Hyde Road

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

In the 1990's i used to collect minibuses from Manchester Minibus Agency that was based in the area where GM Buses used it as a training area as a skid patch. I always loved driving through the site thinking that City once played on the very spot i was in.

Went to the City Gates too. If I recall it was blue carpet downstairs and red and black upstairs

 

[Gary James]

Does anyone have any pictures of Hyde Road? I've read about the stadium and seen what little pictures are online but I've never seen too much - unsure if I'm looking in the wrong place, or that the photo's just don't exist. would love to see images of the galloway end and the fans sat on the roof etc.

really looking forward to @Gary James night next week to hopefully see a bit more of the stadium.

Film of Hyde Road will be shown tomorrow night at https://www.thedancehouse.co.uk/events/2019/230-boys-in-blue Over 300 tickets gone so far, so not too many left. This will be our last performance of the MCFC film show ever, so if anyone wants to see it and hasn't yet then Wednesday is the last chance. There will not be a DVD produced and the majority of these clips are not available anywhere else. These are unique films from the North West Film Archive collection. They have spent decades preserving the region's history and thanks to their efforts there's some superb film of Maine Road and City fans at away games etc. Lots to see. Here's a trailer:

 

[Harvster]

Loving the thread, after a bit of clarification from people with less addled brains than mine

My memory is telling me that just before the famous Youth Team slaughtered the rags, me and my mate went to the first leg at the swamp, sat in the main stand, where my friend lost his cap when re-enacting a poor attempted header by a united player (the cap was returned by a ball boy from the bottom section of the stand which was then standing(?), like the united road was), and the game was either a draw or narrow defeat? Either before or after the game we also enjoyed a scoop in what I thought was the City Gates, but was convinced it was in Hulme, and Dave Connor was the landlord.

If somebody could enlighten me as to how much of the above is correct, and how much complete b******s, I would be very much obliged

(PS - I don't expect you to know about my mate's cap)

 

[petrusha]

Loving the thread, after a bit of clarification from people with less addled brains than mine

My memory is telling me that just before the famous Youth Team slaughtered the rags, me and my mate went to the first leg at the swamp, sat in the main stand, where my friend lost his cap when re-enacting a poor attempted header by a united player (the cap was returned by a ball boy from the bottom section of the stand which was then standing(?), like the united road was), and the game was either a draw or narrow defeat? Either before or after the game we also enjoyed a scoop in what I thought was the City Gates, but was convinced it was in Hulme, and Dave Connor was the landlord.

If somebody could enlighten me as to how much of the above is correct, and how much complete b******s, I would be very much obliged

(PS - I don't expect you to know about my mate's cap)

I assume you're talking about the 1986 Youth Cup final, when we won 2-0 in the second leg at Maine Road but would have beaten the Rags by a much wider margin had their 'keeper Gary Walsh not had an absolute stormer. The first leg at the swamp finished 1-1. I went; as we lived in Sale at the time, it was easy for my old man and me to get up there on the train (the old rail line hadn't been converted to Metrolink then). IIRC, they went in front and we levelled when Walsh saved a penalty from Lakey but Lakey put in the rebound.

The City Gates was definitely a revamped version of the old Hyde Road Hotel next to where the old ground was, and George Heslop was the landlord. I think it close in the late 1980s. Whether you were there or in a boozer in Hulme where Dave Connor was the landlord is beyond the scope of my knowledge. (But didn't the route of the old 53 bus go between Belle Vue and Old Trafford? If so, the journey to or from the City Gates might not have been impossible, though it would have probably taken a while).