an interesting article I spotted today on a Wycombe player, Paul Hyde, and much mention of Martin O'Neill in it.
WANDERING DOWN MEMORY LANEPosted on: Wed 28 Mar 2012
In a new series tracking ex-players and reliving their Wycombe Wanderers memories, Craig Woods delves into the careers of some of the names who shaped the club's history.
Paul Hyde
As part of Martin O'Neill's golden era Paul Hyde, or Hydey to those chanting his name on the Adams Park terrace, was an ever present rock who made Premier League saves even in the days of non-league football. In fact O'Neill used to tell Hydey frequently that 'had we been playing Real Madrid you would've saved all five of those today pal, but because it was Colchester you let all five in'. It was part of the mind games that drove Hyde and the rest of the squad to the successes they enjoyed. The former shot-stopper reminisces:
"We were on the way back from Macclesfield once having lost for the first time that season and the lads were all having a drink and playing some cards. Martin walked down the aisle and said 'no drinking, and if you're going to talk, talk about football'.
"Being the new guy on the block I piped up with 'you're out of order boss, we all sulk differently, and tomorrow I'll be miserable with the wife and read every paper there is from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed hoping that the result would change. I could tell you every goal scorer in every game.' Martin just stared for a while before calmly saying 'fair enough fellas, get back to your card game'.
"A few weeks later we were travelling back on the bus and Martin comes to me totally out of the blue and says 'Hydey, last week Morecambe played Runcorn. What was the score and who were the scorers? (for the record, I got it right!)'."
The affection for Martin O'Neill is always apparent when talking to one of his team and it was the Northern Irishman that rekindled a love of the game for the goalkeeper who nearly took a very different career path.
"At 15 I was playing county table tennis. I'd been disillusioned with football because of the big jump between senior men's football and boys football.
"That year I was picked up by Hillingdon Borough Football Club where I played 300 plus games in the Southern League and had trials with Crystal Palace and Fulham reserves.
"At the time I was a bit of a mad dog and was always first to the bar. I got kicked out of Fulham for that. I remember I went out drinking with Ray Houghton once. All of a sudden I hear a shout 'Hydey, the gaffer's coming' and we both legged it our separate ways. Of course I ran straight into Malky McDonald (then Fulham boss) and Ray ran clear. He went on to an illustrious career and I never got invited back!
"At 19 I signed for my local club, Hayes Football Club in the Ryman Premier League, where I played 450 games. It was one sodden evening at Hayes, in proper mud, when a guy called Martin O'Neill walked through the gates. He was going to buy a left-back called Gary Keen, but he ended up buying me.
"He called me up after and said would you be interested and I said 'of course I would'. Wycombe had just won the FA Trophy and I needed a change after eight years at Hayes. I remember asking 'do you supply your goalkeepers with goalie gloves?' and Martin said 'I would do if they could catch a ball. But I tell you what, for you, I'll buy some gloves.' That was all I needed to hear!"
And so Hydey became part of a squad that was to drive Wycombe Wanderers up to the realms of Football League status and within a whisker of making the Division Two (now League 1 play-offs) at the first attempt. Hyde maintains it was a run pioneered by a man who knew how to get the best out of every individual.
"Martin always knew the right thing to say. One time he came into the dressing room and commented 'you know, some lads in here I absolutely admire, others I totally despise.' Then he turned his back, walked out and said, 'have a good weekend lads'. And that was it! He'd be out the door and everyone would be left wondering who he was talking about! He'd always let you prepare how you wanted to though. If Simon Garner wanted a fag before a game then that was fine, so long as he performed."
One of the club's finest achievements in that run was a day no supporter will ever forget at Wembley in the 1994 play-off final against Preston North End. For Hydey, however the day holds barely any memory whatsoever after a viral infection left him flailing on the ropes throughout the whole period leading up to the game.
"I'd been in quarantine the week before and had lost a stone in weight, hadn't eaten a thing. When I woke up on the day of the final Martin made me have a huge breakfast as a test of my health. I remember Keith Scott and Jason Cousins sitting next to me at the breakfast table and they kept taking stuff off my plate to make sure that I could play.
Paul Hyde
Hyde during his playing days
"Having passed that I then got called out for a fitness test. Martin literally threw a ball at me three or four times to catch, after which he said, 'right you're fit.' I don't remember much of the day at all. At half-time they found me asleep in a toilet cubicle in the Wembley changing rooms and threw ice down my neck. I could barely kick a ball past the penalty area I was so weak. During the celebrations at Adams Park I looked at a bottle of beer and decided home was the best place for me. That was it for two weeks, bed ridden."
Hydey maintains that was the day he earned his spurs with O'Neill and the experience was due to serve him well when a whole new era swept in at Adams Park and changed things for the worse.
Following O'Neill's departure, the appointment of Alan Smith was to signal the end for many of the squad who had bought such success to the club.
"We trained at Bisham Abbey for the first time under Smith and his opening line was 'right lads, you all know me, but I don't know you. I've worked with the likes of (Ian) Wright and (Mark) Bright, and got into the semi-finals of both cups to which Glyn Creaser joked 'yeah and got them relegated.' That was the end of Glyn."
Hydey, who beams with pride of his time at Wycombe, is adamant Smith tried to end his career after the former Palace boss struggled to win over the popularity of the Wanderers crowd.
"He didn't like me because I, alongside many other players, were more popular around the place than him. We had a fantastic family club and he wanted it to be allabout him. He told me I wouldn't be there at the end of the season then threatened that if I put in a transfer request I'd never play for the club again. Sadly that is what happened. Whilst still at the club, but not playing, there were days when he'd tell a coach just to make me run to a tree and back all day. I asked the PFA for advice and they told me just to do what he asked."
Hyde eventually found reprieve under former boss O'Neill, who signed him for his new club Leicester City. Despite a step up the Football League ladder, the Wycombe man through and through found it hard to say his goodbyes.
"I don't think I was in the right frame of mind for that move to be honest. I was devastated to leave Wycombe. This was my home, this was where I loved playing football. I sat on the bench at Leicester and occasionally played in front of big crowds in the reserves. After a while I took some ill advice from one of the coaching staff to join Leyton Orient on a more secure contract. I took it and in doing so let Martin down. I don't think he ever forgave me that, and I apologise sincerely to him now."
His time at Leyton Orient was ended by a former Wycombe forward John Williams, who collided badly with Hyde to break his rib and his leg, with doctors telling the goalkeeper he'd never play again.
But Hydey fought back to feature for Dover Athletic, where he played a further 350 games as player, captain and coach. He also became the joint oldest keeper to play in the FA Cup last year for Whitstable Town. Full time he now takes charge as a P.E teacher whilst training to do his FIFA A licence coaching badges. But his time with Wycombe, and namely his part in a golden era, will never leave himor his family.
"This was my club and every player was a best mate because we were a band of brothers - we stuck together through everything. It became our life.
"The best thing that happened in my football career was meeting and playing under Martin O'Neill. The worst thing that happened in my football career was meeting and playing under Alan Smith."
http://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/page/LatestNews/0,,10430~2698199,00.html