Wandy

I've added a poll with some questions. Let me know if there is anything I should add.

I'm liking this lad's bravery. https://fb.watch/i_-K3fyCE7/

The Glazers will be absolutely mental to turn down £4.5Bn in the hope of getting £6Bn. Pretty sure they will agree a deal of £5Bn with the Qataris. At the moment its all part of the negotiation tactics, to make it look like they might stay. Although it will undoubtedly give them more power it will also be good for us as it fully legitimises our own takeover and puts a lot of the "Sportswashing" spotlight on them and away from us. There's also no way they will dominate like they did under Ferguson. There is too much competition this time around.

Great post, but also pretty depressing too. Unfortunately the Ashley years highlighted that we have a sizeable amount of wankers in our ranks. Every club has them though as it is a society thing. Agree that the damage inflicted will need time to repair. I think that the dust has still yet to properly settle on all of the bomb damage done by him, to be honest. The smoke is slowly clearing and we are seeing what is left of the club we once had.

Hear what you are saying, but just because almost everywhere is dreadful doesn’t mean that we should accept it. We can get it to at least 75% as good as it was just 20 years ago. And it’s already been pointed out that there is still an excellent atmosphere at places like Elland Road, City Ground and even Old Trafford.

Very much agree. To be honest, the flags on Sunday were truly incredible and I felt such pride watching them in the boozer. If we can get the noise back to match the level of the displays we will be in a really great place as a fanbase.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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".

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

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.