manchester City Club having just c…

playupliverpool.com

Hyde Road a dismal hole

December 10, 1915 Hyde Park we know, but Hyde Road Park is a park of another colour. It is a dismal hole, and the half finished stands seem to mock the spectators. The draughts are sharp enough to …

playupliverpool.com