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Post by ursemboys on Apr 19, 2020 17:20:36 GMT
Sure I saw a mock up plan, wasn't it going be roughly where the vodaphone place is now Can’t remember it’s exact location down there mate It was going to be built when the garden festival was completed ( 1987 ) but it never took off Ignoring the sharing with the unwashed I recon it would have been a excelent location, Etruria station plus the A500 bang in the middle Stoke on Trent (Newcastle) plus I could have walked it lol
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Post by werrington on Apr 19, 2020 17:23:34 GMT
Can’t remember it’s exact location down there mate It was going to be built when the garden festival was completed ( 1987 ) but it never took off Ignoring the sharing with the unwashed I recon it would have been a excelent location, Etruria station plus the A500 bang in the middle Stok (Newcastle) plus I could have walked it lol Indirectly it would probably of regenerated Hanley given it’s proximity to Festival Park Maybes Hanley would of become the city centre we all now crave as the majority of support would of used it pre and after match All hindsight now though
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Post by fulagoals on Apr 19, 2020 17:49:39 GMT
Well if my memory serves me right, plans were drawn up for both. And as I remember the plans for the Vic were to put seats in The Stoke End paddock and Boothen Paddock. Then the Boothen End and Butler St were going to be demolished and replaced with a carbon copy L shaped stand of what were The Boothen and East Stands at the Britannia. The cost of this to Stoke City was exactly the same as what our contribution was to the project of building a complete new stadium. So it then became a no brainer on the clubs behalf to move. The club only tendered quotes for a new stand on Butler Street. It was debatable if the boothen end was even going to get a new roof. Christ knows what the plan was for the corner in between Butler and Boothen. Personally, I think it would have been left to rot, and the paddocks in the Stoke End and Boothen Stand would have been shut down as opposed to seated. Oh right. So I’ve totally made all that up then lol. Even though I can remember seeing the artist impression of the L shaped stand. Plus I remember the total cost to the club was £6m either way. Given the fact the rest of the £19m cost of building the new stadium came from outside sources it was always going to be relocation. That was the deciding factor to move instead of staying put.
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Post by leicspotter on Apr 19, 2020 18:36:27 GMT
Surely the City council paid for it all...so they decided where it went and what it looked like? At least that's what Bill Bell told me
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Post by maninasuitcase on Apr 19, 2020 19:20:25 GMT
Shame really given the empty land at the time. Yeah, not sure of your age but Festival Park was also muted back in the mid-late 80s I vaguely remember something.
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Post by maninasuitcase on Apr 19, 2020 19:23:40 GMT
Didnt cauldwell have something to do with it? Or was that something with a merger?
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Post by fca47 on Apr 19, 2020 21:58:34 GMT
Watching the Stoke vLeeds thread made me think. Butler St stand (used to love standing in the Paddock as a kid) roof blew off not long after that, which wrecked the championship challenge because we had no money and had to sell players. Then 2 years later we built that stand. Then to top it all, it was only used for 20 years before eventually being demolished after we moved ground. Can anyone remember how we had the money and why it was built? I was only 12 back then. Just seems strange now. I was a season ticket holder in that stand at the time.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 3:41:48 GMT
It was virtually impossible to redevelop the Vic at the Boothen End side due to the river and Wolves' redevelopment was a completely different scenario. We wouldn't have got the funding for redevelopment either. The ground was a relic compared to what other clubs were doing but some will never see that. The Festival Park project was never really a goer, moving was our best financial option.
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Post by JoeinOz on Apr 20, 2020 5:57:12 GMT
It was virtually impossible to redevelop the Vic at the Boothen End side due to the river and Wolves' redevelopment was a completely different scenario. We wouldn't have got the funding for redevelopment either. The ground was a relic compared to what other clubs were doing but some will never see that. The Festival Park project was never really a goer, moving was our best financial option. Moving was our best every option.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 7:16:24 GMT
It was virtually impossible to redevelop the Vic at the Boothen End side due to the river and Wolves' redevelopment was a completely different scenario. We wouldn't have got the funding for redevelopment either. The ground was a relic compared to what other clubs were doing but some will never see that. The Festival Park project was never really a goer, moving was our best financial option. Moving was our best every option. Absolutely.
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Post by stroller on Apr 20, 2020 11:25:07 GMT
The Wolves managed to do it even though it took years & they now have one of the best stadiums in the country. They had the room (and the finances) to develop though. We had neither of those things. To refurbish the old ground to an acceptable standard we would have had to turn the pitch around 180 degrees and build four new stands. What we would have ended up with is a new butler street looking a bit like the main stand in our current stadium, and then seats bolted onto existing terracing on the other three sides. It would have looked shit and held around 22k max. Don't you mean 90 degrees?
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Post by mickstupp on Apr 20, 2020 11:28:56 GMT
They had the room (and the finances) to develop though. We had neither of those things. To refurbish the old ground to an acceptable standard we would have had to turn the pitch around 180 degrees and build four new stands. What we would have ended up with is a new butler street looking a bit like the main stand in our current stadium, and then seats bolted onto existing terracing on the other three sides. It would have looked shit and held around 22k max. Don't you mean 90 degrees? 😂😂 yes, sorry 90 degrees so that the ends were then the sides, so to speak. Either way, it would have required lots of finance, ambition, and some foresight which were not exactly qualities we had in abundance at the time.
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Post by scfc75 on Apr 20, 2020 11:36:28 GMT
Don't you mean 90 degrees? 😂😂 yes, sorry 90 degrees so that the ends were then the sides, so to speak. Either way, it would have required lots of finance, ambition, and some foresight which were not exactly qualities we had in abundance at the time. And groundsharing with our neighbours for a season or two...
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Post by somersetstokie on Apr 20, 2020 11:48:23 GMT
😂😂 yes, sorry 90 degrees so that the ends were then the sides, so to speak. Either way, it would have required lots of finance, ambition, and some foresight which were not exactly qualities we had in abundance at the time. And groundsharing with our neighbours for a season or two... What, at Stafford's Marston Road?
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Post by mrcoke on Apr 20, 2020 13:33:26 GMT
The need for a new ground or redevelopment of the Vic was legislation due to Hillsborough disaster. Legislation covers not only all seating but safe access and egress. I remember occasions at the back of the Boothen End stand when the crush of people coming out and going in opposite direction was positively dangerous.
Then there is the issue of finance. Building on a brown field site qualifies for development grants. Buildings in a residential area qualify for high rates. How much money was available? What was the expected "demand" for a new stadium? Remember even during our best years in the early 70s we only averaged low 30,000 gates, and we weren't topping the league after Hillsborough. Waddington used to complain about our low gates despite the team success.
Then there are issues of using a ground while redeveloping and extra costs incurred; didn't the Molineux redevelopment take a very long time? There was the issue of the Trent. I suspect there also pressure to move out of town by residents and councillors and use a recovered industrial site.
As regards building the Stoke End stand, I think it was always "on the cards" and the 1971 Ibrox disaster may have had the owners and authority's bums twitching because the old "slag heap" construction with access up the rear by stairways was similar to the set up at Ibrox when scores died due to people trying rush back in following a late goal, only for the final whistle and 1000s rushing out crushing those rushing back in.
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Post by Northy on Apr 20, 2020 14:52:28 GMT
When we played sheff utd (78?) and only the terrace was built, not sure if it was the first time it had opened, they had those hideous lime green tops, and at first I thought there was loads of stewards in the away end until I saw the teams run out.
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Post by RICH68 on Apr 20, 2020 15:31:58 GMT
When was the old terrace demolished? My 1st game was Easter 1977 and I honestly can’t remember it.
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Post by Dutchpeter on Apr 20, 2020 15:57:12 GMT
When was the old terrace demolished? My 1st game was Easter 1977 and I honestly can’t remember it. The stand was being built at the start of the 78-79 season, so I guess the old Stoke End was demolished in the summer of 1978.
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