madras

which in away is akin to kids in rothbury or wooler if NUFC werent premier league. which does raise a question......most of those from rothbury etc are NUFC fans...what would have happened if we had been div 3 and the mackems had been premier stars (don't laugh, it's hypothetical) ?

the footage of the hearts fans when celtic had to by 6 clear goals at st johnstone (?) and hearts had to lose or draw...after hearts had been top and unbeaten for ages...then they lost the cup final aswell

yes and yes. you see,the reason those clubs rarely get bigger and make it to the championship is through lack of funds ie money/people through the gate,when often there are enough football supporters in the area to support a far bigger club.(it would also mean the already bigger clubs would have fewer supporters and would even the whole thing up a bit) That's a nice romantic idea, but just never going to happen. Big clubs are big clubs and will use their TV exposure and status to stay big. And the lower rungs will always be just that. The facilities and the product they offer just can't change that appeal. Only a few Big clubs will fall (Leeds etc) and only a few small clubs will rise (Reading etc), the rest will bob along in the division that suits them best with only a few surprise Yo-Yo's. To use an americanism.....some are major league, and some are minor league. For the most part, this will never change. But I think the issue was not why someone picked a Big Club to support over a small club. It's not even why they picked a club at the other end of the country just because they are winning. It's about them only having the connection because of the winning, and not a deep enough connection to survive a period when the winning ceases and suddenly other clubs are better looking. I agree, the idea is romantic but highly unrealistic. How far are you willing to go with this idea? Darlington or Hartlepool alright, but should people from Blyth not be allowed to follow Newcastle then? How about Gateshead? I imagine a significant amount of "local" supporters are actually from there. Are they to be condemned for not piling into the International Stadium? Hell, if you were born closer to Kingston Park than SJP, how dare you support NUFC instead of going to Newcastle Blue Star games? as in exiled's post you have major and minor league..we have league and non-league. it's not a plan,i'm not going to make it a law (though if i could!) do you not think if folk from cambridge supported cambridge and not arsenal football would be better off and those people might feel better about themselves and the game ? before you start when i got engaged to NUFC we were lower top division enigmatics,when we were married (when i started travelling away and going to games without my dad) we were lower 2nd league trash surviving on history and bravado

yes and yes. you see,the reason those clubs rarely get bigger and make it to the championship is through lack of funds ie money/people through the gate,when often there are enough football supporters in the area to support a far bigger club.(it would also mean the already bigger clubs would have fewer supporters and would even the whole thing up a bit) That's a nice romantic idea, but just never going to happen. Big clubs are big clubs and will use their TV exposure and status to stay big. And the lower rungs will always be just that. The facilities and the product they offer just can't change that appeal. Only a few Big clubs will fall (Leeds etc) and only a few small clubs will rise (Reading etc), the rest will bob along in the division that suits them best with only a few surprise Yo-Yo's. To use an americanism.....some are major league, and some are minor league. For the most part, this will never change. But I think the issue was not why someone picked a Big Club to support over a small club. It's not even why they picked a club at the other end of the country just because they are winning. It's about them only having the connection because of the winning, and not a deep enough connection to survive a period when the winning ceases and suddenly other clubs are better looking. yes,i know it's never going to happen,i've known it since my best friend (when i was 6 and he was 8) told me he was a liverpool fan,since that day i've seen it as a character flaw. he supports england because he's english....it's not hard to follow. i realise this has now turned ttransatlantic...i support the pittsburgh teams because my uncle who moved to toronto late 60's on one of his trips back told us that on his many trips to the states pittsburgh had people most like geordies.

woodgate is not known for being the brightest firework in the box

that type of thing i can understand.....but not if you were born and bred in lincoln or shrewsbury ?

N'Zogbia has more goals and more assists this season and has played half his games at bloody left back! 1 more goal isn't it and assists can be counted from an over hit pass or a miskick.(i'd also say milner has done more defensive work than n'zogbia as he still seems like he couldn't give a fuck) milner has just about been our best player this season and n'zogbia is surviving on the reputation of his first full seasons form.

yes and yes. you see,the reason those clubs rarely get bigger and make it to the championship is through lack of funds ie money/people through the gate,when often there are enough football supporters in the area to support a far bigger club.(it would also mean the already bigger clubs would have fewer supporters and would even the whole thing up a bit)

and '69ing' it too ?

Thanks but no thanks I'll stick to supporting Newcastle if it's alright with you. Hebburn FC are s****. you know what he means. ie all the hartlepool/carlisle/darlington/york born'n'bredders who support nufc

Thats a pretty brave statement mate considerig we have nobody else that can play in that role. He is a good player and at the beginning of this season when we were winning games he was one of the better players around. Another case of lets find a scapegoat. There are other players to replace in order to improve the squad before I would consider getting a replacement for Milner and they list as: GK 2 x CM 1 x CF Maybe even 2 full backs. These are far more important than replacing Milner as far as I'm concerned. The real reason people are crying for creativity in central midfield is because our wingers aren't. Get someone genuinely creative on the right (as our left hand side is more direct and effective than the right), then we just need to sort our midfield backbone through a decent, physically good DM who doesn't waste possession (Think of a combination of Geremi and Faye), then get a ball playing centre half (unless Kadar is almost ready), then get a physically imposing striker, then get a keeper, then get a left back. you'll find that whenever our wide men get the ball (esp 30yds or so from goal) they have to contend with 2 defenders because of the lack of movement/poor movement from the central midfielders or full backs. our lack of movement throughout the team has made us very easy to defend against.it doesn't even need a bucketful of pace just basic footbaling nouse.

Erm... what...just chose a lower league club at random...... does the hat fit ? My point is we never actually were successful. playing fantastic football and finishing high up the league is succesful.(i left the gap so people could think of whichever club they wanted in that realm)

Erm... what...just chose a lower league club at random...... does the hat fit ?

there is a big difference between having an intrest in another team and having a 2nd favourite team.

\erm, we ARE talking about KEVIN Keegan here, yes? A tactically superior? Masterminding? Jebus, you're in for a shock. Even with the word "should" in there, its a mental stretch. I can't think of one area (other than "seats just below cloud level") where we are better than Man Utd. we wereent last year at home either,it's who does it on the day (thats the idea of football that the results dont always go to plan....it's more fun that way)

most on here who aren't from up here and without direct ties still ascribe to some form of conditioning "older brother supported them".."my mother supported them" which is understandable. no doubt there are a few round the country who just latched on when we were succesful.those are as bad as those who follow man utd/arsenal for the only reason "i hit 13 and chesterfield,my local team are crap and i wanted to support a winning team so i chose........." i wonder if NM can honestly say what would've happened to him had his dad been a vociferous yet plastic liverpool fan....is he 100% certain he wouldn't have followed his dad ? i had it easy,all my family support NUFC and i live in newcastle and loved football from an early age. no need to twist my arm. i

i'm gonna go against the grain,not saying we'll win but it wont be as bad as many are thinking.

you know why andy carroll never had or probably will never get a proper chance.........................because he's not good enough. i've heard the same thing said about joe allon,paul brayson,paul robinson and michael chopra...."you never know till you try them" pile of s***. tell you what,you never know i might have been good enough just wasn't given a chance. Chopra never got a chance but was clearly good enough, or at least better than what we've got. Scored more goals in less games than Smith this season, in a so called worse team. Owen's got one more in about the same games, Viduka 2 more and our top scorer 3 more. who would you play chopra in place of (apart from smith) ? chopra will never get a regular game in the prem Why can't i include Smith? Is there a problem in wasting £6m? We could of had him last season when Owen was out instead of the crap we to field, he could of been closer to prem football at the club he loves. Viduka's been injured, Owen's been coming back from injury, Martins has been away, you saying we couldn't of done with Chopra instead of playing Smith or half fit players? even with what we've had chopra wouldn't have been given a start,even the mackems think he's s****....i'd rather play milner off andy carroll than play chopra Would you rather play Smith or Chopra? Would you rather have a free Chopra on our books or a £6m Smith? i'd play milner up front before either. i'd rather we hadn't bought smith but cashed in on chopra

if on the off chance one if them is a manc,just say "we'll talk football" and be honest.

you know why andy carroll never had or probably will never get a proper chance.........................because he's not good enough. i've heard the same thing said about joe allon,paul brayson,paul robinson and michael chopra...."you never know till you try them" pile of s***. tell you what,you never know i might have been good enough just wasn't given a chance. Chopra never got a chance but was clearly good enough, or at least better than what we've got. Scored more goals in less games than Smith this season, in a so called worse team. Owen's got one more in about the same games, Viduka 2 more and our top scorer 3 more. who would you play chopra in place of (apart from smith) ? chopra will never get a regular game in the prem Why can't i include Smith? Is there a problem in wasting £6m? We could of had him last season when Owen was out instead of the crap we to field, he could of been closer to prem football at the club he loves. Viduka's been injured, Owen's been coming back from injury, Martins has been away, you saying we couldn't of done with Chopra instead of playing Smith or half fit players? even with what we've had chopra wouldn't have been given a start,even the mackems think he's shite....i'd rather play milner off andy carroll than play chopra

you know why andy carroll never had or probably will never get a proper chance.........................because he's not good enough. i've heard the same thing said about joe allon,paul brayson,paul robinson and michael chopra...."you never know till you try them" pile of s***. tell you what,you never know i might have been good enough just wasn't given a chance. Chopra never got a chance but was clearly good enough, or at least better than what we've got. Scored more goals in less games than Smith this season, in a so called worse team. Owen's got one more in about the same games, Viduka 2 more and our top scorer 3 more. who would you play chopra in place of (apart from smith) ? chopra will never get a regular game in the prem

you know why andy carroll never had or probably will never get a proper chance.........................because he's not good enough. i've heard the same thing said about joe allon,paul brayson,paul robinson and michael chopra...."you never know till you try them" pile of shit. tell you what,you never know i might have been good enough just wasn't given a chance.

just say the speech..."doesn't matter, i support my team because they are mine,through everything,you can't take the piss out of me for following my team when you are likely to fuck off when the going gets tough"

what about teams from other leagues? :sad1: people surely can have a favorite from la liga or whatever. just have to be all NUFC should we meet in the intertoto! Why would you want to support a team form somewhere you weren't from? Second teams from anywhere is bad enough, but another in the EPL, as the first poster clearly has, is mental. My lads both support Newcastle - both born and live in London. Are you saying they shouldn't? Given that I'm from Newcastle and the local EPL team is West Ham, their choice makes total sense to me. that i understand...i have a mate,a plastic geordie scouser,glory hunter of the old school,liverpool and when it comes to football we don't really get on...but i can understand his kids supporting liverpool (2 do,1 doesn't) as that is how they have been brought up.

it's something i've asked before of those from outside the area and without ties to NUFC but what lead them to NUFC. ? (thats not a sneering question,it's a genuine enquiry)