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Post by harryburrows on Nov 5, 2011 19:03:05 GMT
Always loved the Stoke end and I remember that Newcastle game as it's the only time I was pulled by the rossers at a footie match
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Post by ST1 Stokie on Nov 5, 2011 19:07:22 GMT
Me and my mate used to "crog in" by crawling through peoples legs.I also remember being in the old Stoke end when we played Ajax in Europe,a great night.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2011 2:46:01 GMT
I was at that match with both my brothers in the Stoke End , I seem to remember you had to be 16 to go in the Boothen, might be wrong though a long time ago now.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2011 3:23:02 GMT
My first game was at Home to Carlisle, I think, back in early 70's and yes we were in the stoke end where the away fans stood, and in them days you could actually have a bit of a laugh with them.
Does anyone remeber the huge football pools board at the back of the stoke end that showed all the results at end of game, ( All 3.00PM kick offs,) those were the days.
If my memory serves me right it was sponsered by a local steel firm called BSL Clare.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2011 3:28:42 GMT
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Post by bazrico on Nov 6, 2011 9:15:03 GMT
started going to stoke in 1966 after the world cup win as young 16 year went to stoke end then moved to the boothen and still going to the boothen at Brit and still love it so many memories with regard to the vic the players waddo and supporters
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Post by stokienorthants on Nov 6, 2011 10:54:06 GMT
I first stood in the Stoke end with my dad watching Sir Stan's last game for us in February 1965. We beat Fulham 3-1 - nothing ever changes!
Later memories include gathering at the base of the floodlights with some other kids and the pie salesmen walking around the edge of the pitch - my how things have changed!
Like previous posters I can honestly say that I can never remember getting rained on. Best memories include beating Arsenal 5-0 and Man U 2-1 in FAC 6th Round replay.
Worst was losing 5-1 against Leeds in 1969, their fans were singing ''send our team to Mexico'' - it was just before the 1970 World Cup, and the Boothen were singing ''send out team to Vietnam''!
After the game some Leeds fan nicked my scarf, it was worn loosely around my neck - how young and innocent I was. My Dad wrote to Leeds to express his disgust and did get a rather patronising letter back from Don Revie saying that he was surprised by the action of one of their fans - ''particularly after such a good win at Stoke''.
How I hate Leeds.
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Post by Staying up for Grandadstokey on Nov 6, 2011 11:37:20 GMT
You could always get a rough idea of the "gate" by the size of the queues at the Stoke end.
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Post by elystokie on Nov 9, 2011 11:40:49 GMT
Good website that mate, cheers  Liked the only comment on there "I only managed to visit the Victoria Ground once, the season before it closed. I was particularly impressed with the atmosphere within the ground. I particularly remember a rendition of the Stoke fans anthem, Delilah, which almost lifted off the roof of the Boothen End! it was that loud!" We don't need the fucking premiership to make us loud ;D |
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Post by wizzardofdribble on Nov 9, 2011 12:28:34 GMT
I remember walking up Fletcher Road towards the Stoke End, with The Vic on the corner opposite..there was always people milling around outside and people queing up to get in I remember going in there twice against Man Utd (they played in blue tops and white shorts) when they were queing from half way up Lonsdale Street to get in We stood in the corner by the floodlight and the bogs surrounded by Mancs I can also remember Liverpool fans climbing over the wall that ran down the backs of Butler Street and running up the bank at the bcak of the Stoke End I remember Tottenham fans ripping the gates off at the back of the Stoke End having been kept in for 30 minutes after the match and flooding across the road to get at the Stoke fans waiting outside The Vic Both sets of fans brawling all over the place The fighting being so fierce that the Police Station doors were locked to protect those inside!! The Good Old Days ;D I also remember a few hundred Stoke fans going into the Stoke end at the end of the match when we played Leeds and it all kicked off as people were leaving the ground Last but not least the Boxing Day fixture in 1971 against Man City who were top othe league at the time We walked up Fletcher Road and got outside the stoke end 45 minutes before kick off only to see that the gates had been locked because it was full Walking past the Boothen Paddock we could see that their turnstyles were shut too We eventually got into the Boothen 15 minutes after kick off and I (being 8 at the time) was nearly crushed to death, spilling down the packed gangways towards the front of The Boothen Safety was never an issue in those days, we were treated like cattle, and it was a miracle that a major disaster did not occur Oficial attendance that day 44,000  |
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Post by podolipotter on Nov 9, 2011 16:31:41 GMT
It sure as hell rained on the old Stoke End - and worse. Even at a very young age I was always very anxious about climbing back down the steep steps on the way out - very similar to Hampden Park as it was before that tragedy. Beating Oldham 1-0 in cup tie. Fogged (or snowed) off at half time and blxxxy Oldham won the rearranged game.
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Post by ihaveadream on Nov 9, 2011 17:21:09 GMT
I sometimes sat on railings at the back of the Stoke End and got down at half time to give my bum a rest. I remember people in front of me bringing a small bench to stand on during one match.
I liked climbing the steps prior to the game.
We had 3.15 kick offs, everyone else had 3.00.
I liked the old Butler Street stand (which blew down in the high wiunds of 1976) with its red poles and white Vs at the top.
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Post by ihaveadream on Nov 9, 2011 17:44:17 GMT
I remember getting soaked on the Old Stoke End. It was against Newcastle I think we were leading 3-1 and it ended up 3-3. Lets say I don't think the end was full by the end of the game. I was supposed to go to my cousins birthday party straight after the game in Hartshill. Ended up catching a bus back to Maybank with my dad as we were that soaked. By the time I got to my cousins the party was over. I was just a kid at the time. It was a huge end. Getting old now I prefer decent seats and reasonable toilets. I don't have nostalgia for toilets that looked and smelled like Newcastle cattle market. I remember the cattle market had a very distinctive "aroma". We used to park in the carpark next to it when we went into town. |
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Post by pendletonmanc on Nov 10, 2011 4:30:04 GMT
remember utds red army taking it over late 70s time, stoke tried in vain to gain ground against us but too little too late, we even took the boothen same time period, remember city lads from gorton saying how they had a hard time at stoke but to utd it was'nt a tough ground as we always had too much for you, good ground for acoustics though
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Post by gonzonev on Nov 10, 2011 4:57:57 GMT
so you remember taking the stoke end on the late 70's when you were born in october 73 good memory for a 5 or 6 year old bullshitter
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Post by kevkj on Nov 10, 2011 8:15:14 GMT
Maun united never came near the Boothen end late 70s ,although they were on it early 70s before segregation came in during the 80s.
They also tried to get on the boothen late 70s early 80s ,i forget but remember them getting sussed going in.
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Post by str8outtahampton on Nov 10, 2011 10:04:13 GMT
Maun united never came near the Boothen end late 70s ,although they were on it early 70s before segregation came in during the 80s. They also tried to get on the boothen late 70s early 80s ,i forget but remember them getting sussed going in. I would go slightly further than that. I cannot remember any team coming into the Boothen after the 1972 FA Cup QF against Man Utd. That is not to say that relatively small numbers of renegades didn't sneak in after that date - Birmingham in 72-73, for example, and perhaps WHU in the late 70s. The match just before Man Utd got relegated (April 1974 - "Doc, Doc, Docherty, in the f****ng lavat'ry") is a good illustration. They would have been the likeliest candidate, and certainly had several thousand in the Stoke End. Many people will remember they lit (small) fires on the terraces. But they had no presence in the Boothen. The Stoke End was where I went before graduating to what seemed the implausibly glamorous (and scary) Boothen. What I most remember was the earth banking down the back. Health and safety hadn't at that time been invented, you understand. I was making my way down there (at half time) with a friend against Everton in about 1971. Suddenly he let out a shout and shot off, pursued by a couple of teenage urchins. I was either oblivious and/or too scared to move, but they completely ignored me. The net sum of this heinous act of violence was the larceny of a silk scarf. I aslo occasionally went into the "pen" - the corner area between the Stoke End and the Butler paddock. This was for juniors and an early example of the "splinter mob" phenomenon. Chanting was quite high pitched, mind. As I think someone has noted, entry to the Stoke End for kids in 1969 was 4 shillings. To anyone under the age of about 45, that would these days buy you half a bag of crisps - if you're lucky. Happy days indeed. |
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Post by wizzardofdribble on Nov 10, 2011 11:19:17 GMT
Maun united never came near the Boothen end late 70s ,although they were on it early 70s before segregation came in during the 80s. They also tried to get on the boothen late 70s early 80s ,i forget but remember them getting sussed going in. I would go slightly further than that. I cannot remember any team coming into the Boothen after the 1972 FA Cup QF against Man Utd. That is not to say that relatively small numbers of renegades didn't sneak in after that date - Birmingham in 72-73, for example, and perhaps WHU in the late 70s. The match just before Man Utd got relegated (April 1974 - "Doc, Doc, Docherty, in the f****ng lavat'ry") is a good illustration. They would have been the likeliest candidate, and certainly had several thousand in the Stoke End. Many people will remember they lit (small) fires on the terraces. But they had no presence in the Boothen. The Stoke End was where I went before graduating to what seemed the implausibly glamorous (and scary) Boothen. What I most remember was the earth banking down the back. Health and safety hadn't at that time been invented, you understand. I was making my way down there (at half time) with a friend against Everton in about 1971. Suddenly he let out a shout and shot off, pursued by a couple of teenage urchins. I was either oblivious and/or too scared to move, but they completely ignored me. The net sum of this heinous act of violence was the larceny of a silk scarf. I aslo occasionally went into the "pen" - the corner area between the Stoke End and the Butler paddock. This was for juniors and an early example of the "splinter mob" phenomenon. Chanting was quite high pitched, mind. As I think someone has noted, entry to the Stoke End for kids in 1969 was 4 shillings. To anyone under the age of about 45, that would these days buy you half a bag of crisps - if you're lucky. Happy days indeed. You're wrong there mate Tottenham ALWAYS came in The Boothen in numbers..as well as West Ham and Wolves (only a few dozen of them though) and usually got escorted out during the first half Man Utd fans filled the ground late 60's and early 70's (remember a lot of them were from Stoke) They were everywhere So were Man City Liverpool and Everton usually stayed in the Stoke End and Boothen Paddock When segregation came in everything changed I stood on The Boothen for our Sixth round FA Cup tie with Man Utd and half the Boothen was Stoke..and the other half was Man Utd and they had most of the Stoke End too Attendance that evening was 49,000 the biggest gate I've ever been too at Stoke apart from the Man City Boxing Day fixture (I mentioned this in my above post) when there must have been about 60,000 in the Ground |
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Post by str8outtahampton on Nov 10, 2011 11:31:44 GMT
[/quote]
You're wrong there mate
Tottenham ALWAYS came in The Boothen in numbers..as well as West Ham and Wolves (only a few dozen of them though) and usually got escorted out during the first half
Man Utd fans filled the ground late 60's and early 70's (remember a lot of them were from Stoke) They were everywhere So were Man City Liverpool and Everton usually stayed in the Stoke End and Boothen Paddock
When segregation came in everything changed
I stood on The Boothen for our Sixth round FA Cup tie with Man Utd and half the Boothen was Stoke..and the other half was Man Utd and they had most of the Stoke End too
Attendance that evening was 49,000
[/quote]
We have different memories, Wizard.
71-72 was my last season in the Stoke End and by 72-73 I was in the Boothen and (with the exception of the renegades I describe) I have no recollection of large numbers (ie mobs) in the Boothen after the 72 QF v Man Utd.
However, I accept that my memory has seen better days, and my grasp of the detail on this crucial debate may be less than perfect...
On the subject of Spurs, I remember a couple of busloads of their (very fractious) chaps bowling up in the evening at Keele (the pub in the village and on the campus) after a game in 75-76 or thereabouts.
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Post by stokerambler on Nov 10, 2011 12:08:18 GMT
I have good memories of the Stoke End. My old man took me there in 1970, I was nine, and we went to every game until 1974 when he bought season tickets for the Butler Street Stand.
Some of the comments in this thread bring back memories, especially that 72 cup game v Man United. I used to take a wooden stool to stand on, as otherwise all I'd see were peoples backs! On that occasion we were right in the midst of all the United fans - they brought a lot! But they were just a good crack and upon seeing my old man with a young kid (me!) they made space at the front of the barrier for us and three of them took it in turns to put me on their shoulders to watch the game! That memory is as vivid as yesterday!
I never experienced any trouble in the Stoke End at that time but by about 73/74 it started to get a bit dodgy outside the Stoke End entrance after matches - I recall bricks flying through the air, mounted Police and chaos after a Brum game. It was that game that prompted my old man to move us to the Butler Street Stand. That was fine until the roof blew off - not just the cold and wet but the club started selling seats to away fans as season ticket holders deserted and it got nasty a few times (Burnley was one, circa 1976?).
The Vic was essentially a shit hole but it was our shit hole - a health and safety nightmare, a disaster waiting to happen. Had the Butler Street roof blown off during a game we could be living with a Bradford City-style tragedy in our past. Given what happened at Ibrox in the 70s too, it's just good fortune that no disaster happened at the Vic. But I loved the place!
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Post by wizzardofdribble on Nov 10, 2011 12:15:21 GMT
You're wrong there mate Tottenham ALWAYS came in The Boothen in numbers..as well as West Ham and Wolves (only a few dozen of them though) and usually got escorted out during the first half Man Utd fans filled the ground late 60's and early 70's (remember a lot of them were from Stoke) They were everywhere So were Man City Liverpool and Everton usually stayed in the Stoke End and Boothen Paddock When segregation came in everything changed I stood on The Boothen for our Sixth round FA Cup tie with Man Utd and half the Boothen was Stoke..and the other half was Man Utd and they had most of the Stoke End too Attendance that evening was 49,000 [/quote] We have different memories, Wizard. 71-72 was my last season in the Stoke End and by 72-73 I was in the Boothen and (with the exception of the renegades I describe) I have no recollection of large numbers (ie mobs) in the Boothen after the 72 QF v Man Utd. However, I accept that my memory has seen better days, and my grasp of the detail on this crucial debate may be less than perfect... On the subject of Spurs, I remember a couple of busloads of their (very fractious) chaps bowling up in the evening at Keele (the pub in the village and on the campus) after a game in 75-76 or thereabouts. [/quote] Whenever we played Spurs there would always be a few hundred of then in the Boothen..they usually stood right at the back in the right hand corner and would eventually surrounded by Stoke fans and the Police The only other fans that came in were Wolves and West Ham, but in fewer numbers I used to sit in the corner of the Butler Street Stand until the roof blew off and I must admit (I was only 8 when I had my first ST there) spending more time staring at the Boothen than watching some of the games  |
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Post by The Stubborn Optimist on Nov 10, 2011 13:28:45 GMT
Once I started going to the match with just my mates, rather than my Grandad and Uncle, which would have been about '69-70 we went in the Stoke End (or The Town End as some of the owd codgers called it.
There was no segregation and it could get lively depending on who we were playing. About 10 minutes before the end of the game the gates would be opened and you would see hordes of lads leaving the Boothen End, a few minutes later there would be a surge in the crowd in the Stoke End as the lads from the Boothen End arrived and sporadic fights would break out in the Stoke End.
As for trespassers into the Boothen End, many tried but nearly all failed. For sheer persistence though I would give a mention to Wolves, Spurs and to a lesser extent WHU.
The last time Wolves attempted it would have been about '73 or '74, with the Temple Street Mob leading from the front, pretty sure the I can remember the legendary Tina was with them that day.
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Post by RINGO STARR on Nov 10, 2011 13:46:54 GMT
Great to read all these old stories-keep them coming.
I ALWAYS stood in the Boothen end from 1st game through to last. Have no stories of the stoke end, always saw it as just the away end where we'd also have the seats above the terracing. Every now and then a team woul dhave the full end.
Looking at the old place on that website, I can't believe just how emotional I get thinking about the memories of standing there. Happy days that will never be replaced regardless of success on the field.
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Post by The Drunken Communist on Nov 10, 2011 13:48:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2011 14:58:46 GMT
I have that picture on my wall- the Vic at its best,with a hint of winter smog and that vast old open terrace...it froze yer nads off in winter the Stoke End did
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Nov 10, 2011 17:18:08 GMT
I do remember after segregation came in some pathetic away followings on the Stoke End. I think it was either Cardiff or Millwall fans that got absolutely soaked and tried to get into the paddock to escape the rain but they wouldn't let them in. It was so funny at the time seen from the 'luxury' of the back of the Boothen.
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swarls
Lads'n'Dads
Dutchie Courage
Posts: 90
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Post by swarls on Nov 11, 2011 11:51:57 GMT
I can remember freezing my ass of when i was little kid there. Back in the day of popper trackies! Also, what's even happening to the old vic ground, it's just been a waste land for ever now!
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Post by beatlestokie on Nov 11, 2011 17:29:10 GMT
Great memories. Where it all started for me years ago! Bloody awful bogs though! Talk about memories, I've got a picture from the daily express with me and my mate watching stan mathews in a reserve game. Snow covered pitch and terrace. Bloody freezing. Happy days. |
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Post by march4 on Nov 11, 2011 19:58:48 GMT
On the subject of segregation; I remember not being able to stand on the Stoke End on that fantastic evening when little old Stoke City relegated ManUre.
This was the first type of segregation I recall, as Plod thought it best to keep the ManUre fans on their own. As it happened only a thousand or so of them turned up, who spent most of the evening burning their scarves on the terraces.
Perhaps this is the mistaken memory of our 'friend' who follows the disease of English football.
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Post by str8outtahampton on Nov 12, 2011 9:43:34 GMT
On the subject of segregation; I remember not being able to stand on the Stoke End on that fantastic evening when little old Stoke City relegated ManUre. This was the first type of segregation I recall, as Plod thought it best to keep the ManUre fans on their own. As it happened only a thousand or so of them turned up, who spent most of the evening burning their scarves on the terraces. Perhaps this is the mistaken memory of our 'friend' who follows the disease of English football. Not sure I'm the "friend" referred to. And my memory is certainly past its sell-by date. However: If you're suggesting that the police allocated the entire Stoke End to Man Utd that evening (which is not impossible), then they assuredly had more than a thousand or so. A thousand or so would have left the Stoke End unfeasibly sparsely populated - which it was not. And nor did we relegate them that evening. If their survival had depended on the outcome of that game, then they would have brought a monumental following. The fact that they did not (but I still think it was several thousand) was because they were relegated after the penultimate match of the season against their neighbours (the game in which Denis Law scored with the backheel - abandoned because of the pitch invasion). |
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