iklgizmo

Quite a lot of fans have come over from Netherlands, and they have a reputation for creating a bit of a carnival atmosphere before games, so get the kids involved with that! They do a walk to the stadium which is just a sea of Orange, looks great! I'm hoping they come second in their group as I have tickets to that quarter final in rotherham!!

This is insane!! Waa supposed to be a tight game, and we're (according to myself) not clinical enough!!

After the 1st round of group games, it looks as if everything is going as expected England could do well, but they have to find some way of being more clinical! Norway - strong starting 11, not sure if the squad is good enough to go all the way Germany - look excellent and have a very strong squad, will take something special to beat them France - Amazing team, should do well, but could also implode at any second Sweden and Netherland - cancelled each other out in the opening and could both easily win the whole thing Spain - look brilliant even with 2 of their best players out of the squad injured! Second round of group games starts tonight, and we should learn a lot more about what England are capable of after the game against Norway!

England are a lot better than that, I think the occasion might have got to the players a bit last night! The game against Norway next week will be vrry different I would expect!

I would be more than happy for him to stay, I think the issue is he's one of the few we could actually get a bit of money for!

Is it worth merging this with the actual women's team thread? Some good chat In here which has moved on from the match itself

Not a chance they would drip.down to the 4th tier. Our best vet at the moment is to start attracting the best players in the region rather than them having to go to Sunderland or Durham. If we can get up to the championship there is a chance we could attract better players, its sort of what Man U did a few season ago The Championship is a really competitive league now, so the expectation of back to back promotions 3 years in a row and then finish top 3 to get into the champions league in their first season in the WSL is a bit wild from the owners!

I don't 'need' the facilities that the gym at work has, but shockingly, work still let's me use them!

The women's game in this country has only been professional for a few years, and its only the top league which is professional. You can't compare them to the men's game now and assume they should be making the same kind of money! Same goes for the 'standard' of the game. Even most of the England Womens team will have spent a good chunk of their careers paying subs, and training just twice a week. The training they will have received is not comparable! Invest now, give people the same level of coaching and equal facilities, and then see what could happen!

I think there are still rules in place for spending in the women's game, but as always, ways of getting around them. There doesn't tend to be high fees at the moment, but the rules are more around the wages on offer. Chelsea definitely found a few loopholes when they signed Sam Kerr!

To be fair, they went out to all clubs asking if they wanted to host games, and very very few came forward. I have no doubt we would have, had the request have come after the takeover!! Hopefully the euros being in England will draw more attention to the game and will help it grow, and we'll be involved more in the future!

I would hope they would go the same way as Man City, train in the same place, but have their own stadium that they share with the academy

I'm really not sure as sounds like it's all been a bit rushed. I would hope we will be able to play in black and white, can't see Alnwick putting up much of a fight given the opportunity they've been given. Without tying to jinx it, there absolutley should be lots of goals. The standard obviously won't be amazing given this is the 4th (I think) tier of the women's game, but everyone has to start somewhere!!

Barnsley made it to their county Cup final which has been scheduled for Saturday. Apparently they did everything to change the cup final date and the opposition were supportive, but the FA said no!

It's a bit weird that there not allowing you to buy a ticket in advance. How do they know how many stands to open, or how much catering they need? Could be anything from 500 up to 30,000 people and everyone only has 45 minutes to get a ticket at a turnstile!!

Yea I hope our fans don't get dragged into anything during the game. Just focus on the game and chant about the team. Dread the idea of hearing us singing anything pro Saudi in retaliation to anything from their lot

It reminded me of that Robert goal, I think against Fulham?? Did what he needed to do with his body to get the contact he needed! Pure class!

What's it on?

Yea I don't think playing at St James is necessarily a good idea yet. Quite often happens in the WSL that teams play in the main stadium and it's just a weird echoy(?) vibe as you're not going to get a decent crowd. Better to play somewhere smaller for that Liverpool game, but really try and push for a heavy attendance. Maybe Kingston Park, but let nufc season ticket holders in for free to try and start encouraging more people in. Also, if we do win the league this year, they'll need a huge overhaul of players to do well next season. Will be interesting to see if they go down the Man U women route of bringing in a high profile manager to attract some bigger names. I assume they'll go pro if they're in the next league up, so a half decent squad will have the chance to do a double promotion!

Did anyone else hear on Sky just before kick off, they were showing the flags and saying you would never have seen scenes like that before the takeover! So frustrating that everyone now thinks this is something the new owners have created!

They're playing at Kingston Park in the FA Cup next weekend, would be great to get a decent attendance!!

Wonder if they'll do anything like free scarves on the seats for everyone? Hopefully not those annoying plastic clapper things!!

Well done. Just out of Interest, why were you waiting until just before the 1st? Dont really know, just wanted to leave it until the last possible minute. Felt awful doing it, but I know it's the right thing to do.

Myself and the 3 people I sit with all cancelled today too, 350 loyalty points between us! Hopefully there will be lots like us who waited until just before the DD on the 1st.

We're going with Thomas Cook, and the itinerary says the coach takes you straight to the ground. Does anyone who's been with them before know if we will have to go straight into the stadium?