Manchester - Hyde Road Stadium
Hyde Road : M12 5AQ Ardwick AFC was formed by St. Mark's Church, Clowes Street, Manchester to give young men a healthy, sporting interest. The club had five home grounds around Gorton in Manchester before they moved to the Hyde Road in 1887 on land rented from the Railway. They had to level the ground to make a playing surface and eventually created a very good stadium.

In 1892 the club reformed as Manchester City and were extremely successful being the third best supported side in the League behind Everton and Aston Villa and drawing crowds of 40,000.

Ardwick FC held their annual athletics festival at Hyde Road on July 29th 1893 and the advert for the meeting stated "The cinder cycle track has been improved, enlarged, is well banked up, perfectly safe, and in first class condition. The program included 1 and 2 miles bicycle handicap races and a 2 miles open scratch race.

The ground hosted the 1905 FA Cup semi-final and in 1920 Hyde Road became the first provincial ground to be visited by a reigning monarch when King George V attended City's victory over Liverpool. The Hyde Road stadium burnt down in 1923 and Manchester City moved to Maine Road where they stayed for seventy years before moving to their current home, the Etihad Stadium in 2003.


Refs     : [233] [296] [297] [p]