Benwell Lad

Despite the vomit inducing stuff on here recently I doubt we'll ever see anything but hatred of all things Newcastle from mackems and smoggies.

The anti Dundee United sentiments in the Roma pictures intrigued me. Got to say I knew nothing about that. In these days when the media look for any trivial thing to sensationalise there is a REAL story. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/jim-mclean-admits-feels-sick-1097937

Aye, it seems on a weekend when we won 4-1 away to an in form Hull, the best performance from a north-east team was Sunderland's almost inevitable defeat to a City side which, by their standards, had been faltering lately. It really sounds like they are truly honoured to have been beaten by such a fine side.

6th now, could go to 7th depending on the FA Cup.

After today's result are there any set of circumstances which would lead to 8th getting into Europe or is 7th the furthest in can be stretched ?

From the BBC when it was 2-1. "Steven Fletcher latches on to a knock down - but what is he doing? Gets his body shape all wrong and the ball just trickles out of play off his knee. He had to get a shot of some kind away there..." Surely he couldn't have been on the drink the night before a final. Could he?

It was stupid, brainless and unnecessary but anyone who considers that a head butt (assuming that's what used to be called a nut) has led a fairly sheltered life. Football coverage does tend to be a bit hysterical when it comes to pushing and shoving incidents nowadays, but Savage and the BBC are taking it to new levels of silliness.

Was in the same restaurant in town as Meyler recently. He's a dick. Wish some fucker would stick a proper one on him instead of a "slight forward motion"

Yeah it's well known that most mackems like Geordies, didn't hold it against Steve Bruce and think Alan Shearer is a great sporting ambassador for the region I've actually met a mackem friend in town before derby matches had a drink and enjoyed the crack. Of course he kept himself quiet and certainly wasn't the type who'd defecate or urinate on public transport, nor wear a horse's head to a football match A bit like yourself probably, though I suspect your manner may be slightly different in the company of your own to what it is on here If they were all as reasonable as yourself the animosity would be almost non existant.

Because if Newcastle got to a final then the fans and City would not look forward to the day and/or enjoy it? I don't understand how this is a small club mentality? Also we have a 40k plus average for league games? I agree some of the cup attendances have been shite but still... Hey, you've fluked your way to a cup final, good luck, enjoy it. The fact you're taking a lot more "fans" to Wembley than bothered to turn out in Sunderland for the semi against Manchester United and more than twice the number who turned out for your FA Cup 5th round tie does however smack of small club mentality, whether you admit it or not. Everyone knows that Sunderland fans and the sycophantic north east media have a whole catalogue of excuses for your embarrassing attendances but the most widely used one for the FA Cup tie was probably the lamest yet. You were all saving for a big day out in London :-) . Using that kind of mackem logic then Man City and Arsenal fans who sold out to 48,000 and 60,000 respectively on the same day mustn't bother with Cup finals or away trips to Europe etc.

Their forwards are in good form, but it's their central midfield I worry about. Livermore and Huddlestone are bossing it at the moment, and we really should be playing with 3 in the middle to get the best out of Anita, and have a go at their 3 at the back. Aye, got to say Brucey has done a very good job and made some very astute signings.

Their fans are just typical small club mentality looking forward to a big day out. The reality, which will come back very quickly in the cold light of day post-match, is that they're a club who can only get 15,000 for a 5th round cup tie against a good Premiership team and 20 odd thousand against Manchester United in a home semi final. They'll be top the Premier League's "most empty seats in a stadium" list every season without fail and nowadays even have to give away free tickets for the derby match to pad the stadium out. Like Wigan and Bradford before them they'll have busloads of grannies and other one-off fans going down for the final but they'll soon be back to the reality of a half empty (on the better days) stadium and a turgid relegation struggle.

Imperious. Not only is he a great defender but his class has a catalyst effect on the others around him, making them look better too. There's a feature in the Newcastle programme in which players name a team the best eleven players they've played with. There's some pretty serious contenders to choose from their former clubs and international teams but I don't think I've seen one where Colo wasn't included. Not only does he impress most of us but it seems like he impresses those who really matter too. Some think he's on the wane but I reckon there's another season or two of him being a top player. It's not like his game was ever built around pace or aerial/physical domination.

Word was Gouff is out unless Pards is doing a "Keegan" and keeping him up his sleeve.

You said the same last night marra. Not sure who your season card money goes to but don't worry it's not JFK he's on chicken feed. I console myself by thinking mine goes to pay for Krul, Debuchy, Ben Arfa, Willo, Sissoko, Gouff, Anita, Santon etc etc. It's a much better thought.

Imagine the Mackem meltdown if they both score. Shola will. Can't believe that useless cunt keeps getting a game but typical of an utter twat of a manager Divvent fret Sid he wont be round much longer. Could be worse mate you could have been born a mackem. Imagine that.

Still better than slimy mackems though.

Guess that's what happens when the other four options are suspended, injured or not match fit. Even in 2014 Just as well we didn't bin him as we've nowt else left, though god knows how it will affect the passing game we've been becoming quite accomplished at of late.

This thread is going to be something frantic tomorrow night. Fortunately most sane people will be out on the piss anyway

Sadly it aint gonna happen. They would never set a precedent and make a rod for their backs in the future when it's much easier just to uphold the referee's decision whether it was right or not.

What a sad pathetic pile of shite. Even amongst the rush of Ashley angst inspired, new wave Geordie artists, that is a particularly lamentable effort

Did I miss something? Can't remember any spitting incident with Remy. All this talk of base behaviour has me wondering what the poor dressing room cleaners may have to face on Saturday evening if Gus loses.

I was looking on .com at stats for the first season when I went to games. Our first six home attendances of the season were, 35,000, 57,000, 33,000, 43,000, 29,000, 14,000, and so it went on through the season. Later we had consecutive home game attendances of 27,000 versus the mackems and 55,000 versus Leeds. Bizarre by today's standards or what ? Anyway, it looks like fans coming and going is nowt new

Even had Tiote's goal not been disallowed it's not certain if we would have ended up with a result against them. However having watched them again recently, and indeed last night, seeing the level they are at, it was a really excellent performance. They are on a different planet and since their early season wobbles I don't think anyone has played as well against them as we did.

Much as some would like to play this out as a reactionary thing, it is really more of a natural demographic. Moaning about the ownership, the chairman, the manager, the shit team, the shit player etc, and stopping attending, buying a season ticket or whatever is really nothing new. It's happened as long as I've supported Newcastle and human nature means it always will. There was a period which coincided with our best recent years after the Magpie Group took over, we were on a high, the Premier League hype was ramping up, football changed from a rough working class experience to a fashionable day out, stadiums were revamped and a whole lot of "mode" fans jumped on board (some would say "plastics"), and this was when the mythical 20,000 waiting list stuff came about. These "mode" fans really did come along, I saw it, as did many others. They were fine, good lads and lasses who I knew, but they had never been real "football people" - it just became the thing to do for them on a weekend. Unsurprisingly most of them have since found something else to fill in Saturday afternoons - and good luck to them. It wasn't just us, it was football generally and even Sunderland saw their gates double overnight when the novelty of a new stadium hit town. There always has been a certain percentage of a certain generation who will quit going for whatever reason. Any of the above complaints, or perhaps financial reasons, or they just get into doing other stuff. However life goes on, there's always a new generation coming along, for who the thrill of getting out in town with their mates and attending the match for the first time will hook them forever. Throughout the whole of football attendances will go up and down, people will stop attending while others start, but Newcastle as always will be one of the best supported teams around. That's just the way it is.