Benwell Lad

They were louder before they scored than at any other point during the match. The other "big" sides like Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and their Salford neighbours all sell out ther full allocation and contribute fully to the atmosphere, but they couldn't do either. Really poor show - maybe they're just bored with all the nouveau riche success.

That's a good question and I would say that the injustice really seemed to galvanise the crowd and the rest of the match was old fashioned "we're Geordies we're mental" type stuff. Great atmosphere thereafter and fantastic support.

Anita was superb, as were a few others, and as you rightly say probably our best player today, but we had to try something different at that time.

He is indeed a very good player. Versatile too.

You're not too bad when you use words instead of pictures. You should actually try to get to a game some time it's nowhere near as miserable as it seems on here

<a href="http://reactiongifs.com/?p=9045"><img src="http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wtf.gif"></a> No answer to razor sharp wit like that.

What a pathetic turn out by the self appointed greatest fans in football today. They took more away when they were in the third division. Just shows that being fucked by Arabs isn't what real fans want.

Gloom army were licking their lips in anticipation today but have had to suffice with scraps. Only criticism of Pardew today is that he didn't stick one on the cunt when they squared up.

This. He had some very good games for us and never gave less than 100% but the legs went a couple of seasons ago. Had he had the end product we craved for it's more likely he'd have been at Barcelona than Newcastle.

Definitely a bit of cute Uruguayan syndrome creeping in. We've seen Suarez doing it on the pitch now we're seeing the managerial version.

I really can't see much to criticise from the minutes of the meeting apart from it's generally pretty bland stuff. There is a certain "prejudice" against anything they say or do at the moment and they're going to be condemned by many regardless. Some even accuse them of lying but they're probably being more honest than most other football clubs. They're certainly honest regarding cup competitions, and get beaten up for it, but I'm sure most members of the playing and coaching staff would put it quite differently. Maybe someone from the playing side could be added to the forum? It's good to see the singing section stuff being discussed and some of the other fans issues being raised. At the end of the day that is probably the primary objective of a "fan's forum" rather than self important groups behaving like brats and trying to score points all the time. Regarding the "bigger issues" they seem to have answered them quite well. The fanzines etc have loved bashing on about commercial turnover, stock, warehousing, online purchasing, Sports Direct/NUFC etc and they gave pretty decent answers. Even before hearing that it looked most likely that NUFC's retail operation was riding on the back of Sports Direct infrastructure and technology and should perhaps be thankful for that rather than critical of it. If it increases efficiency and profit margin, which it should, then only a fool could argue against it. We'll see. The badly answered or unanswered one remains the SD signage advertising around the stadium. They may be better just coming clean and admitting that a high profile Premiership football club and the owner's primary business interest are, at this moment in time, a very good fit and they will be there for quite some time yet.

Tim Vickery just said hes clumsy as hell and wouldnt be good in the PL. They all seem to be world beaters until they set foot in Sunderland. Once the "oh fuck what have I done" sets in they seem to turn to shite. Normally expensive hard to get rid of shite as well.

Why would any Newcastle supporter, sane or otherwise, go there, when barely more than 20K of the tramps bother turning up themselves for a cup semi final ? Still they can add it to the ever growing list of excuses for their embarrassing attendances. Along with classics like, mortality, the North Sea, the geophysical position of the Tyne Valley and the good people of County Durham wrongly having freedom of choice, we can now add "mags" not turning up when they're supposed to.

To be honest I don't really understand why people get the hump over attendances. I was there. I enjoyed myself and wouldn't mind if I was the only one in the ground. That may well be true, but you must admit that Sunderland fans in general do seem to have something of an obsession with attendances. Additionally they love telling everyone how loyal they are, while "mags" they know never go to the games etc etc. Embarrassing attendances like tonight (and be honest it was) just make those claims look ridiculous.

Very similar feelings. Post match Saturday was the most pissed off I've been (or depressed maybe) since Reading at home last season, and that includes Liverpool and Sunderland last season. I just like being in town and at SJP on match days and probably always will.

They were only slightly less shite than Man U IMO, can't remember them creating much apart from the two gifted goals. Relatively speaking obviously. Still think if Man U click at home for 15 minutes they'll score 2 or 3 and win the tie fairly comfortably. To go to Old Trafford and defend a single-goal lead for 90 minutes in a semi final would be some going. They've not played an away cup game in living memory. Jammy fuckers always seem to get cushy home draws against lower league sides in the early rounds before scraping home against bigger clubs' reserves in the later rounds. That attendance for a semi final. Around 24K bothering to turn out despite cheap tickets - they had almost that many attendance threads going.

In fairness it's not like the buses haven't been operating for years now and plenty of fans are happy to use them. You have to sympathise with those charged with maintaining order and safety that one group, rather than lots of dribs and drabs, is a safer option. They really do seem to be the biggest whingers in football nowadays and some are pretending that an escorted march through Newcastle city centre is a highlight of their season which the big, bad police are now depriving them of.

Still think the Nexus story sound the most credible reason, and who can really blame them if they've got to repair and clean up the carriages every year.

I think Pardew and his players will be taking it very seriously, everything is right for a cup run in terms of league position, squad etc. Bollocks to what some accountant said. Wonder what strength Cardiff will put out, until this week you'd have assumed that they'd have rested quite a few but maybe the new manager will want to take a look at his best team ?

Just as the arrival of the internet coincided with macums being the hardest fans in football, it now seems some nutter punching a police horse has coincided with them all behaving like little angels.

While I sympathise with decent fans who are inconvenienced, this has been coming. They've boasted about turning some gay bar over in Newcastle and it's become some badge of honour for them to flood social media with tales about "running at mags" and generally behaving like complete tossers all the way from Sunderland to Newcastle as well as smashing up trains on their way to Middlesbrough or wherever they're playing. They also seem unable to comprehend that unlike the deserted industrial wasteland they call home, Newcastle is a modern bustling city which will also be crowded with people not attending the football match on a Saturday lunchtime.

Elliot's been fine when called upon and seems like a canny lad too.

Does the expression "mackem", which we foisted on them as an insult about 30 years ago and which they now take such pride in, come from the old shipyard saying - "we mackem ower here and we burn 'em ower there" ?

Classic mackem bitterness from the boat burners http://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/debuchy.856157/

His stubbornness, in imposing a style of play on players who obviously can't do it, will cost them dearly. Could turn shitty before long.