Wandy

11 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Hearing 'Aztec Gold' being played at the start always gets me a bit misty-eyed.  I used to make it my ring tone during WCs ...  

I had no idea the ITV theme tune was even called that. 

On 23/09/2023 at 22:39, Wandy said:

 

Wasn't there a similar incident in the live-on-TV home game v West Ham in 1986 when we won 4-0? I wasn't actually at that game but watched it on the telly, and midway through the game there was a massive bang that went off, and apparently it was in the West Ham end once again.

My memory is coming back to me now. I remember that I was actually at this game, but also taped it on the video recorder & then watched it when I got home. The firework definitely went off in the West Ham corner of the Leazes and I can remember the massive plume of smoke that came from there. No idea if it was the West Ham fans who actually set it off or if one of our lot threw it in there though.

Someone can correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I'm sure it was mentioned at the time that this game was the first ever NUFC home match to be broadcast live on TV. Seems incredible that, since it was only late-1986.

18 minutes ago, Wandy said:

This is the game I was talking about. I will have to watch it when I get the chance to see when the bang went off. 

 

 

Found it already.  Goes off at 14:22, and aye it was as loud as I remember. Brian Moore talking about a firecracker in the "corner of the ground", smoke, photographers and ambulance men in attendance. Still sounds more like a f'king bomb to me even now. Ah, the good old 80s. 

This is the game I was talking about. I will have to watch it when I get the chance to see when the bang went off. 

I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this result, but won't get carried away by it in the slightest. In our 28 seasons of PL football that lot were by far the worst team we have ever played in this league. It was an utter embarassment from them, and like a training match. Should build momentum for us nicely though. 

2 hours ago, oldtype said:

This sort of thoughtless fawning over strongman dictators just because they can “stick it” to democratic institutions like the free press is precisely why we’ve ended up with the shit politics we have in places like the US and UK right now.

 

Journos aren’t perfect, but put them up next to someone like MBS, Xi, or Putin, and nobody should have any illusions about who the bad guy is in that dynamic.

Fawning.  Give over man.

I couldn't care less about Bin Salman or Saudi policies one way or the other. The issue is far too complicated for me as a football fan to waste valuable time on. What I do know though is that, having regularly experienced the UK media at first hand, that I fucking loathe them, hence why I found Bin Salman's withering comments towards them amusing.

I also know that the Saudis have been regarded as a key ally of the UK for decades by successive governments, therefore if their money and assistance is welcomed by our leaders then I'm not going to grumble or protest about investment from them into NUFC either.

29 minutes ago, Greg said:

 

Think that comment was aimed more at the home crowd / global fan base.

 

That said for Man United every single away game is a ballot - and they do it on levels. Gold, Silver etc. 

 

E.g. for their game at our place in December applications to the ballot will be open to Executive Club Members (so corporate), Season Ticket holders at Silver Level and above who purchased all home cup games in 2022/23. As far as I am aware their categories are based on how many years you've had your ST rather than away game attendance.

 

The Man United system would be deeply unpopular here I think - that said at least they are transparent on how many applicants and what the allocation is etc.

 

Fucking hell, our lot had better not even contemplate such a system here. Makes you wonder how they have maintained a decent away following.

1 hour ago, WilliamPS said:

Man Utd fans complain constantly about what they have became - some fans even made a whole new club!

 

First time I’ve ever heard anyone claim Liverpool fans don’t complain either. They have whole fan groups to pressure the owners about the soul of the club (groups like spirit of shankly)

 

(see also the protests about the super league)

Man Utd fans started up FC United because of the parasitic nature of the Glazer takeover, nothing to do with them being a global brand...which they became long before the Glazers arrived.

Scouse Liverpool fans do not complain about their global fanbase or LFC becoming a brand. They have largely appreciated FSG and only turned on them during the Super League debacle.

1 hour ago, WilliamPS said:

They’ve certainly managed to get you defending them.

What? ? How exactly have I defended them then? 

3 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

I think there is a sizable minority of Man City fans who feel that, Man Utd and Liverpool's megabranddom is so long standing that very few will remember anything different.

 

In my view though we lost our club long ago, long pre-Ashley. Really there was only a very short period where the club felt like it was 'ours', between John Hall buying the club and the stock market floatation. The nadir was Ashley, but before that we had the influence of the bankers resulting in Keegan leaving and the team he had built being torn apart. Then the Halls turned from saviours into leaches stealing the family silver in dividends and then the final nail in the coffin was becoming a zombie club under Ashley.

 

I have massive qualms about our owners, from the right-wing politics of Staveley and Reuben to the human rights abuses to the insidious influence of Saudi Arabia on global politics and ideology, but, in football terms, I feel far more connected to the club now than I have since that brief period of 1992-97.

You still used the term "minority" though, which indicates that most of their support still feel the same connection.

The truth is that "connection" with a club comes when it is doing its very best to fulfil it's potential. Who the owners are at that time is largely irrelevant to most fans.

16 minutes ago, Greg said:

 

Constantly engaging with the club on it and pushing them on it - but the Trust don't set the club's ticketing policy. 

 

 

They don't set the policy but they have the best chance of influencing it.

I'm not saying that the Trust don't have a difficult job to do but unfortunately they need to do a lot better with this. Man Utd's plastic support is one of the drawbacks of their success and the last thing we should be trying to emulate.

13 minutes ago, Greg said:

 

No they're not. They had nowt to do with it. 100% imposed by the club - and as with others were only 'engaged' after the decision on this had been made. This is 100% down to the new leadership at the club and their desire to 'have a fan base like Man United' and to attract new fans - they're on record saying that. 

Right. So what are the trust going to do about it?

26 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

The claims of “we’ve got our club back” were always going to ring hollow. NUFC will now become a football mega brand, like Man City or Man Utd, we’re fans are customers and TV deals in Asia more important than local supporters. That is the price of a good team on the pitch. City are unrecognisable from the club they used to be - as is a lot of their fan base.

 

The only way to have success in the PL without being a brand with a football club attached is if you are taken over by a super rich fan - the Brighton /Leicester model - and that has a ceiling based on the owners wealth.

 

Just wait until the existing fan base are referred to as ‘legacy fans’!

 

People can decide for themselves whether that’s a price worth paying, the alternative is a midtable PL existence at best. For some the CL and competing for trophies will be worth it, for other it won’t.

You never hear Man Utd and Man City fans living in Manchester complaining that their success has resulted in them "losing" their club, and you never hear it from Scousers living in Liverpool either.

20 minutes ago, WilliamPS said:

 

A free press challenging what a dictator says is a bad thing? Should they be like the Saudi press and have their hands chopped off for asking awkward questions?

 

If the Saudis want to play with western toys like the PGA golf and PL football then they get the press scrutiny 

I have nothing against scrutiny but the whole concept of sportswashing is a load of bollocks. Its a term that was probably invented by a bored western-based journalist with a superiority complex, conveniently ignoring all of the ills of western society.

If sportswashing was an actual policy by the Saudis then its doing a pretty terrible job. Instead of cleansing their image and helping people forget about all of the controversial policies they deploy, it's actually drawn far more scrutiny and criticism of those policies.

The truth is that they don't give a monkey's what the west thinks of them, hence Bin Salman's remarks the other day. Their actions are all about power play, getting a strong foothold in world politics and securing the long-term future of their country. Whether people in the west like their methods of doing this is neither here nor there to them.

Saudi ownership doesn't bother me in the slightest but I would never try to defend their regime. Not gonna lie though, I chortled when I read that quote from Bin Salman about sportswashing the other day. Anyone who basically tells the western media to go fuck themselves gets a thumbs up from me.

On 14/04/2023 at 09:15, magvicar said:

This was against West Ham when I was about 15.

I was in the Gallowgate end also at that game. This was a petrol bomb thrown in the Leazes corner with the east stand where the away fans were generally put in those days.

This was in the days when our crowds were sometimes 13,14,15  and 16 thousand for most of the season. Mind you we were in the second division and the ground was a bit ramshackle.

 

I remember just seeing a big flame erupt for a short while and the West Ham fans quickly segregating to leave a sort of circle around the petrol bomb.

 

 

I remember the song sung in the next home match we played against West Ham.

He's only a poor little hammer.

His clothes are all tattered and torn.

He came for a fight so we set him alight.

And now he won't come anymore.

 

Funnily (or not so funny) enough I was in the Leazes end in this game and the police were ready and waiting to catch the fans singing. Many were dragged out and I was nearly dragged out myself by managing to absorb into the crowd a bit and all the bigger lads were dragged out.

 

Anyone remember this?

I mean, it's not funny or clever but as a young kid you generally get dragged along with the crowd and are very impressionable.

 

I was stood outside the magpie the day West Ham came and I watched a dad and his young son walking past us all stood outside. They were on the other side of the road.

I remember this very clearly. The man was carrying the old type (obviously) ADIDAS bag with West Ham on it and a few skinheads spotted them and ran over and give the bloke a bit of a kicking in front of his kid.

I was gutted for them but luckily the kicking was more half-hearted and no harm was done other than for the bloke and his kid having some of their day ruined.

 

I was a little bit of a rebel myself in those days but although impressionable I drew the line at any of that garbage.

Wasn't there a similar incident in the live-on-TV home game v West Ham in 1986 when we won 4-0? I wasn't actually at that game but watched it on the telly, and midway through the game there was a massive bang that went off, and apparently it was in the West Ham end once again.

3 hours ago, Stifler said:

It’s quite likely that we won’t get movement on a stadium expansion in the next 5 years. The reason for that is that by the time we start, we will be going into the 2028 Euro’s, and we can’t have a stadium in the middle of a rebuild, unless we want to throw away our host city status to Sunderland.

I very much doubt our owners would be happy with that, even SJP in its current guise is better to host from an image point of view, then handing it over to the SOL.

 

At the moment they are currently figuring out what they need, where the demand is. Ok we have a demand for tickets, but at what price point? How will that grow if/when the club grows.

They have increased the hospitality at the club but they are figuring out how much they need for that and at what price point as well. Will that grow with success and if so by how much?

 

The planning application is going to take 9-12 months alone.

It's not about the timeline, but rather the actual commitment. For instance if, after they have conducted this feasibility study, they announce an official proposal to extensively rebuild SJP or build an all-new stadium but state that the work won't start until after 2028 then that would be fine. But if they alternatively state that the study indicated that it's not worth spending a lot of money for an extra 15k seats so they just decide to tart up the current SJP somewhat, then that to me will not show an ownership that truly wants to be "number one" and so I'd expect them to start thinking of when their exit would happen. 

How they tackle stadium redevelopment will give a very clear signal of what their true intentions are for NUFC, and how long they plan to stick around for. The simple fact is that the development & modernisation of SJP, or a whole new stadium, will require a colossal amount of money. If, in the end, they decide to do a modest upgrade of the current stadium then that will confirm to me that they only plan on fixing the club up somewhat & then flipping it on. The bottom line is that the club needs probably at least a billion in infrastructure development, through stadium expansion/modernisation and a state-of-the-art training complex, to truly bring themselves alongside what Man City & Liverpool currently have.

If none of this happens I expect them to have moved on within the next 5 years or so.

The comments section on Craig Hope's youtube reaction video is absolute AIDS. Do we really have so many wankers in our ranks? Doesn't bear thinking about what this lot will be like in a few years' time.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but if they don’t change the system by next season whereby they decide where you sit after a ballot win then I won’t be buying another membership. Won the ballot for the City cup game but it’s in Level 7, row X….exactly where I didn’t want to be as I imagine it’s right near the back row? Just as well it’s only cost £40 for two tickets because I’d be livid if it had cost the best part of £100 for these. 

It’s a great point in the grand scheme of things. This team still has last season’s character in abundance, but the lack of any creativity is a real concern. Proud of them overall though, they gave it 100% effort, no doubt about that. Hopefully the performances will improve now that we have some easier-looking league fixtures coming up.

I’m really not sure why Eddie wanted Tonali so badly at this point though. It seems that him and Bruno are best suited to the exact same position so Tonali just looks awkward right now where he is currently played.

I’m hearing from friends who were there in Milan tonight that pre-match atmosphere amongst our lot was good but support at the game was crap. Sigh.

31 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Hate that I'll pretty much never get to sit with the people I've been going to home games with since I was 5 year old ever again as well. Probably incredibly selfish but there's a row of 5 seats in the East Stand: my dad's mate, my dad, my old ST seat, my mate, another mate of my dad's. I was buying my old ST seat all season for every match when lucky enough to get it depending on queue number. I'll likely never get it again. 

One of the most important changes that needs to happen is that fans need to be able to choose where they sit within the various categories. The NUSC and NUST need to be feeling the heat to get this sorted, amongst all of the other ticketing farces going on.

Just seen this too..

Empty seats? This ticketing situation is shambolic.

What was it like yesterday then?

I'm abroad at the moment but watched it in a bar, albeit with the sound switched off ffs, so couldn't get a feel of how the crowd were, until the ending minutes when people finally looked animated?

I've read a few reports though that said the place was quiet.