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Post by ncpotter on Sept 2, 2015 3:06:34 GMT
I love these kind of posts. Memories tie us to the club and sharing them ties us to each other. Conversations like this generate a whole host of stories that would never see the light of day so it baffles me why some people have nothing better to do than make snarky comments. Click, read and move on if it's not interesting. I have often started to post something and then thought better of it because of the 'snarks'. Thanks for sharing billc. I look forward to reading your book.
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Post by kustokie on Sept 2, 2015 4:21:02 GMT
Not sure but was the back of the stoke end like a cinder hill in the 1950's. Memory not too good now. A massive heaped shardruck with individual sets of concrete steps set into it going up at the back and concrete terracing set in at the front. Exactly how I remember eet.
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Post by lawrieleslie on Sept 2, 2015 6:39:33 GMT
The 3.15 kick offs to allow shift workers to get to the game. When did that stop? We alway went the Boothen End with my old man and cousin in my early days in 63-64. In the mid 60s dad got promotion at pot bank he worked at which meant he was given two free corporate tickets for Boothen Stand. This went on for a whole season until he was made redundant. A few times stood on the Stoke End Terraces and remember there was a bloke selling old programmes from Stoke and other teams. He used to wander around the fans before game started. Also the girl who walked around the touch line at half time with the golden goal time on a placard. She always wore brightly coloured white gloves and would always get the"Where did you get those gloves" chant from the Boothen faithful and always made her blush. When Banks played his first game at the Vic I sat in the Butler Street Stand in line with the Boothen End Peno spot and had a brilliant view of the great man. Remember his first home game was against his old club Leicester and we won 3-1. I can only ever remember 40k+ crowds handful of times, Stans testimonial, League Cup Semi against West Ham and FA cup quarter final replay vs Man Utd. Mostly they were 18-27k for most of the 60s and 70s until relegation in 76-77.
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Post by tijuanabrass on Sept 2, 2015 7:56:01 GMT
I can remember my first game as a 6 or 7 year old in the early 70s being taken to one of the European games (Inter maybe) and being sat in the wooden pull down seats of the Butler Street Stand. We got a program which in those days would have a caricature of John Ritchie or Peter Dobing with some daft facts about which music they liked, who the funniest team mate was and who had the worst bad-habits. Usually they would name their favorite bands that would be invariably somebody very uncool like Abba or Bachmann Turner overdrive. Anyway, the program had a picture of a lady with no clothes on barely covering her modesty with stream of ticker tape. It had a tagline which said something like "Maureen from accounts shows us her vital statistics." To a young lad it was fascinating and when I look at how the game has changed in those 40 plus years I often wonder what the response would be if they printed something similar in today's match-day program.
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Post by bathstoke on Sept 2, 2015 10:58:12 GMT
I can remember my first game... sat in the wooden pull down seats of the Butler Street Stand. We got a program Posh B@$t@&d
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Post by scfc75 on Sept 2, 2015 17:34:33 GMT
The original post is a 'Trevor' or 'Mother' away from being a Waggy special.
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Post by Miles Offside on Sept 2, 2015 17:40:41 GMT
Just about the first memory I have involved the Stoke End at the Victoria Ground. It was a vast and intimidating arena. I am probably about 4 and I am wandering around the terraces with a bucket. The match has been over some time before. I am collecting cigarette butts. You see my Grandmother has bought a Rizzler Fag making machine and she needed a regular supply of snout and that is why I am collecting fag ends on the terraces. I am not sure what possibly contaminated salvia from Scouser, Mackem or Brummie (as we played Liverpool, Sunderland and Villa that season) Martha ingested in 1959-60 although it seems not to have done her any harm as she lived to be nearly 90. Still, she was happy smoking all this buckshee tobacco and I was willing to help. I recall being awed by the size of the Stadium and it turned out to be an early introduction to the trials and tribulations of being a Stoke fan. Did it all happen in black & white?
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Post by scfcwebby on Sept 2, 2015 18:07:58 GMT
I really don't think you can take the moral high ground regarding starting a new thread misty!!
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Sept 2, 2015 18:19:14 GMT
Just about the first memory I have involved the Stoke End at the Victoria Ground. It was a vast and intimidating arena. I am probably about 4 and I am wandering around the terraces with a bucket. The match has been over some time before. I am collecting cigarette butts. You see my Grandmother has bought a Rizzler Fag making machine and she needed a regular supply of snout and that is why I am collecting fag ends on the terraces. I am not sure what possibly contaminated salvia from Scouser, Mackem or Brummie (as we played Liverpool, Sunderland and Villa that season) Martha ingested in 1959-60 although it seems not to have done her any harm as she lived to be nearly 90. Still, she was happy smoking all this buckshee tobacco and I was willing to help. I recall being awed by the size of the Stadium and it turned out to be an early introduction to the trials and tribulations of being a Stoke fan. Did it all happen in black & white? Mostly grey, smog or fog.
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Post by tcdobinghoff on Sept 2, 2015 18:50:47 GMT
We used to race up to Stoke station to try and get autographs most games, sometimes though we would trawl around the car-park trying to get a lift - "are you going to Blurton Mister ?"
Actually when I was very young we only used to go in for the last 15 minutes when they opened the gates and we got in for free. The smell from the toilets under the Boothen has stayed with me to this day.
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corky
Youth Player
What absolute twaddle.
Posts: 298
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Post by corky on Sept 2, 2015 19:21:19 GMT
I look forward to reading your book. I love hearing about the history of Stoke, especially the ordinary folk who really made the town what it is and the team what it could be (and is!) Good luck with your endeavours. It's not easy writing a book. I've tried many times but I just don't have the discipline (or the talent, more like).
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billc
Youth Player
Posts: 495
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Post by billc on Sept 2, 2015 20:46:40 GMT
I also remember the sheep on the ground being used to keep the grass down. I guess it would have been 1964 or thereabouts
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billc
Youth Player
Posts: 495
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Post by billc on Sept 2, 2015 20:51:00 GMT
And I should add St Peter's School when it moved from Wharf Street site to one virtually next to the ground used the Ground for Sports day. I seem to recall that I was in a winning relay team one School Sports Day probably in 1965
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Post by owdestokie on Sept 2, 2015 21:00:17 GMT
Sorry if already mentioned. Who can remember the Red Lion??? Come on show your age ????????
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Post by no1972 on Sept 2, 2015 21:17:38 GMT
I can remember the red lion ,it was taken down brick by brick and rebuilt in Derbyshire.One of my memories was running to the station for the train back to Longton,home and away fans all running back to the station chased by the old bill,then jumping on the train keeping quite until the train got to Longton,you would give a away fan a smack then leg it,I was only 16 then I could not even make it down the stairs now.
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Post by oatcakesteve on Sept 2, 2015 21:22:42 GMT
First Stoke game I remember going to was against Leyton Orient at the Vic. I have little memory of it, other than it was the 70's I mustn't have been overly excited at the time.
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Post by Gifton on Sept 2, 2015 21:46:25 GMT
I started going properly in 1990. Just the odd game here and there before.
We sat in the Butler Street. Although I used to wish Dad would take me in the Boothen. I'd do anything for one last stamp on them floorboards when we got a corner.
I've seen more of Stoke at the Brit than the Vic because of my age but I'm so glad I didn't miss the old place completely, growing up, it was my Disneyland! Magical.
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Post by tijuanabrass on Sept 2, 2015 21:49:30 GMT
I can remember my first game... sat in the wooden pull down seats of the Butler Street Stand. We got a program Posh B@$t@&d Don't worry, it was a one off. My apprenticeship was served on the right side, on the right side, on the right side of the Boothen end.
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Post by mastermind on Sept 3, 2015 9:26:30 GMT
I watched the old Stoke end being taken away before it was developed. It was a mixture of pottery waste and cinder like material and it took some moving. This prompted memories of my first match sat on the white round topped wall in 1950.
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billc
Youth Player
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Post by billc on Sept 3, 2015 17:18:12 GMT
And I recall the Red Lion as well. It is at the Tram Museum at Crich near Matlock now. I was in there the day of the centenary match against Real Madrid in 1963. I say in as my father was probably in the pub and I was sitting on the steps with a bottle of lemonade and a packet of crisps. He did bring back a programme of the match. Someone told me that prior to the match a few of the Real Madrid players Puskas included went for a wander around Shelton and gave a kid they encountered a metal Real Madrid badge as a souvenir
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billc
Youth Player
Posts: 495
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Post by billc on Sept 3, 2015 17:24:32 GMT
And just on a non football note the Red Lion was headquarters of the Stoke Folk Club in the early 60s. I had heard a story that a young Paul Simon had sung there in 1965
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Post by stokiejoe on Sept 3, 2015 17:37:08 GMT
My first memory of the Vic isn't a football match. I was a pupil at Oakhill Juniors in November 1955 (I was 9 and lived in Trent Vale); without any notice we went on a bus trip (didn't have coaches it was single decker buses) to the Victoria Ground. There we were with thousands of other school children wondering what was going on. An open top car started around the side of the pitch containing the Queen and Prince Philip, waving to all the crowds. She had been crowned Queen a couple of years before. Still a vivid memory.
Started going to matches in 1958, Boothen End of course, always in the same spot, walked there and walked back.
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Post by stokiejoe on Sept 3, 2015 17:40:52 GMT
And I recall the Red Lion as well. It is at the Tram Museum at Crich near Matlock now. I was in there the day of the centenary match against Real Madrid in 1963. I say in as my father was probably in the pub and I was sitting on the steps with a bottle of lemonade and a packet of crisps. He did bring back a programme of the match. Someone told me that prior to the match a few of the Real Madrid players Puskas included went for a wander around Shelton and gave a kid they encountered a metal Real Madrid badge as a souvenir Remember it well, it was at the end of Wharf Street, if you can imagine Whielden Road extending past the Dolphin, it was there, you could get to Jones and Shuffs past it if memory serves me correct. Near to the Winger Pub.
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Post by tcdobinghoff on Sept 3, 2015 18:18:06 GMT
My first memory of the Vic isn't a football match. I was a pupil at Oakhill Juniors in November 1955 (I was 9 and lived in Trent Vale); without any notice we went on a bus trip (didn't have coaches it was single decker buses) to the Victoria Ground. There we were with thousands of other school children wondering what was going on. An open top car started around the side of the pitch containing the Queen and Prince Philip, waving to all the crowds. She had been crowned Queen a couple of years before. Still a vivid memory. Started going to matches in 1958, Boothen End of course, always in the same spot, walked there and walked back. Yes that's a memory for me - going to Heron Cross School though I think we walked to the ground.
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billc
Youth Player
Posts: 495
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Post by billc on Sept 3, 2015 20:41:11 GMT
I also tried to smuggle one of my younger brothers into the ground under my coat but my nerve failed me and as a consequence I did not have enough money for the bus fare so we walked back to the Abbey
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Post by baystokie on Sept 3, 2015 21:09:40 GMT
My first memory of the Vic isn't a football match. I was a pupil at Oakhill Juniors in November 1955 (I was 9 and lived in Trent Vale); without any notice we went on a bus trip (didn't have coaches it was single decker buses) to the Victoria Ground. There we were with thousands of other school children wondering what was going on. An open top car started around the side of the pitch containing the Queen and Prince Philip, waving to all the crowds. She had been crowned Queen a couple of years before. Still a vivid memory. Started going to matches in 1958, Boothen End of course, always in the same spot, walked there and walked back. Yes that's a memory for me - going to Heron Cross School though I think we walked to the ground. Lived in Blurton Road and went Heron Cross school too. Used to walk to the Cross, along Grove Road through Mount Pleasant to the Vic. Never minded the return walk if we had won but it seemed a hell of a long way otherwise. Sometimes if my Dad was feeling generous, I'd get the bus that came from Longton via Duke Street and dropped us off at Kerr Stuarts(?). Nearly 70 years ago, still bloody hooked on 'em
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lewando
Youth Player
I was very,very drunk
Posts: 325
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Post by lewando on Sept 3, 2015 21:52:54 GMT
Does anybody remember the phenomenon of the Butler Street Rumble. The old Butler street stand was frequented by the more elderly Stoke supporters ( the tartan rug and flask brigade). It was not known for its vocal support, but during games when Stoke got up a head of steam or had their backs to the wall, the supporters in the Butler Street Stand would show their approval by stamping their feet on the floor of the old wooden stand making a low rumbling sound ( The Butler Street Rumble).
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Post by oatcakesteve on Sept 3, 2015 22:23:04 GMT
Some old fuckers on here lol Fair play lads.
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Post by stalbansstokie on Sept 3, 2015 22:34:46 GMT
Yes I remember the Butler Stand rumble. Started out there sat on a pile of cushions so I could see over the adults. Graduated to sitting on the advertising hoardings at the front of the Butler Street Paddock when I was a bit older. Happy days..
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Post by elystokie on Sept 3, 2015 23:44:18 GMT
Does anybody remember the phenomenon of the Butler Street Rumble. The old Butler street stand was frequented by the more elderly Stoke supporters ( the tartan rug and flask brigade). It was not known for its vocal support, but during games when Stoke got up a head of steam or had their backs to the wall, the supporters in the Butler Street Stand would show their approval by stamping their feet on the floor of the old wooden stand making a low rumbling sound ( The Butler Street Rumble). Yeh, took part in that numerous times, my Dad was a turnstile operator for a while and was usually working on the Butler St Stand, I would find his turnstile, jump over, find a seat and watch the game on my own until he'd cashed up, was only for a couple of seasons, I think he got fed up with missing half the game. I was in there when TC scored his screamer against the Arse, have to admit it seemed a lot further out than is shown on the videos, in my mind he was near the halfway line :D
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