Wandy

Means nothing. You can still easily have a better atmosphere in a stadium with 30k people in than one with 50k in it. Reduction of numbers doesn't necessarily equate to a degradation in atmosphere.

I like how she all but admits they should have sacked Captain Steakbakes earlier than they did.

Nah, we were largely silent even for the semi-final v Southampton man. It might never have been perfect back in the day but there's no way a 1990s/2000s SJP would have been so mute for such a big occasion.

Don't see any mention of human rights in that thread. It's all about wanting the Saudis to leave so that we lose all of our gloating rights. They absolutely hate how optimistic we are about our club.

You obviously didn't see their reaction to Sunday's result. Hopefully they will be in the Championship, or worse, for at least another 5 years. They absolutely hate being a football irrelevance outside of the PL. Long may it continue.

Nah, again I disagree. If you look at Man Utd, and even Liverpool these days, what their fans do to keep an atmosphere going is get their songbook going. It's the perfect way to keep an atmosphere bubbling along, even if a game is poor, and it kills me to admit it but Man U do it really well. Even Liverpool have been pretty good when I watch them at Anfield, as they get the "Allez, Allez" song, or the "Jurgen said to me...." one going around the stadium to give it a lift. Because we have almost completely lost our old classic songbook, then when a game goes flat, the place just goes silent. There's two ways to make an atmosphere. One is getting raucous in reaction to match events, and the other is having a sing-song when the match goes flat. We have lost the ability to do the latter.

I wish we still just gave away fans the small Leazes/East Stand corner. It was the perfect spot for a singing match between both sets of fans.

Last season was definitely better than this one. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, we seem to make more noise when under adversity. This season, in a comfortable position, it's completely lost its edge. The Man City game was right at the beginning of the season when nobody would have expected to make a consistent push for the top 4.

Definitely a good idea, but it would need to be in addition to the Gallowgate.

I disagree I'm afraid. 25 years ago we had a varied songbook that got aired at most games. Now we've got 3 songs in total, and they are all shit. The atmosphere would go quiet in games back then too, but not in the way it does now. We are literally kicking off games this season and you hear a pin drop right from the referee's whistle. It's painful to witness.

A lot of the old classics started to die off in the Ashley era, as the fact cunt slowly choked the life out of the club. One song that emerged in that era that made be genuinely angry was the "Don't sell Cabaye" one. A perfect measure of how small time Ashley had now made NUFC, in that fans were now singing a begging song to keep hold of an above-average midfielder.

Man Utd fans' take on our support on Sunday, for anyone still interested... https://www.redcafe.net/threads/haha-newcastle.475864/post-30223173

"I’m expecting this six years deep into PIF ownership, not now". This highlights the real worry, I think. The club is changing so fast, and if we are not careful then it could be the case that the club's fanbase could quickly be unrecognisable from the one that NUFC are famous for. All fan groups, fanzines etc have got to come together to ensure that like-minded people are together at SJP. The cup final was disappointing but an anomaly, in the grand scheme of things, as there can be various mitigating circumstances that make the atmosphere bad in those one-off games. But there needs to be a system put in place at SJP so that everyone knows more-or-less what to expect atmosphere-wise at home games.

They do need it, but not for player recruitment. It's required to rebuild their stadium and a brand new training complex. If Red Cafe is to be believed they don't have a pot to piss in, in terms of money in the piggy bank for infrastructure. The Glazers have squirreled it all away.

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.