HYDE United are hungry for promotion on the pitch – off it, they are cooking up a storm.
Look at Big Al’s Tea Bar in the corner of the Project Solar UK Stadium and you may not think it is up to much.
But it is at the centre of a culinary revolution, one that sees long queues at every Tigers home match as fans crave its delights.
One that has also spread to the 487,000 followers worldwide of the ‘Footy Scran’ Twitter account, which features the best – and the worst – food at stadia around the world.
And it is all the work of a bunch of dedicated volunteers, who come up with the ideas that go far beyond the usual pie, chips, Bovril and brews you traditionally find.
Salt and pepper fries, gourmet burgers, the ‘mash up’ – a mix of chicken tikka, doner meat, chips and cheese, with spring onions and chilli sauce – and changing specials mean there is no spare second for those working. People cannot get enough.
They also make everything fresh, as Darren Mellor points out.
He said: “Everything we do is really easy and makes sure we don’t overcharge.
“And it’s the way it’s going. A lot more grounds do things slightly differently – that’s down to social media accounts like Footy Scran.
“We picked it up from a quality food facility at another club we went to.
“We were going to grounds and asking for burgers, we’d get a burger on a bun with a slice of unmelted cheese on.
“We’d be paying something like a fiver for that!
“There’s no need to charge prices like that. Put a bit of salad on, melt the cheese, do things better. You also see some attempts at cheesy chips being a portion of chips with a cheese slice on top – that’s just wrong.”
Big Al’s, which was only set up this season, has a corner of the stadium as there is also a bar nearby featuring a picture of Big Al himself – late Hyde supporter Alan Jenkins.
“All his family still come,” Darren added. “So we named the can bar and the food bar after him.
“It’s been a huge success, especially after we featured on Footy Scran to their almost half a million followers.
“You certainly see a lot more decent stuff now and when our Yorkshire pudding wrap was featured on the site, it received a 91 per cent approval rating, which is one of the highest they’ve ever had on there.
“There are six of us who operate it and we have a group in which we come up with ideas. We sit down, we argue and come up with ideas.
“And we’re all volunteers, no-one gets paid a penny.
“It’s not the biggest of places but it’s turned out really well. The fans at Hyde love it. We’re on the opposite side of the ground to the main tea bar but a lot of people will walk round as they’re enjoying what we’re offering here.
“The other tea bar was getting too busy, so we got this – it used to be at Leeds United – set up Big Al’s and thought we’d give it a go.
“We brought it over to this side so we could watch the game but we never get to watch it, we’re so busy!”
The latest creation at Big Al’s, a more traditional rag pudding with chips, peas and gravy, was viewed some 401,000 times and attracted more than 1,300 likes on Twitter.
Reactions were so positive, it was kept on the menu – all part of a response that had left Darren overwhelmed.
He told The Correspondent: “The reaction has surprised me. I don’t think we’ve watched a home game yet.
“But it shows if you get the pricing right and put quality food on, people will go for it – they did straight away.
“We’ve had other clubs come to us and say they need to do something similar
“It’s massive now but it’s not hard to do, it’s not rocket science.”
* Hyde United are at home on Saturday, January 21 where they face Stafford Rangers. Kick-off at 3pm
