The Vic | |
Full name | The Victoria Ground |
---|---|
Location | Stoke-on-Trent |
Coordinates | 52°59′57″N2°10′57″W / 52.99917°N 2.18250°W |
Owner | Stoke City |
Capacity | 56,000 (approx 25,000 before it closed) |
Construction | |
Built | 1878 |
Opened | March 1878 |
Closed | May 1997 |
Demolished | June 1997 |
Tenants | |
Stoke City (1878–1997) |
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. [1] At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. [2]
The Victoria Ground had been Stoke City's home since March 1878 and the first match was the inaugural Staffordshire Cup final against Talke Rangers on 28 March 1878, [3] Stoke won 1–0 before 2,500 spectators. [2] The ground took its name from the nearby Victoria Hotel and was originally an oval shape, built to accommodate a running track and used by the local athletic club. [2] There was an open grass bank at each end, and a small but compact wooden stand on the east side (Boothen Road) capable of housing 1,000 people. [2] Opposite this stand was another bank which could hold 4,000. The ground remained this way for 30 years during which time Stoke had become members of the Football League. [2] The first league match at the Victoria Ground was on 8 September 1888 and ended in a 2–0 defeat against West Bromwich Albion. [2] Stoke suffered financial difficulties and dropped out of the league in 1908 and attendances varied during their time out. [2] Stoke got back into the league in 1919 and the ground had now been improved considerably. There were two good sized grandstands and an extra wooden one which was situated opposite the main stand and could hold 1,000 supporters. [2]
The players changing rooms were set in the corner of the ground which also included a stove so players could keep warm. [2] Above the changing 'hut' was the directors box, a rather primitive building but could hold around 12 people. During the early 1920s a new, mainly wooden main stand was erected alongside the 'hut' and this could hold 2,000 fans. [2] By 1930 Stoke had added 'City' to their name and the Boothen End was terraced and later covered, and consequently the ground lost its oval shape. [2] 1935, when the likes of Stanley Matthews was beginning to draw in the crowds, the Butler Street Stand was built, giving seating to 5,000 people. [2] In front of the seats was a small paddock, room for another 2,000 and it took the ground capacity to around the 45,000 mark. [2] A record crowd of 51,380 packed into the Victoria Ground on 29 March 1937 to watch a First Division match against Arsenal. [2] During World War II the Butler Street Stand was used as an army storage camp. [2]
Floodlights were installed at the ground in 1956 and local rivals Port Vale marked the 'official' switching on ceremony by playing Stoke in a friendly on 10 October 1956. [2] In 1960 another new main stand was built and the dressing rooms were revamped. [2] In the summer of 1963 concrete was laid on the paddock terracing and it was the Stoke players who helped lay it as part of a team bonding scheme. [2] More improvements continued in the 1960s and the ground remained in a good condition until January 1976. [2]
Over the weekend of the 3/4 January 1976, with Stoke playing Tottenham Hotspur away in the FA Cup, winds of hurricane force battered the Stoke-on-Trent area and especially the Victoria Ground for around eight hours. The strong winds blew a section of the roof off the Butler Street Stand leaving only the west corner intact. [2] Top priority was to put the roof back in order that the replay against Tottenham could take place on 7 January. [2] However, on the day of the match as workmen were replacing timber supports and erecting scaffolding, some of the supports collapsed and a number of workers were injured, The match itself was cancelled on safety grounds. [2] Stoke had to play one home league match against Middlesbrough at Vale Park on 17 January and the Victoria Ground was reopened by 24 January in time for Stoke to play Tottenham in the cup. [2]
The final improvements to the ground were made during the 1980s with the Stanley Matthews suite being opened as well as a new club shop and offices. [2]
With the Taylor Report of January 1990 requiring all clubs in the top two division of English football have an all-seater stadium by August 1994, the club drew up plans to meet the requirements at the Victoria Ground, in spite of relegation to the Third Division in 1990, as the club was intent on re-establishing itself in the top two divisions – which was achieved three years later.
However, after a few years, Stoke chairman Peter Coates instead decided to move the club to a new location and so in 1997 Stoke left the Victoria Ground after 119 years for the new 28,000-seater Britannia Stadium at Trentham Lakes. [4] The final league match at the Victoria was on 4 May 1997 against the first opponents West Bromwich Albion, Stoke won 2–1 with Graham Kavanagh scoring the final Stoke goal. [5]
The Victoria Ground was demolished in June 1997 and the site stood empty for over 20-years until a housing development was built in 2019 named Victoria Park with the streets named after former Stoke players and managers. [6]
Staffordshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands county and Worcestershire to the south, and Shropshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the county town is Stafford.
Sir Stanley Matthews was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game and one of the greatest players of all time, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing football, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. His nicknames included "The Wizard of Dribble" and "The Magician".
Stoke-on-Trent is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). In 2022, the city had an estimated population of 259,965. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrounded by the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Alsager, Kidsgrove and Biddulph, which form a conurbation around the city.
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal. They have never played top-flight football, and hold the record for the most seasons in the English Football League (113) without reaching the first tier. After playing at the Athletic Ground in Cobridge and The Old Recreation Ground in Hanley, the club returned to Burslem when Vale Park was opened in 1950. Outside the ground is a statue of Roy Sproson, who played 842 competitive games for the club. The club's traditional rivals are Stoke City, and games between the two are known as the Potteries derby.
The Bet365 Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the club entered into a new stadium-naming-rights agreement with its parent company, Bet365. It has a capacity of 30,089 following the completion of expansion works in 2017.
Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated during 1989–1998 to become an all-seater stadium.
Anthony Waddington was an English football player and manager. He managed both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City.
The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78 (then under Sheffield Rules. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from Staffordshire and the surrounding areas. Both professional and amateur clubs may enter. In the modern age, however, professional teams such as Stoke City and Port Vale, the main clubs in Staffordshire, usually field a reserve team as they place more prestige on their professional league and cup competitions. This has left the door open for non-league sides to have more success in the cup as it is classed as a bigger achievement for them to win it.
John Knight Mudie was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Stoke City Football Club has its origins in Stoke Ramblers, a team formed by former pupils of the Charterhouse School whilst they were apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway. The club dropped the Ramblers from their name, becoming Stoke Football Club and in 1888 they were founding members of the Football League. In 1925, the club's name was changed for the final time to Stoke City Football Club when Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status.
In English football, the Potteries derby is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Stoke-on-Trent – Port Vale and Stoke City, first contested in 1882. Port Vale plays at Vale Park whilst Stoke play at the bet365 Stadium, the two grounds are separated by roughly 4.3 miles (6.9 km). The fans of each club both consider the other to be their main rivals; this has led to a heated atmosphere at these matches. One study in 2019 ranked it as the joint-28th biggest rivalry in English professional football, level with the Manchester derby. The two teams have met in 92 competitive first-team fixtures, including 44 English Football League, six FA Cup and two Football League Trophy fixtures, with the remaining 40 meetings coming in regional cup competitions.
The 1885–86 season was the eighth season in the history of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. In what was their inaugural season as a professional club, Albion moved to the Stoney Lane ground after leaving their previous home at Four Acres. The team also changed the colour of its kit, wearing blue and white striped jerseys for the first time. As league football had not been introduced in England at the time, the team competed solely in cup competitions and friendly matches throughout the season, playing 52 matches in total.
The 1975–76 season was Stoke City's 69th season in the Football League and the 45th in the First Division.
The 1996–97 season was Stoke City's 90th season in the Football League and 34th in the second tier. It was also Stoke's final season at their Victoria Ground.
The 1886–87 season was the ninth season in the history of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. The club reached the FA Cup final for the second successive season, but again finished as runners-up, losing 0–2 to local rivals Aston Villa. Albion also reached the final of two regional cup competitions, winning the Staffordshire Senior Cup and finishing as runners-up in the Birmingham Senior Cup. In addition, they took part in the Walsall Senior Cup and Birmingham Charity Cup, as well as playing a number of friendly matches.
The 1883–84 season was the first season Stoke took part in a major competitive competition, the FA Cup.
The 2014–15 season is Stoke City's seventh season in the Premier League and the 59th in the top tier of English football.
Stoke City Football Club is an English football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The club was founded in 1863 and has competed in the English football league system since 1888. They played in the UEFA Cup in 1972–73 and 1974–75, before qualifying for the tournament in 2011–12 under the new name of UEFA Europa League. The club also entered the Anglo-Italian Cup and the Texaco Cup.