Wandy

3 minutes ago, pedro111 said:

 

Well, I can only speak for myself and I am one of them. I have seen estimates that up to 100k toon fans were in London so it makes sense. I had no chance of a ticket but just had to be there to experience it. I know on my train back Sunday morning there were quite a few people who had done the same as me. I spoke to a few and they were all gutted to not be going to the match but were glad to feel that connection to the club and pride again. I also mentioned in another thread that there were seven of my mates who are proper old school mags been going for decades who were down and set the pubs ablaze pre match but had to watch the game in a boozer. I can probably count in double figures the number of people I know who sacked it off when Ashley killed everything we know and love about this club who are actively trying to get back in amongst it. Hell I am even having thoughts of getting my ST back.

 

We simply have got to get these people back inside SJP man.

 

My mate was one of them that went down without a ticket too. He also cannot get his ST back. He was lucky enough to be gifted a Wembley ticket at the last minute though. He is as ferociously critical of the current SJP matchday atmosphere as me. His verdict on Sunday was that the pre-match 10 minutes were as good as he has ever heard but after that it was completely flat. He did say that the two goals completely deflated everyone though.

36 minutes ago, Heron said:

Great post.

 

Thomas from the flags has an increasingly good relationship not only with the club but with the NUST of which he was a part of and also various other fan led organisations.

 

Similar discussions have been had within our WhatsApp on numerous occasions and likewise happened after the final, and I think this is something we will be looking to discuss with the club, even just to give our opinion of what we think would work. However, it's important the club canvas opinion from the whole, match going fanbase primarily with a view to perhaps extending that afterwards. Fans such as your good selves.

 

The flags are keen to not be seen as "the voice of the fans" as that has never been ohr intention. However, as people trying to make and improve the atmosphere it'd be nice to be part of the discussion.

I would be quite comfortable with WF being seen as the voice of the fans, to be honest mate. Really glad to hear that this issue is something that is being brought up though. I think Wembley has just turned the dial up on how bad things have become tbh.

 

Not gonna lie, I cancelled my NUST membership a while ago as I thought they had no credibility, especially after the fan share fantasy. I will now re-engage though and might send a few emails of my own.

4 hours ago, christ said:

I’ve only managed to get to a handful of matches this season and I’ve been staggered at how bad the atmosphere was. Granted when I had my ST I was always in the ‘singing section’, whether that was Level 7 or the Strawberry Corner, so it may have always been shit but sat in the Leazes earlier this season the most animated our fans got was when Murphy came on and immediately lost the ball.

 

I think a big issue is that for over a decade our fanbase has been motivated by spite. The best atmospheres I’ve been part of have been when we were balls to the wall against Ashley, or when there’s some sort of injustice happening on the pitch. Singing is what we do when we’re fucked off. Now we’re halfway decent a lot of our fans have no interest in shouting themselves hoarse, can just sit in silence and wait for the three points.

Ultimately any change in atmosphere needs to be driven by the supporters. We need to Toon Ultras type movement that will at least try to coordinate some sort of atmosphere during the 90 minutes. There are obviously barriers - current spread of supporters, difficulty in getting tickets etc - but maybe it needs to start by surveying fans in the ground who would be interested in this sort of thing about where they sit. If we can identify pockets of support it might help create a new singing section almost organically rather than hope the club to turf a load of fans out of their seats in the Gallowgate. It means fans know that if they start a chant there are people around them

who’ll join in, and members or people who purchase on general sale can try to sit in those areas if they want a sing-song.

 

It would also be good if someone stood at the next NUST election on the explicit promise they’ll push this issue with the club. Big ask, but I can’t imagine they wouldn’t win considering they could barely fill the committee at the last one.

Totally agree about what has been driving our fanbase in recent times, and I was thinking something similar myself recently. For the best part of 13 years we were reacting to negative drama and now, all of a sudden, there is nothing to complain about, nobody to fight and nothing to rail against…..and it’s left us a bit dumbstruck. We simply aren’t used to not having drama. We have gone from relegation certainties to Champions League challengers and legit cup-tie fighters in less than 12 months. We are struggling to adjust. 

 

You look at teams like Man Utd and Liverpool and winning is in their DNA, and their support is completely at ease with it. We simply aren’t used to having this level of competency within the entire club and we are in the process of adjusting our entire mentality to this new reality.

 

In the next 5 years the club is going to be unrecognisable to the one we grew up with. My huge worry is that it’s going to change the fanbase into something that many of us despair of. The thought of us playing in a 65k stadium and 95% of it being full of people who had never been to a match before October 2021 is a horrifying thought.

 

Right now, there must only be about 34k season ticket holders. That gives the club a useful spare 15k seats to use efficiently so that the accoustics can be properly sorted out, and therefore Ashley’s worst legacy can be undone. To me, it’s the most important issue facing the club. I really don’t want Man Utd and their arsehole boisterous thugs coming up here and rinsing us for SJP being a library.

 

Let’s all get together on this, realise the seriousness of the situation ahead, and make sure the right action is taken. 

21 minutes ago, pedro111 said:

Superb cause. One I will fully back in any way that I can.

 

Regarding the crap atmosphere at Wembley, I know Rangers had a similar issue in Seville last year. The place was bouncing the day before, like London was for us on the Saturday but when they got in the ground there was hardly any singing. A lot blamed it on people who never go to Ibrox but somehow ending up getting tickets etc etc and that people had shot their bolt the day beforehand. This may have played a part for us too although it wasn't 40c at Wembley

 

Not having the Blaydon Races ringing out at Wembley is criminal and I have noticed that in general it doesn't get much of an airing at all these days although one thing I liked about the Saturday night in London was that it WAS being sung and crucially it was sang at a MUCH slower pace than you would hear in the ground. It was brilliant to be honest. I noticed more than one group of none football fans in the bars in awe, just gazing around when it was ringing out.

 

Ultimately, we would all love the whole Gallowgate to be a singing/standing section but I think having just 2k or preferably 3k in each stand at a total of 8 or 12k would really get the place rocking. We know how loud 3k away fans can be now imagine having that in each stand but full of our own singers it would be epic.

It’s starting to look increasingly clear that a lot of the people who we want back in SJP….but are currently locked out….were at least down in London in the bars and at Trafalgar Square. That’s very encouraging to me as it shows that none of these people have simply walked away from football for good.

2 hours ago, NUFC91 said:

Great post, like SteV said I think copy and paste that into email. I sent emails to the trust on the same matter.

 

I also think regardless of trust being good or not the club asked their opinion on Wembley ticlets so obviously they will listen. If i was Wor flags and Trust i would reach out to Darren Eales, given his antics before cup final he seems a good character who would listen.

 

In regards to safe standing i'd be happy for it to be located in either the Gallowgate or Leazes end. Reason i mention Leazes end is that it is far more general sale populated. I also think leazes corner would be a perfect area as likely be able to make it larger if was success, expand further round towards eastvatand. Also given the gallowgate exapnsion would take time it might be quockest solution. I also think that a larger population of people in the Leazes who would happily move to galllowgate etc but not so much other way.

 

I am in Leazes currently and often people are singing in concourse at half time...the appetite is there just need right people together. Might come across cringe but also might need to bring a fan group together. If you had couple thousand lads walking up to St james at 2:45pm singing might help carry over to kick off. Also educate other fans tne old classics etc.

 

It needs addressing and we definetly need an "end". If you wanna sit and watch game out yhe way thats fine but lets not hold back large group who want to change this.

 

But yes get on to trust, wor flags etc

 

I get what you are saying about the Leazes but, with the current roof, I think the Gallowgate is the best option.

 

Have a look at this video from 1992, a NUFC game at Peterborough and our fans are in an end with a very similar roof style to our current Gallowgate.... I was at this match and remember it well. Obviously there will be comments that I am old fart who cant let go of the past, but nobody is going to convince me that if the Gallowgate is completely converted to safe standing, together with the moving of people, who don't want to sing, to other seats within SJP then something like this cannot be recreated. There just needs to be the will to do it.

 

 

2 hours ago, Disco said:

Having a dedicated ultra area like they do in Germany and elsewhere is absolutely wank IMO. One of the best things about English football is the cyclical atmosphere and how it moves with the game and usually involves all four sides of the ground.

 

I have always thought the whole concept of having "Ultras" is bollocks to be honest. Just the name tag alone indicates a class system in terms of football support. But at the same time, I dont think having a specific part of a ground dedicated for those who wish to be more vocal means that the rest of a stadium will just sit silent. The singing end merely acts as the conductor to guide the whole stadium to sing. That is usually how it works in the UK stadia anyway.

9 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Very good post and agree with it all in the main apart maybe a bit harsh on the NUST as I think you’ll find most of them would be agreement with you. So if members raise this to the board they will simply ask the question of the club. I plan to raise it at next meeting.

 

Theres definitely got to be a reorganisation of those with similar styles of support so they can be grouped together. No finer example than the Final at the weekend when I was stood in the safe standing area behind the goal (132) expecting to be sat with people my age (pushing close to 50) or younger wanting to get the chants going yet I had older people (60+) on one side and two 4-5yrd olds right in front of me stood on their safe standing seats. No one was even talking to each other or complaining never mind trying to generate any kind of atmosphere. It was weird and awful in equal measures.

 

To be honest I only lack faith in NUST as they have seemed to focus on trivial stuff in the past. This though is going to be a big undertaking and also controversial and will undoubtedly cause some animosity from people who don't want to be moved. Will the NUST have the balls to rock the boat in such a fashion when everything, on the surface at least, seems rosy?

2 minutes ago, SteV said:

Good post.

Accept your point about not having faith in NUST - but - they (along with Wor Flags to an extent) are the ones with the ear of the club. If you were to put the majority of what you’ve posted in an email (or other communication) to them, you never know. If there’s particular members you have an issue with go via one of the other ones. They are appear reasonably accessible via social media.

 

Cheers. I might send an email to someone at NUST but really not sure if they are on the ball with this, or if they even care. Having said that, it was reassuring to see Alex Hurst post on twitter that he was disappointed with the atmosphere at Wembley.

 

I would even email the club...even Amanda directly if I thought it would get some traction. I imagine that they would be bemused though that some random fan thinks the atmosphere is crap. They probably think its great, but they haven't see SJP really rock the way it can.

 

To be honest, I dont think the national media are helping by blowing smoke up our backsides. A lot of the newer fans must hear what they say and think that all you need to do to create an atmosphere is turn up before kick-off and wave a flag about for a few minutes. And too many people are now turning up at matches to witness an atmosphere rather than help create one.

I've been unsure as to whether to start a new thread on this topic (I've never actually created a thread in my 17 years as a member), and I apologise for the long post..... but in this case I think it's warranted. The point of the thread isn't meant to be an ego trip, or to moan about our support, or claim that we have shit fans. Neither is it meant to be a point-scoring "I'm a better fan than you" pissing contest. 

 

The new owners have already done a magnificent job of repairing a lot of the damage caused by the Ashley years. Now they need to be made aware of the next huge hangover from that era that needs resolving.

 

There's a lot of ongoing debate in various threads about the poor state of the match atmosphere, specifically at home games, but the disappointing experience of many at the cup final has confirmed to me personally that there is a significant issue with the nature of our support or, more specifically, the way it's structured at matches.

 

I feel we need a designated thread for match atmosphere because the debate gets lost in other threads. For instance, a lot of debate is currently in the Wor Flags thread, but most of the time the complaints etc end up lost in post-match comments or the SJP one. IMO the SJP thread should be about stadium issues only and the Wor Flags one for visual displays at matches. Other big forums for other teams such as RAWK have a specific thread for match atmosphere so I think a specific thread on here would be a good place to concentrate minds on our matchday atmosphere & general crowd issues, both good & bad.

 

We all know what the problem is. 10,000+ fans walked out on the club in protest over Ashley between 2008 & 2019, particularly after Rafa effectively resigned and amongst those numbers were a lot of fans who made the most noise at SJP. Now, those people cannot get back in. The result is that there is now a distinct lack of noise at SJP for very large parts of games & we have almost completely lost our songbook. We used to have one of the best songbooks in the country and now we are at a point where we don't even sing our own famous anthem, the Blaydon Races. Added to this is that there are many reports of fans bickering, arguing...even fighting amongst each other because some fans are standing up in front of people who just want to sit.

 

We've got to do something abut it.

 

I'd like to think that the NUST would be the ones to engage about the problem but, sadly, I have no faith in them. For me, it's the Wor Flags lads n lasses who can help push a message through to the club. They already have a very healthy relationship with the club and I strongly feel that the club will genuinely listen and engage wherever possible.

 

Now that the club have bought back the land at Strawberry Place, this is the exact time when the supporters need to have a say in what happens with regards to future changes to SJP. We all know that some kind of development is on the horizon, be it a Level 7 expansion to the Gallowgate or a complete redesign of SJP on the current footprint. Maybe even an all-new stadium on Castle Leazes. Nobody knows what the detail will be, but we all know that something is is about to change at SJP. And we, the supporters, need to be involved.

 

In my opinion, hopefully as early as this summer, there needs to be a number of things happen : -

 

* There needs to be a major reorganisation of season ticket holders within the Gallowgate End. At least 50% (but preferably 100%) of it needs to be made safe standing, with the clear objective being to create a Kop End singing section.

* The club needs to relocate existing season ticket holders in the Gallowgate End who do not wish to stand and/or be a part of a singing section. If needs be, give these people a discount on their next season ticket as a sweetener to move to an alternative seat.

* Make more safe standing season tickets available for the Gallowgate End, but with the clear information that these tickets are people who wish to be part of a singing section.

* Make sure that a reasonable amount of tickets for the all-new Gallowgate End are available for general sale, so that members who are not fortunate enough to get a season ticket can still get the chance to participate in the singing section by grabbing a ticket from the general sale.

 

In the long run, if this proposal went ahead and was a success, the club could think of introducing more safe standing singing sections around the stadium. For instance, if there is a Level 7 expansion to the Gallowgate they could go there. Or maybe Level 7 in the Leazes corner, where there used be a congregation of singers. But the club cannot simply stick a singing section in Level 7 only, away from pitch level. A singing section needs to be a visual experience that the TV cameras can clearly see, as well as an aural one.

 

Every club has many different types of supporter. Some want to shout, sing & scream for 90 minutes wheread others just want to spectate and watch a game. Neither is a superior supporter, but the problem is that these two types of people are all mixed together and it's making all of them unhappy.

 

Sorry if this appears to be treading old ground, and also the long read, but I really think we need to properly focus on this issue now. Being outsung in a cup final has brought things to a head, in my honest opinion.

 

@Whitley mag@Wallsendmag @jack j  @TheDimpleboy  @NUFC91  @Rich  @pedro111 and anyone else who feels the same, please get the ball rolling and put your thoughts in here. Maybe the mods could cut & paste some of the current comments in the Wor Flags thread to get the ball rolling?

 

Also, @Heron & @Greg ...maybe you lads could advise us on just how much clout you could have with the club on this matter. We have a one-time opportunity to change things for the better because once a stadium expansion happens, the seating & standing arrangements will be impossible to change if we still are not happy with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

I'll probably get pelters for this and I hope people don't take it the wrong way as I believe these lads, along with the new ownership are the best thing to happen to the club in a very long time, and their displays are just jaw dropping, but I think they have turned a lot of our fans lazy.

 

Noticed at home games these days everyone seems bang up for it and gets involved in the pre match displays but as soon as the match kicks off they pack their scarf/flag away and it's almost a case of "well I've done my bit" and they proceed to sit there in silence. Unbelievably exactly the same thing happened at Wembley.

 

The display pre match was simply spine tingling and there's not another fans group out there who could have pulled that off (certainly put Man Utds efforts to shame) but then it was the same thing. "That looked spectacular, job done", and most people around me packed their flags away and proceeded to stand there in complete silence.

 

Then 2 mins before the end everyone gets there flags out, sing "Toon Toon black and white army" and there's loads of back slapping and people congratulating themselves on an incredible atmosphere when in fact it was absolutely shite!

 

I think now the focus from Wor Flags needs to be less about the visual and more about the vocal. They'll need the club on board and ultimately it's down to the fans to make a noise, but everything they touch seems to turn to gold so I'm 100% confident if anyone can pull it off, they can.

 

I was at Wembley in 96, 98, 99 and 00, and also Cardiff in 05 and our crowd was on another level. Easily drowned out our opponents on all 3 occasions. Sunday was a pale imitation of that. Undoubtedly we lost a load of the more passionate fans during the Ashley regime and now they can't get back in which is probably the biggest problem, and a lot of these newer fans who have replaced them need to realise that creating a good atmosphere for the players isn't just about the pre match spectacle, it also needs carried into the game.

 

Was talking to a lad afterwards who was in the safe standing section amd he said the atmosphere in there was dire as well so people hanging their hat on that being able to transform the atmosphere may be in for a disappointment.

 

Apologies for the long rant but coming away from there I was as disappointed with our efforts in the stands as I was the result.

 

Brilliant post. Agree with every word of that.

 

Something desperately & urgently needs to be done about it. I'd back Wor Flags all the way to engage in dialogue with the club to get a very large area of SJP made into a safe standing/singing section. I have no faith in the trust whatsoever to resolve it though.

2 hours ago, Stifler said:

This, this is what I was trying to get at earlier.

I do not see them competing. They are multiple players off from competing for the title. Their best player is in his 30’s and there will be question marks over how long he will be able to perform to the same standard week in week out.

Rashford is in the form of his life, but he’s not going to have another season as good as this one and they are relying on him too much.

 

In the next few years they will either have the Galziers who will probably not do things good enough to compete, or they will be taken over which will result in them being a burden to leverage. You think the payments for their £600m takeover is a lot, let’s see how a £5bn takeover cripples them. On top of this Old Trafford is going to need to be rebuilt. To get it on the level of Spur’s stadium, where they will want it to be, will cost £1bn-£2bn.

 

They haven’t looked special so far. Some people say they look solid, but I’m not sure. They certainly feel like what they did under Mourinho, will be hard to beat at times, are never going to compete for the title, but will be a shout for the cups.

So far this season Man City, Spurs, Liverpool, and Chelsea have been poor by their standards. They are still behind Man City, they are not that far ahead of Spurs, and ok they are way ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, but both clubs will come back. On top of this you would also expect us to emerge as competition in the coming years.

I don’t see them competing for the title anytime soon, they have too much catching up to do, and will be held back soon enough in what they can build squad wise.

I’d go as far as saying that they won’t win a title in the next 10-15 years.

Have you missed the bit where their next owners are very likely to be the Qataris?

 

18 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

On way back to Wembley Park there was a few who appeared from the side before you went up the stairs posturing and chanting you only came to see United. Not sure if they’d even been to the match, but a fair few of them still want a bit action on match days. 

 

A fanbase that is a mix of aggressive, phony-hardmen & arrogant, entitled glory hunters. What a combination.

 

It's not even a Manc thing either as City fans loathe them for the way they go on with their off the field intimidation tactics in the Manchester derby.

 

The fuckers really think they have found the next Fergie in Ten Hag and are on for another generation of dominance. I pray that Pep sticks around for another 5 years and schools Ten Hag the way he has with Klopp. Think I'd even take seeing Arteta jumping around like a loon in delight if it keeps this lot away from the title.

16 minutes ago, dorty said:

Who doesn't hate man ure and its fans? An example, Benidorm 2005. I observed 20 pissed up Notts Forest fans casually singing "Whose that lying on the runway?" outside the Stretford End pub in the old town. They'd obviously pissed them off in the past as well.

 

I'm hearing more and more stories of our lot being abused on the tube and on the journey to the stadium by their wanker fans. Absolute scum, they are just a horrible fucking club. I will piss myself laughing if the Glazers fuck them over.

Old Wembley was a dump but, dear me, the new one is absolutely soulless.

17 minutes ago, Minhosa said:

Yep - some of them are mental but it's indicative of a super-club really in terms of spending power and desire to win things.

 

We're obviously not that and, despite the new found riches, I'd hope we don't adopt the same approach tbh.

 

So we'll have to find a way to compete with the likes of you, Man City and Chelsea etc whilst not being able to pay those sort of wages.

 

My earlier point of the 'money/success' link, I think for that reason, it's only a matter of time until Chelsea end up back fighting for the title when they sort their shit out. Might take a few years but broadly the principle of 'if you throw enough money at it' really does apply in football bar the extreme clusterfucks of QPR, Ridsdales Leeds etc.

 

Your established super-clubs, if you like, have the whole balance tilted in their favour and will always be there or thereabouts until theres a fundamental shift in how football is governed/structured.

 

Sooner or later we will have to pay these kind of wages or we will win nothing. I'm already a little concerned that Bruno will have witnessed that yesterday and had his head turned ever so slightly. The lad is ambitious and won't want to wait as we "patiently invest".

11 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

I think Jack has hit the nail on the head re our support yesterday. My experience was that we were fucking great all weekend, took over the bars and created a great spectacle at Trafalgar. We still have a large element of lad support as witnessed at Trafalgar, around Kings Cross/Euston and Baker Street pre match. 
 

However, the make up of our support in the ground yesterday was very mixed, nowt wrong with that football has moved on. But here lies the problem their fanbase yesterday seemed to have a lot more match going lad types and they did create a big noise inside Wembley, it certainly helped that they we’re winning but our end just never got going like theirs bar maybe at the very start and at the end when the flags came out.

 

They’re horrible arrogant cunts undoubtedly but they have a large hardcore of fans, our end did have a feel of day trippers yesterday, which considering it was season ticket holders in the main is worrying.

 

As someone else said for not one rendition of the Blaydon Races to ring out around Wembley is a pretty sad state of affairs.

 

Going over old ground here but it's clear that the 10k who walked a few years ago has had a very serious detrimental effect on our support. Those who walked have been replaced by spectators. The only way its going to be rectified is by creating a very large section of SJP safe standing and a major reorganisation of ST holders. In addition, more season tickets need to be made available in the newly-created singing section so that as many of the 10k singing lads can get back in.

 

It's something that the club need to be made aware of urgently, and I really want Wor Flags and the trust to start banging on their door about it.

 

There also needs to be a specific thread started on here, addressing match atmosphere, so we can have proper discussions about it. To much of the debates about it are lost in match threads and the SJP one. The SJP one should be about the stadium itself and not the atmosphere.

 

With regards to yesterday, I can only comment on what I heard on the TV in a bar. When we were singing as one it sounded massively loud. There were definitely times when Man Utd sounded equally as loud though. As I said in the other post though, a lot of their noise comes from the arrogance/belief that their team instills in them. If they had to watch most of our teams over the last 50 years or so their support would be garbage.

Just as well we have the owners that we do as Man Utd would be taking him, no doubt about it. On Red Cafe they are praising his performance yesterday, and would have him in their side in a heartbeat.  https://www.redcafe.net/threads/bruno-guimarães-newcastle-united.453504/page-4

3 hours ago, Stifler said:

They are nothing special. They are in a false position in the league mainly down to the fact that everyone seems to be having an average at best season.

This run of form they are jacking themselves about isn't that impressive. Watch the games they play in, they are losing large spells of games where they are 2nd best. Heck if Leeds didn’t have that drop off towards the end of games that teams at the bottom have, they would have taken 4 points off them in the last month.

They didn’t even win their group in the Europa League.

They look bang fucking average with 1 really good player, and another having the form of his life that he’s never shown before, and will probably not show again once this season is over.

If the referee didn’t practically score their 1st goal for them yesterday, the only way they would have won is on penalties.

Next season you would expect Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs to be stronger. The fight will be harder for them to reach the top.

They will be nicely distracted by a takeover which if it does happen, will end up being leveraged as fuck, further limiting their ability to invest. On top of that in the coming years they are pretty much going to have to rebuild Old Trafford, again this will limit spending.

 

It’s alright though, because they keep raving about a manager who did well at a club who only have to turn up to win their league, and sacked off 1 of the best Premier League defenders this season for someone who was found at this level, fucking genius isn’t he?

 

You are just coming off as massively bitter here. They are just that bit better than us, and beat us fair and square. Ten Hag is proving himself to be an excellent manager and is getting their squad to perform at its '"best levels" as our Eddie would say. They are a definite outside bet for the title right now, but only if City & Arsenal slip up massively.

 

The great thing for us is that we aren't too far behind them. Their squad is stronger but their first 11 is only slightly better. We didn't get any luck yesterday but if we did the result might have been different.

 

As regards their support, they absolutely do have a massive amount of aggressive, mouthy wankers in it. But one thing you can never level at them is that they are quiet. They genuinely have some of the loudest support, home and away, and yesterday was no different. They are an odd bunch though, and their confidence in themselves is actually quite brittle. They know that everyone in the country loathes them so they use that as their energy to drive them. Its quite weird, they are the biggest club in the country yet have a backs-to-the wall mentality, hence why a lot of their songs are about denigrating other clubs. Their fragility though shows immediately when in games they go a goal or two down, or the game is lost. That's when they go silent. So although their support is loud, it's not actually that impressive because when the chips are down they are found wanting. They are just fortunate enough that they have always had a team good enough so that their support is never really tested, and it's where their arrogance comes from. They are the footballing equivalent of a bully, shouting and screaming in people's faces and trying to intimidate, but they sharp shut the fuck up if someone puts them in their box.

 

As for Froggy, I'm just annoyed that he has been proved right with his "we aren't keeping up with you....you are keeping up with us" comment. 

Just got home after watching in town. Not anywhere near as gutted as I thought I’d be. Proud of the lads but the better team won, no question. They are a very good side and seem to be getting better while we are falling back to our natural level. No shame in that though, considering where we have been as a club from 2007 to 2021. They aren’t a million times better than us but they are disciplined, dogged, aggressive and….most importantly, clinical.

 

Wilson is finished as 1st choice strike here and needs upgrading urgently. Isak needs to start every game from here on in. Saw nothing from ASM either to see he has a future here. Flatters to deceive with his runs but the end product is never there. He also always looks like he will hit a stray pass that will lead to a goal for the opposition too.

 

Finally, massive props to our support today. I have been one of the most critical of our fans this season but today they were nothing short of sensational. Forget the result, It’s a massive relief to know that our support has still “got it”.

 

Now let’s get a top 6 finish to end the season sweetly. Top 4 will probably be beyond us but 5th or 6th is still very achievable.

Heading into town to watching this now. Possibly the most nervous I've ever been before a game in 39 years of going. 

 

Said it before, will say it again. Our lads need to 95% play the game and 5% the occasion. The fans are the wildly emotional ones today and the players need to ensure they are calm and focused.

 

Please, please win.

Oh dear, it had to happen didn't it. Always one. 

 

 

20 minutes ago, Pata said:

 

Hard to see either team having a big psychological edge and if there's one it favours Man United. EtH is under no pressure to win this and it wouldn't mean anywhere near as much to anyone associated with them compared to us. They are also way ahead of their projected timetable and no one would criticise EtH if he fails to win a trophy in his first season in the country. Every NUFC player knows how much this means to the fans and I really hope the players can handle the pressure but I have some concerns.

 

Have to agree with this. There's more pressure on us as we have the elephant on our back that they don't, as going only 6 years without a trophy is nothing. 

 

We can definitely win this but I'm just worried that the players actually try too hard...if that's even possible...and we don't play our normal game. If we are gung-ho in this I see us getting comfortably beaten. We got to 4th place by being cagey and disciplined and that's what we need here, and its why I would play the same team that got us into the top 4, which means no ASM starting I'm afraid.

 

Our players need to play the game and not the occasion to have a chance of winning this. All talk of 68 years without a trophy needs to put firmly to the back of their minds. Stay calm, focused and don't ruin our chances with a daft sending off.

They are back alright. The old, snidey MUFC are back. Fergie has clearly been coaching him.

 

3 hours ago, nbthree3 said:

 

 

I've just watched the press conference where Mowbray is asked the question. His answer is depressingly realistic and balanced. 

 

Pity he manages that lot as he seems like a sound bloke tbf.

32 minutes ago, Sima said:

 

 Of course. First clip.

 

I've never been bothered about the Radford clip being shown so often. In fact it's a back-handed compliment, and a sign of how big we were back then and how much of a deal it was to beat us. There have been loads of similar upsets since then but they don't get shown like this one does.

 

For context, when this game was played NUFC had won three more trophies than Liverpool and were equal on trophies with Man Utd. However it wasn't until 1968 that Man Utd finally went ahead of NUFC on trophies won for the first time. Not once in their history had they won more trophies than us before 1968, and not once before 1977 had they won more domestic trophies. It's a testament to how badly run the club has been over the best part of the last 50 years.