Wandy

Honestly, the Georgian architecture in the city centre is wildly overrated. Grey Street is holding up quite well but the buildings of Granger Town are in a dreadful state. Absolutely filthy and signs of rot everywhere. It’s actually quite embarrassing seeing how badly the city centre has been allowed to decay and God only knows what visitors to  the city must think. And don’t get me started on all of the embedded chewing gum on every street. It’s absolutely rancid.

3 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

In terms of Strawberry Place, were an extension to the Gallowgate feasible (and I’m still not convinced that it is structurally unless something is done with the Metro station), then it is perfectly possible to build over the road and leave it intact (Ajax’s stadium has a motorway running under it).  Leaving Strawberry Place is situ is the easy bit.

 

As for Leazes Terrace, it won’t be touched and quite bloody right too.  There’s been enough unnecessary damage to Georgian Newcastle done over the years.

 

Adding a small additional tier onto the East Stand (which would need a full KD and rebuild on the current footprint) might be an option if you can get permission.

 

It all just looks like a fucking massive ball ache from a CE point of view.  The cost, if it can work, would be astronomical and completely unviable as a money-making venture.  If the PIF wants to spunk quarter of a billion on it, that’s their business tbf - just so long as the cost doesn’t land on the club’s accounts as a debt. 

I would raze it to the ground in a heartbeat. Completely pointless building in a part of the city centre that literally nobody goes to unless they are going to the match.

The benefits to the city in getting rid of it are 100 times greater than those in keeping it. 

7 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Aye, I like Milburn L7. A lot of different sections have their benefits and up there it's great for seeing how we're set up tactically and it almost feels like you're watching the entire stadium. 

Are you near the back row though? Being at the back of it is a very different experience to being in the front rows.

18 minutes ago, christ said:

There’s no way we get 67k on enough of a regular basis to justify that. There’s a balance between maximising gate receipts and availability of tickets. An extended Gallowgate taking us to 60k is the sweet spot.

 

Remember we’re in the honeymoon phase. Every expectation we have is being bested. We’re all in love with the club again. Life is sweet. Once this becomes the norm I don’t see us being able to pack another 15,000 into SJP every other week, let alone for cup and European fixtures.

If the club continues to operate as one of the elite then of course we can fill a 67K stadium every week. This isn't the honeymoon period, this is the celebrating the divorce from Ashley period. The honeymoon is when the trophies roll in.

If NUFC becomes one of the established elite then it will basically become the club of the entire North East, with a fanbase that stretches from the borders down to Darlington. That is a seriously large catchment area.

The Bernabeu is the best stadium in the world IMO when getting the balance right of stadium size and layout of the tiers around the it. And the modernisation of it with the all new roof will make it even better.

12 minutes ago, Jonas said:

That's inevitable in any big stadium. Its not physically possible to have a big stadium with a big capacity and have everyone having feel part of the game.

Iconic stadiums like Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid have done okay with lopsided and far away views/experiences whilst Old Trafford is and Anfield was lopsided.  Its personal choices but they're all better than Arsenal's ground for me.

Except that Level 7 at SJP is already higher and further back than any of the stands at those grounds. To put a Level 8 tier on SJP would be ridiculous and crossing the line over what is an acceptable view of the pitch. I don't think people sometimes appreciate how far away you are when at the back of Level 7. To go even further back would be preposterous.

Just now, wyn davies said:

I believe we don't own the stadium as far as I can remember , so is there any point in expanding to gain a few extra seats, unless something has changed, would of been better moving further up the road.

Stand to be corrected though .

Unless they have solely bought the land to use as a fan zone (highly unlikely IMO) then this looks like ending the debate of expanding/moving for a good while now.

4 minutes ago, Jonas said:

Would look really nice but we shouldn't limit our thinking to matching the Gallowgate up with the Leazes. Build it bigger.

The unevenness of the stadium is a virtue in itself.

An even bigger/higher stand than the current Level 7 would be ridiculous. The views at the back would be hideous and you might as well just watch the game at home.

I'm not a fan of having mismatched stands either, it just looks lopsided and messy.

Still not ruling this out over the long term. It all depends on how successful and/or powerful the club becomes.

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Assuming it mirrors the Leazes End it would give an additional 6,300 seats as the current L7 leazes corner holds 3,500 and the 5 blocks in Leazes L7 hold 2,800.

Really? So the Milburn Level 7 holds 10,000? I find that hard to believe.

21 minutes ago, jack j said:

Will make it about 60k if they expand the gallowgate to the leazes/Milburn size won't it?

Yeah, the existing Level 7 development added 16000 seats and the section behind the Leazes & the Leazes corner represents about half of those 16,000 seats. So looking like being bang on 60K capacity with this one piece of expansion.

Rename the redeveloped Gallowgate the "Fuck You Mike Ashley Stand", please. 

Absolutely bowled over by this news. Yet another fantastic thing that these amazing owners have fixed. 

The next thing that simply has to happen is the existing Gallowgate being turned into a safe standing Kop end, once the inevitable Level 7 extension happens. And I actually have every faith that the club will deliver on that too, so long as the Trust get involved and make sure they know about it. It will be a bit of a headache moving fans around but it will absolutely be worth it in the long term.

They will likely get a punishment that curtails them for 18 months to 2 years. So probably a full season ban from all cup competitions, a 15 to 20 point deduction for a season and a transfer embago for 18 months. The idea though that they will get relegated or have trophies taken off them is a complete fantasy. They are currently the established number 1 elite club in the country and are not going anywhere, but the punishment will allow the other clubs....like us....to close the gap on them. It's a win-win for the PL as it will show them as being tough but also make the league even more competitive.

I'm delighted with this news, I have to say. Not because of any dislike of City, but because it will now shut up all of the already entitled clowns who are emerging in our support, whining because we haven't spent £250m in every transfer window so far.

I always had a feeling we would not become "the next Man City" and this confirms it. And it's great news too because it would have become boring very, very quickly. We will definitely still have a lot of advantages through PIF's connections to other companies but we won't be able to cook the books like City seem to have done.

53 minutes ago, Sima said:

 

I do like "Grand Moff Howe" mind  

Aye, I chortled at it too. 

28 minutes ago, Lish007 said:

Considering Red Cafes name of us in their thread title: "Saudi Athletico Arabia", can we please retaliate with an appropriate name?

 

It's like nobody watches us play football and just think we waste time and roll around the floor. 

 

Jog on. I hope we fooking dick them, I can't stand their self righteous entitlement. 

 

They'll be owned by a state soon and I will rain down on them with all the shit they've given us! 

On RAWK I've seen them calling us "Death Star FC" and Eddie is "Grand Moff Howe". 

24 minutes ago, Chris_R said:

Surely you want this directly behind the goal, not at the back of the stadium?

 

Packing more fans in (which will eventually happen) needs to be close in to the pitch visually and to better carry the noise out, not hidden away 5 miles up where you need a sherpa to get to your seat and nobody can see or hear you.

 

I get that L7 has a reputation from years gone by as being where there's a lot of singers, but aside from that it's really not the best place in terms of acoustics or visuals to actually put a singing section.

Definitely agree with this. The safe standing area of SJP needs to be the Gallowgate. Having a singing section should be as much about being a visual spectacle as an aural one. Having fans hidden away in the Gods won't help the atmosphere anywhere near as much as having a visual "Kop" end behind the goal.

22 minutes ago, Sima said:

Was saying to a lad at work that when we were shite I'd softened towards Man Utd and will always begrudginly give Fergie credit for what he achieved but, by fuck, being where we are in the league fighting with them and being about to face them in a cup final in just over three weeks hasn't half opened up some old wounds from 94-04.

On Red Cafe over recent times, when they have been in Liverpool's shadow, they have been quite humble but now that they can smell success again the arrogance & entitlement is quickly coming back.

36 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

I reckon it's about 60-40 in Man Us favour. The two FA Cup Finals were probably 80-20.

We didn't lay a glove on either of them in the two finals. I'd hope that in this one we at least make the opposition get out of 2nd gear.