Wandy

Who are these people you are taking about?

Agree with this. Also, hindsight is a wonderful thing but, looking back, SJP should never have been made effectively 100% season ticket holders in the Keegan era.

For those who can access the thread, have a look at the state of these posts man. Actually willing the North East on to be seen as a shithole, all in the hope that keeps NUFC from being successful. https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/nufc-sportswashing-compendium-thread-jan-mar-2023.1597866/post-37992688 For those who can't access the thread, here are some of the comments. They are the saddest & most bitter fanbase in the country, bar none. "they will pull out within 3 years once man u and spurs get taken over and they realise the north east really is viewed as a cess pit to anyone with significant wealth". "The day will be magnificent". "They'll build a Sheikdome in Longbenton imo". "£2k a season ticket / £150 a match ticket. Your lifelong / working class NUFC fans priced out. Be f***ing lifting for them. The sportswashed amongst them are either too dense or in denial about what is to come". "Or of course the owners will pie them off as soon as a more attractive club becomes available in a more attractive area of global influence".

You obviously haven't been on https://www.readytogo.net/smb/forums/pure-football.86/ have you? Hint : It's like the Brentford forum on steroids.

Back in the third division is where I want them.

He’s a brilliant pundit IMO. Talks sense nearly all of the time.

Wish we'd had this lad fit for the cup final. It's only dawned on me how underrated & important he is. We are undoubtedly a better team with him in it.

Agree with this. It was definitely better yesterday but, Christ, when it went quiet it was tumbleweed quiet. And I noticed just before Wolves scored that the game had gone completely flat, and you could sense that the players needed the fans to give them a lift as Wolves were looking threatening. It never came though and, instead, the crowd just sat and waited for something to happen. Sure enough, a few minutes later the equaliser came. Overall though it was better than some recent games. Maybe the fact that people are now talking across social media platforms about a lack of noise has resulted in people making some extra effort yesterday.

Not true I'm afraid. The Bournemouth fans that I highlighted above rated Man Utd, Man City & Arsenal amongst the best atmospheres they have witnessed this season.

Wolves has always been a wild stadium and I have had some brilliant trips down there. The old Molineux of the late 80s/early 90s was an absolute shithole but it had a brilliant "Kop" end behind one of the goals which was actually shared with the away fans. Under that roof there was some hella noise created and there was loads of back and forth between the two sets of supporters who were more or less side by side. I remember winning 1-0 down there around 89/90 in the old 2nd division, and there must have been about 6k NUFC fans down there that day.

In my experience away fans aren't talking about the SJP atmosphere when they are rating the away-day experience up here, but rather the experience as a whole. Everyone knows that Newcastle is a great place to visit and many fans stay for the weekend and make the match just one small part of the experience. Bournemouth fans this season have bestowed on us the title of best overall away day bar none....we are the only one that they have rated as top notch. But they still only rated the SJP atmosphere as 4/10 and said it was poor. They rated Leeds as the best they have experienced this season.

No doubt in my mind that it was at this point when Ashley knew the game was up. When you have to give 10k season tickets away you know the writing is on the wall. And if people like you had not made the sacrifice then Ashley would still be there.

I don't think many chucked their tickets in at the first sign of trouble though. For instance, I'd say most of the 10,000 who walked in 2019 did it out of sheer exasperation and desperation to make a difference, even if it meant losing a seat that they probably have had for a long time. It's a lot easier to just click the renewal button on a season ticket, and thus keep your Saturday day out, than it is to walk away from one when you have been a supporter for decades.

I'd say the lazy/selfish ones are those who barely lifted a finger to help oust Ashley, and also derided those who did try to make a difference. The entitled ones are those who paid for a season ticket and therefore refused to make a sacrifice such as taking part in a boycott of games..."I've paid for my ticket so I'm using it". Customers, in other words. Collectively as a fanbase we didn't do enough to get rid of Ashley. Man Utd and Liverpool fans would have seen the back of him within a few years.

The main issue appears to be that they don't think it's too much of an issue in the grand scheme of things. 1500 new seats/standing is nothing but a token gesture. This is going to run & run for a good while before we see a real solution IMO. The ideal way to sort it of course is build a new stadium............

I'm hoping that it's just the social media bell-ends who are being like this but if this mood translates to the atmosphere at actual match days then they can all get to fuck. "We don't demand a team that wins......"

No surprise to hear these comments from "supporters". It's been clear for a while now though that NUFC's "support" is a myth and Souness was on to something when he said our crowds consisted more of customers than supporters. The fact that Ashley rode roughshod & largely unchallenged for 14 years and only left when it was convenient for him tells you all you need to know. A massive proportion of our fanbase are lazy, selfish, entitled pricks. I won't be surprised to hear the team get booed pretty soon if our current poor run continues, such is the entitlement amongst some of our lot. I've said it before too, but the media blowing smoke up our backsides for waving flags about for 5 minutes before a game isn't helping the overall cause. The club clearly aren't really in tune with the problem at the moment. There really needs to be a freeze on new season ticket sales until this is all resolved one way or another. The masses of currently available pay-on-the-day seats means that there is still a chance to make a difference.

So people agree that a singing/standing section is needed but aren't interested in helping facilitate it by moving their seat. Proper NIMBY attitude that. The club need to take it out of their hands and force it on them or it's clearly never going to happen.

The OP has asked the mods to delete it.

It’s so bad that even they are slating it.

I will never understand this point of view. It's a bit like saying that there is no point in owning a Porsche/Ferrari/Lamborghini as there are very limited opportunities to use it's 180mph+ capability. Even if a 80,000 seater has occasions when it's "only" 80% full that is still 64,000 crowds you would be getting. But for NUFC, about 70,000 is the sweet spot whereby you would nearly always have capacity crowds when the club is ran with genuine ambition, no matter who the owners are. The lower crowds for CL football also mean nothing. Its a ego stroking/money generating competition where you might only play 5 or 6 games in an entire season, and most fans don't really give a shit about it when you get down to brass tacks, which is a big factor in why there was so much opposition to the Super League. In this country the league comes 1st, 2nd and 3rd in importance to the fans. And its why NUFC has never had a problem selling out league games when the the club has been run properly. As long as the club punches it's weight and actually tries to compete for trophies then selling out a 70k stadium for league games will never be a problem. If some cup games only attract 70/80% of capacity then so what, it's nothing to be embarrassed about or a reason to build a smaller stadium. That is small-time thinking.

I grew up watching from the Gallowgate Corner and ever since then I've never liked watching a match directly from behind the goal. I like seeing the net bulge from an angle when a goal is scored as it gives an increased sense of drama IMO, as you are never quite sure if a shot is going in the goal until right at the last second. Or maybe I am just weird. My first season ticket was pre-Level 7 John Hall Stand, about 5 rows up in the upper tier and near to the Milburn Corner. I remember when I first sat in the seat and thinking, "F'kin hell this is really high". I got used to it though, and the noise under the roof at that level really sounded loud.

Yep, which goes back to my earlier point that we need to freeze the distribution of any more season tickets for the foreseeable.

Sounds like it was really good. And yes, it's got to be the whole Gallowgate. It can't be the Leazes either, since having a home "singing end" that is actually directly below the away fans is just asking for trouble. The more I think about it, the more I believe it's important that the club do NOT offer more season tickets for availability in the summer. Not until this issue is addressed about moving people around and creating safe standing/singing sections. With about 15,000 spare pay-on-the-day spaces currently available, this may be the last opportunity to address a problem that actually goes back even further than the Ashley years, as the rot really started when Freddie Fletcher decided that long-term season ticket holders could freely be booted out of their seats to create that dreadful Bond Scheme. The real shame abut that awful move was that it affected one of the best singing sections in the ground, as all of the loud singing people in the Leazes wing of the Milburn stand got shifted. Absolutely appalling that was.