Britannia Stadium Home Of Stoke City Football Club

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Full name: The Britannia Stadium
Nickname: The Brit
Built:1997
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 28,383
Home of: Stoke City F.C
Pitch size: 116 x 72 yards

Stoke City Britannia Stadium | Stoke City F.C

The Britannia Stadium officially opened on Saturday 30th August 1997, when Stoke City played host to Swindon Town in a First Division clash. It marked the start of a new era for Stoke City and ended an association with the Victoria Ground which has stretched back 119 years.

The idea of a move away from the Victoria Ground and to a new purpose built stadium had been mooted early in the 1994/95 season as the City Council pondered how best to make use of 360 acres of derelict land they were looking to reclaim in the south of the city.

The Britannia Stadium and the Icelandic Takeover

1997-98 saw Stoke move to its new ground, the Britannia Stadium, after 119 years at the Victoria Ground. Chic Bates, Macari's assistant, was appointed manager for the club's first season in the new ground. He did not last long though, and was replaced by Chris Kamara in January 1998. Kamara could not improve the club's fortunes either, and he too left in April. Alan Durban, previously Stoke's manager two decades earlier, took charge for the remainder of season. Despite his best efforts, Durban was unable to keep the club up, as defeat on the final day of the season consigned Stoke to relegation from Division One. Brian Little, formerly manager of Aston Villa,took charge for the 1998-99 season.Despite an impressive start, the team's form tailed off dramatically in the latter stages of the season, which led to Little leaving the club at the end of the season. His successor, Gary Megson, was only in the job for four months. Megson was forced to depart following a takeover by Stoke Holding, an Icelandic consortium, who purchased a 66% share in Stoke City F.C. for the sum of £6.6m. Stoke became the first Icelandic owned football club outside of Iceland,[citation needed]. The new owners moved to appoint the club's first foreign manager, Icelander Gudjon Thordarson, in November 1999.Thordarson had, in fact, been the primus motor in getting the consortium together.

The Auto Windscreens trophy was won in the 1999-2000 season, in April 2000, with a win over Bristol City in front of a crowd of 75,057 at Wembley.Thordarson achieved promotion at the third time of asking in 2000-01. A second successive 5th-place finish ensured a play-off spot. Cardiff City were defeated in the semi-final before a 2–0 win against Brentford at the Millennium Stadium secured promotion. Despite achieving the goal of promotion, Thordarson was sacked by Gunnar Gislason only days after the club won promotion.

Steve Cotterill was drafted in as Thordarson's replacement prior to the start of the 2002-03 season. Cotterill quit in October 2002, after only 4 months in charge. Tony Pulis was appointed as Stoke's new manager shortly after.Pulis steered Stoke clear of relegation, with a 1-0 win over Reading on the final day of the season keeping the club in the division. Pulis was sacked at the end of the 2004-05 season, following disagreement between himself and the club's owners.

Dutch manager Johan Boskamp was named as Pulis' successor on 29 June 2005, only a day after Pulis was sacked.Boskamp broke the club's transfer record in signing Sambégou Bangoura for a fee in the region of £1m. Despite his spending on new players, Boskamp's side was inconsistent and only a mid-table finish was achieved. Boskamp left at the end of the 2005-06 season, amidst a takeover bid by former-chairman Peter Coates. On 23 May 2006, Coates completed his takeover of Stoke City, marking the end of Gunnar Gislason's chairmanship of the club. Coates is a former shareholder of the catering company which supplies to the majority of Northern England's football grounds, Stadia Catering, as well as being the chairman of Bet365, the betting company which provides services in many sporting venues, albeit not including the Britannia Stadium. Coates chose former-manager Tony Pulis as Boskamp's successor in June 2006. Pulis took Stoke close to a play-off place, however an eventual 8th-place finish was achieved in the 2006-07 season.