| FA Cup first round: Hyde United v MK Dons |
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| Venue: Ewen Fields Date: Friday, 3 November Kick-off: 19:55 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two & the BBC Sport app from 19:30 GMT, score updates on BBC Radio 5 live and follow text updates on the BBC Sport website. |
"There were people all the way down the street," recalls Ricky Hatton. "I'm massively proud of my Hyde roots and that day the town was in the presence of greatness."
The date was 26 August 2009. A crowd, several hundred strong, had gathered under rainclouds to await the arrival of a silver people carrier.
Cheers greeted the vehicle as it pulled up on Market Street and an entourage stepped out, followed by a frail looking 67-year-old wearing dark glasses.
Three-time heavyweight world boxing champion Muhammad Ali - one of the world's greatest sporting figures - was in Hyde, a few miles east of Manchester, to meet local hero Hatton and open his gym.
There has been little of sporting significance for the town to shout about in the eight years since. But that could change on Friday as a televised FA Cup tie captures the imagination of locals - including Hatton, the former world boxing champion nicknamed 'The Hitman'.
It may not be the stardust of Ali, who died last year at the age of 74. Instead, it is the opportunity to cause the first big upset of this season's FA Cup. Eighth-tier Hyde United - average league crowd 328 - host MK Dons in the first round, live on BBC Two, before a 3,500 sell-out crowd.
"It's great to see them in the first round at home to a League One club on TV," Hatton told BBC Sport.
"I know they've struggled recently but this is terrific for the area and I wish them all the best."
Hatton's first football love is Manchester City, for whom he played as a schoolboy alongside brothers Jim and Jeff Whitley, who went on to make more than 150 league appearances for the club between them.
"I was certainly on their level at that time," added The Hitman, who used to walk to the ring to City's anthem 'Blue Moon' and regularly wore sky blue shorts in reference of his support for the club.
| Hyde-ing to nothing? | |
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| Striker Matthew Beadle has scored five of Hyde's 13 FA Cup goals this season. The Tigers have beaten Congleton (4-2), Kendal Town (1-0), Warrington Town (1-1, 2-0), Boston Town (3-2) and Scarborough Athletic (2-0). | Hyde are unbeaten in 20 Northern Premier League Division One North games and are fifth in the table. MK Dons are 16th in League One and are without a league win in five matches. |
| Hyde United suffered a record 26-0 defeat to Preston North End in the FA Cup first round on 15 October 1887. North End were 12-0 ahead at half-time. Hyde's live match commentary service is humorously called '26nil.com'. | Tigers boss Darren Kelly, 38, was manager of League One Oldham Athletic two years ago. He was appointed Hyde manager in May 2016 with the club having suffered three relegations in four years, crowds down by 50% and about £500 in the bank. |
"I've often wondered what might have been had I stuck with football but I won one or two amateur boxing titles and I was getting a reputation. No-one wanted to fight me. My attendance at football dropped."
Work commitments have restricted Hatton, 39, to just three City games this season but, if his diary allows, he hopes to make an appearance at Ewen Fields, Hyde's home, for the Northern Premier League Division One North club's biggest game in years.
"I'm very busy, even more so now I'm retired from the ring, because I train nine boxers," added Hatton, who grew up on the nearby Hattersley estate, a spillover on the eastern outskirts of Manchester and an area made infamous for being the home of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
Just down the road, doctor Harold Shipman became notorious as Britain's worst serial killer.
"This area hasn't had many things to shout about," said Hatton, who lives in Gee Cross, a short car ride from his £2m gym in Hyde, which employs 25 people.
"I hope during my boxing career I was able to make people round here proud and it's great people are now talking about Hyde United.
"I could live anywhere but I've never lived outside a five-mile radius of Hyde. It's a working-class area full of hard-working people.
"When Muhammad Ali's people said he would be coming to open my gym, my jaw hit the floor. They cordoned the road off and people were stood outside waiting to catch a glimpse of him.
"There's a picture of us embracing. It takes pride of place in my games room. I'll never forget that day."
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