Wandy

10 minutes ago, pedro111 said:

I would love to be proved wrong but I honestly don't think we could regularly fill more than 65k. Even with success. The cup games will be a barometer. Correct me if I am wrong but I'm sure we didn't sell out most of our champions league games back in bobby's time. Would be a bit embarrassing if we ended up like man city.

I can only assume you weren't going to games in the 90s. We could have filled a 65000 stadium even back then. And, as Wallsend Mag points out, football is much bigger now than it was even back then.

I have to say, it narks me when I read comments about limiting capacity. I can only assume its those who smugly sit on season tickets that come out with these kinds of comments.

17 minutes ago, Turnbull2000 said:

 

Are you referring to the land adjacent to Ponteland Road? Would have through that would be Freeman land and unavailable? The land behind Leazes Park looks a bit too tight. Arena area is due to commence housing development.

 

Unless we by some miracle manage to reclaim the Strawberry place land, I think we're limited to a tiered East stand. Really can't see the club moving away from the city. Would rather stay where we are with 52-58,000.

It's basically the land that was part of the original Castle Leazes proposal in the late 1990s.

58,000 is nowhere near enough to fulfill the demand for a successful NUFC.

70,000 is the sweet spot for me. I think people are underestimating just how many walked away over the last 15 years.

It's not just about capacity though. SJP doesn't hold a candle to modern stadiums when it comes to facilities and pitchside views. Level 7 is an awful matchday experience for most, unless you are in the lowest rows of seats.

I think how the Saudis approach the stadium problem will give a good insight into how long they plan to stick around. If they just want to tart up SJP then that would suggest to me that they probably plan to flip us at some point in the next 10 years. An all-new stadium on Castle Leazes would be making a statement on a very long term plan.

Was up there watching it today and enjoyed it. Not sure that having those large flags in the crowd is a good idea mind with very young kids using them. There were numerous occasions around me when people were nearly getting their eyes taken out by them. Those things are lethal in the wrong hands.

The game itself was a good watch, particularly in the 1st half when we were pretty much camped in their half. From what I saw, the team holds possession really well and plays some nice stuff but lacks any kind of threat in the final 3rd. Hence the two goals coming from long range.

A special word for Charlotte Potts, who was immense at the back. She looks a superb player and was Botman-like out there.

I can’t see the Saudis getting involved with another big PL club. Unless they plan to simply takeover the whole league and call it the Saudi League.

I actually think there is mileage in the Apple/Man U thing though. The NUFC takeover may have just heralded the new era of the PL….oil state elite clubs v giant corporation elite clubs. Man U owned by Apple, Dippers by Amazon, Arsenal by Google, then us and City powered by the oil.

1 minute ago, et tu brute said:

Or that they refuse to attend the derby game as they are giving money to our owners 

Exactly. The thick fuckers have just painted themselves into a corner, about 10 coats deep. 

So, based on their newly acquired morals, if they get promoted this season (snigger) will they insist that the club does not accept the TV money that comes from the BEin deal? Insincere, virtue signalling cunts.

This is quite the eye-popping read. I thought that Everton had secured the funding to build their new stadium, now that the building work has started. Turns out that they don't seem to have it at all, and are working on the idea that if you just start the early parts of building it then that will attract investors to finish off the job. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/13/everton-football-club-new-stadium-bramley-moore-dock

Nice.

Whatever happens, it is fairly obvious that we won't just be sticking with SJP in it's current state. They will either find a way to expand it to 65k or they will build an all-new one somewhere within the city centre.

Not so long ago over there, that CaptainRed was one of their most rational posters, but even he/she has turned into a full-on bitter cunt now. Just goes to show, this is all turning even their most level headed brethren insane. 

Currently 60% say yes. 

Socialist club though. Ahem.

The self-loathing on there tonight is off the scale. Thoroughly heart warming to read.

3 hours ago, Paullow said:

Exactly the 50:00 mark on here 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0d3q73h

Haha, I love it. Without doubt one of our own on the wind up. 

Handling today’s events well over there then…..the quote below is their new reality in a nutshell. 

‘’I’m at the point now where I outright refuse to discuss football with the mags.

They were unbearable at the best of times. Never mind now, as they do have a decent team which they’ll build on as they have unlimited financial backing. Sadly the inevitable is going to happen unfortunately.

I’m just thankfully that I work from home most days as I couldn’t be arsed listening to that lot everyday of the week”

4 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

 

 

Sounds good so far. Not much in the way of songs but plenty of noise

Its like a library man. We literally dont appear to have a songbook anymore. We dont even sing the name of our own club these days. Pitiful.

Why does our home crowd not sing actual songs anymore? The SJP "atmosphere" is a total myth these days.

That thread is almost claustrophobic with their gloom. They are so badly raging & depressed you can almost touch it, and if we win on Sunday it really might send some of them over the edge. 

These fuckers are that desperate to see the takeover fail, that they seemingly want Saudi/Putin tensions to heat up, just so that NUFC don't get to become an elite club. Sad, sad Mackem Bastards.

3 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

Oh they are 

Quelle Surprise 

2 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

Nothing is going to happen, you've been reading too many mackem posts 

Spotted it myself actually. No doubt they will be all over it soon enough though. 

I've seen too many false dawns to get cocky about our future at the moment. When we have a state of the art training complex and and an all-new SJP I will start to relax, lol.

2 minutes ago, RodneyCisse said:

I mean Chelsea have landed on their feet. If it did go south and we lost them we’d still have Ashley gone.

We wouldn't have their luck, and would probably end up in the hands of Henry Fucking Mauriss. 

4 minutes ago, Stifler said:

What the USA does or doesn’t do won’t effect us in anyway. He went in to his tenure saying he would clamp down on Saudi and 18 months later, he’s done fuck all. This is all bluff to try and pressure them to produce more oil so that oil prices can come down.

 

The USA and U.K. will keep selling them weapons so long as they are willing to keep oil flowing and and the rest of the middle in line.

Not sure about that mind. We are the USA's pet, and when they say "jump" we say "how high?". Added to the fact that we need a post-Brexit trade deal with them too, I wouldn't be surprised to see this get messy.

It's why I am just enjoying this ride while I can and, especially in the current climate, won't be making any confident assumptions about how long this ownership will be around for. 

Just hope they stick around long enough to build that new training complex.....

This is a bit of a concern mind. It was be so very NUFC to have the rug pulled away from us just when things were getting good.

Another quick glance over at the lunatic asylum and it seems our rise up the table is really upping the ante in their rage-state, as the penny drops a little further about what has happened over the last 12 months.

And, can anyone explain what this loon is going on about???....."The vast majority of fans have no idea about Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general. To compare the situation to Man City is ludicrous - the UAE is barely 10m with only 20% being Emirati. Given the oil wealth it is easy to keep 2m citizens happy - they couldn't care less about the other 8m, Meanwhile Saudi is 35m people with a very young population with a much smaller migrant workforce. Keeping that young population happy is going to be very difficult. You also have to remember MBS broke the succession rules and later locked his enemies in a hotel and took their assets. He will have many many enemies and sooner or later it will go pop. We will have the final laugh here, of that I am absolutely certain".

So the Saudis will have to sell up in order to keep the Saudi people happy? That's a new one mind. 

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I literally don’t think there’s anyone in the thread clamouring for that. 

Nope. Pretty much everyone agrees that the stadium needs to remain somewhere in the city centre.

Build a replica of the all-new Bernabeu on Castle Leazes. It’s going to be the best stadium in the world when finished and will make Spurs’ stadium look like the Stadium of Shite. 
 

if the Saudis expect to own us for a long time then this is the level of ambition I imagine they will have for us. And if so, we really need to get on board with it.