pinkeye

They might argue that Sun'lun is officially a City but, no complaints over the context of the chant. haha!

Fair points and you are right, many teams qualify for Europe and do struggle. I feel that the way our club is now being managed and the plans our owners seem to have for us might be enough for us to buck that trend. We seem to not just buy for the sake of it, we buy a player when he will improve us, if the target is not available or wont come we move to plan B - or - do not buy at all. Rather buy a target than a terrible compromise. (See Wout Weghorst for a very good example, or indeed Chris Wood just to show that we are not immune but, should have learned from that!)

Why would we struggle next season? Even with European football, if we are able to maintain the position we are currently in this season... We are no longer owned by Mike Ashley, we have good owners who are prepared to invest into the team and the club. Our future is considerably brighter than it has been for many years... I know it is going to take a while for most of us to shake Ashley out of our systems but, he's gone, long gone in fact!! We are a different club now.

That is brilliant. How are you enjoying it?

How are the kids seasons (who are playing) going this year? From my side - with a 17 year old who stopped playing for his Grassroots teams last season - it has been quite a mixed year with the school 6th form he now goes to. (Park View at Chester Le Street). My lad plays in what they would class as the second string team for the school, who somehow represent Huddesfield Town in the Northern Championship League, they played far and wide so far with pretty decent results against academies from lower league teams and other schools / organisations as far away as Chesterfield, Liverpool and Manchester. He also started to play again on a Saturday for Chester Le Street United Reserves. This is in a really rough and tumble Wearside league up against a mix of young talented teams and older mens sides. Last weekend they played against a team from Gateshead that has a mix of younger players and three random blokes around 40. It is a good experience to play against players who have clearly been very good when they were younger and now play a smarter game coupled with some naughty fouls and rough housery. The Saturday appearances were made on the understanding that when Newcastle were at home he didn't have to play. This season we have barely played on a Saturday and now as the last Saturday game we had scheduled has been moved to the Sunday he should be there every week. He was told that they are watching him with a view to moving up to the Ch Le St United first team next season where he would be paid to play... that would be nice although trying to convince him that he can watch Newcastle for the rest of his life but, only paly football at a good level for a limited time is not really resting in his brain properly... Anyway, would be interested to know how the other young 'uns are doing.

Safe standing = one standing space per seat "socket" so I would guess they are switching 1800 seats to standing.

Very specific... just London and Manchester? Or are they just the two big cities he could think of quickly when challenged? Haha

Massive crowd tonight. Must be night shift at the local factory

We were actually really lucky, for the record it was not a penalty - I watched it a couple of times and the only contact was from Jimenez on Pope. The reason I say we were lucky was that the Linesman on that side went to flag a foul and then stopped himself. I think if the on-field officials had given it then it might not have been overturned by VAR. Popes touch was rotten though, it should never have been a decision to make. I can forgive him that one considering the 2 or 3 amazing saves he made later in the game.

Brilliant yesterday. Willockinho for me!!

The poor Albanians would think they had returned home if they were landing in Sunlun... A trip to Ruanda would possibly be far preferable.....

Before I got my season ticket I used to buy tickets wherever I could get them and the worst by far was the back row of Level 7 in the Milburn. It would be OK if the whole stadium was that height but, in isolation with the Leazes it feels strange , I was also very pissed on the day I sat up there and actual felt a bit of vertigo or something, quite dizzy with how high I was up against the backdrop of the City. The nice comfy seats in the Milburn bar areas but, zero atmosphere. I moved to the East Stand over 10 years ago and sit amongst some lovely people, 2/3 of the way back and basically in between the halfway line and the Gallowgate 18 yard line. We have an atmosphere there, mainly as a result of being quite close to the Strawberry corner. ( I still hate, and will always hate, that Stand up if you love the Toon chant - not because it involves standing up. I just hate it.... I remember all the variants like shoes off, pogo and so on.... all with as much yuck). The East Stand gets a lot of grief on this forum for being full of old people and moaners.... it is the worst stand in the stadium though. Getting in and out is a proper pain and the toilets are revolting... I dont hear too much moaning other than some bloke behind me who relentlessly contradicts himself, like "Maxi, you're shite!" 2 minutes later "Maxi, you are brilliant!" That is just football fans though, fickle bunch eh?

Hang on.... the external glass on a building designed to show case the terrific glass industry in Sun'lun is unsafe and has caused the closure of the building? Unbelievable.....

No chance Longstaff not starting. Whether you like him or otherwise he is a nailed on starter when ever fit.

That is what I thought. I put a tiny bit of Tipex over the C and it is invisible!

I called the club this morning to ask whether it would be possible to regrade a ticket that I bought using my dads season ticket as he is now unsure whether he can go due to his health. I wanted to make it into an adult ticket so that I can give it (FOC) to a friend of mine. The girl on the phone told me that they were not doing any regrading and that if he is not going they would expect me to return the ticket so they can refund me the 21Quid that it cost. I said I was going to keep it in case he changes his mind to go but, if he doesnt someone else would use it. Then I was told that if the ticket was used by anyone other than my dad they would then review his right to own a season ticket and potentially exclude him from St James'.... I mean WTF? He is 83 with terminal lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos when he was younger. Are they really going to do that? In recent weeks when he hasn't been going I have paid to upgrade his season ticket to an adult every time - the user is never challenged at ST James' even though the yellow light comes on when the ticket is scanned. I am a bit pissed off with the club over this, trying to do the right thing and I end up with a threat hanging over my head as to whether I should just send the Wembley ticket back.... I am honestly giving his ticket to my friend for nothing. It is not like I am trying to sell it for hundreds... Anyone have any experience of Wembley and how likely it is that we would be challenged? All three tickets I have are identical, they all have the full price printed on but, two of them - my dads and my sons have the letter C (assume for concession) written on in pen. will that effect the bar code and will it somehow behave differently on teh entry point at Wembley?

The worst news! RIP

I would do the same, there are tons of hotels near to T3 which will let you park for ~15quid a day then you can get into London either using the underground (Piccadilly), Heathrow Express or the Cross Rail (Queen Elizabeth Line) thing all from Heathrow Central. Even a bus option.

Well, they might have gone down but, at least it was a sell out... Not an empty seat in sight.....

100%

Hypothetically... If you applied in the ballot for 6 tickets. Or any number greater than 1 and your succoess was that you were offered 3 or 2 how do you plan to deal with that in your group?

Season card????

Currently no queue for period 3 people, I logged in and got straight in. Availability seems to be mostly in the upper tiers now but, some availability around the lower bowl areas.

Holy shit that was stressful. I had 3 devices logged in and got space 2550, 3300 and 10100. I logged out of the 10k queue and kept the other two open. The queue went down really fast but, when I was being redirected on my laptop the bloody work VPN kept blocking the URL and I couldnt get on.... Luckily for me around then my tablet made a connection and I have 3 seats on Block 133. So bloody happy! Good luck to everyone still queuing and everyone in the next periods.....

Yes please, that would be bloody lovely!