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Before moving to the Britannia Stadium in 1997, The Victoria Ground was Stoke City's home, and many supporters' second home for 119 years.
There were a few supporters who didn't second the move to the Britannia
Stadium, and as a protest have stayed away from there ever since we
moved. All of us who knew, and loved the Vic will always hold a special in our hearts for the ground.
But there will be one particular place in the Victoria Ground that many fans considered home. The Boothen End. The Boothen End was situated behind the goal and was all terracing. An electric atmosphere like no other could be created here and since our move to the Brit, we havn't exactly experienced anything like it yet. For those who stood in the Boothen End, they would often find that after celebrating a Stoke City goal they would be standing a good distance away from where they were originally standing.
When looking at the pitch from the Boothen End, to your right would be the Butler Street Stand. The Butler Street Stand was sponsered by our local newspaper, The Sentinel and had both seating and standing facilities. The paddocks, where you could stand, were located at the bottom, above those were the red plastic seats and then above the seats were executive boxes. The Butler Street Stand, although, created a huge sucker punch when strong winds blew the roof off. It would cost £250,000 to repair and Stoke had to sell their best player at the time - Jimmy Greenhoff.
Opposite the Butler Street Stand was what was called the Boothen Stand and it was sponsered by Signal Radio, our local radio station. This was what would be nowaday classed as the main stand as this was where the main entrance, the dressing room, the dug outs, the tunnel, the directors box, the board room and trophy cabinet were all located. This stand was alot like the Butler Street stand in terms of structure as their were standing paddocks at the bottom and seats at the top. The seats in this stand were made of wood and in my opinion were terrible to sit on. It was always either the Boothen End or the Butler Street Stand for me anyday.
Finally we come to the away end which was sponsered by A.D. Booth and Sons - I don't know what they do (I think it's roofing). This was known as the Stoke End Stand and in my opinion was the best stand in the ground! I never actually sat here, but it looked pretty impressive. It was laid out pretty much like the home end at Walsall's Bescot Stadium before the standing at the front were turned into seats. This stand, like most of the others at the Vic, had standing at the front and seating at the top. I can't recall the standing ever being used much for league games as they just stuck the away fans in the seats at the top. There was a little corner that attached the Stoke End Stand to the Butler Street Stand which I am guessing was occupied by families but thinking back all those 6 years ago I can't exactly remember!
Memories Of The Vic
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