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Club History HYDE FC will always be remembered for the record 26-0 FA Cup defeat suffered at the hands of Preston North End in 1887. But the club, founded two years earlier, was anything but a collection of cotton-town bumpkins. It was a highly ambitious outfit which wanted to compete with the best sides in the North. The 1887-88 season actually proved to be very successful and at the end of it Hyde met Newton Heath (now Manchester United) in a match the local press termed the unofficial championship of Manchester. Hyde enjoyed a very productive period at the turn of the 20th century when the club won four league titles. At the time it was playing at a ground called Townend Street. It returned to Ewen Fields in 1906 after merging with Hyde St George’s and taking over the Saints’ place in the Lancashire Combination. In 1917, Hyde folded because of what was termed war reaction but in 1919 there were demands for the club to be re-established. United was added to the name because of a match between two groups which used to meet in the market place: the Forty Gang and the Discharged Soldiers and Sailors. The inter-war years were a purple patch. During the 1920s, Hyde won five Manchester League championships and various cups. This record allowed the club to win election to the Cheshire County League in 1930, and four years later Hyde beat Stockport County Reserves to win the league cup. In 1945-46 Hyde won the Cheshire Senior Cup for the first time and in 1954 reached round one of the FA Cup, losing to a Workington side managed by Bill Shankly. In the following two seasons the club clinched back-to-back Cheshire League titles. Hyde’s nickname, the Tigers, was adopted at the end of the 1960s when they were founder members of the Northern Premier League. They were expected to struggle but fought like Tigers for two seasons and finished seventh and eleventh. However, the club could not compete financially and returned to the Cheshire League in 1970. During the 1980s Hyde re-emerged as a force. In 1981-82 they swept the Cheshire League board and won election back to the NPL. Hyde returned to the first round of the FA Cup in 1983, losing at Burnley, and in 1989 made it to the semi-finals of the FA Trophy. In 1986, Hyde took the radical step of selling Ewen Fields to Tameside Council so that a synthetic Baspograss pitch could be laid. At this time, Hyde were a major force in the North West. They never quite managed to win the championship but picked up several trophies, returned to the first round of the FA Cup (1994) and reached two more FA Trophy semi-finals, beating Conference champions Stevenage Borough in the last eight in 1996. Grass was reinstated in 1995 but as the 21st century dawned Hyde began to struggle. They finished second to Leigh in 1999-2000 but were relegated to the NPL first division three years later. They won the championship and promotion at the first attempt and immediately followed up with the NPL title in 2004-05. Since then they have played in Blue Square Bet North. |
    
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