Wandy

He will get a new & improved contract very soon to fend off Madrid IMO.

1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

I think in reality 52,000 isn't that far away from the limit in terms filling the place consistently. Any development will be as much about modernising the place generally and bringing it into the 2020s, probably including expanding the multi-use offering and the corporate experience, whilst trying to add as many seats as possible without a physical extension (though that will obviously be being explored too). 

If the club remains as as ambitious as it currently is then 52,000 is nowhere near enough. As has been pointed out earlier, there must have been at least 15,000 long-term ST holders who have walked away in the Ashley years who now cannot get back in.

Of course, the club must stay in the city centre....that is non-negotiable. But the idea that moving a few hundred yards north to Castle Leazes would "tear the soul" from the club is absolute bollocks. It would mean a bit more walking for a few minutes and that's it. 

Another very good reason for a fresh start in a new stadium is that, although many people want to come back, they also don't want to sit up in the Gods, which would be the only option in an extended SJP. 

The club needs a stadium that is basically a bigger version of how SJP looked in the 1990s. Symmetrical stands so that good views are accessible everywhere, and also that ensure the atmosphere is kept within the stadium.

People go on about the atmosphere at SJP but in reality it is pitiful compared to 25 years ago. That's due to the changed design of the stadium and also the many thousands of the more militant, vociferous supporters walking away. Only an all-new stadium will rectify those issues.

Mehrdad mentioned ongoing discussions with the council in today's takeover anniversary interview. If they've got any sense then those talks will have involved discussing the possibilty of building a new stadium at Castle Leazes and remodelling the park. Sorry to say but SJP will probably never cut it as an elite stadium. There are simply too many obstacles.

15 hours ago, Wolfcastle said:

 

My experience is such. Wasn't interested enough to rub it in during the utter dominances of the 90s and Sir Bobby-Ashley era. Just seemed redundant. Like now would recognise a couple players at best.

Title challenges, entertainers, champions league, cup finals, beating Barcelona/Juventus, world transfer record broken felt like nothing compared to their finishing a couple points ahead of us in midtable playing rancid football in terms of gloating.

I kinda regretted not hammering them with weaponary 10x anything they'll ever have but am making the same mistake all over again.

They're lucky they so quickly become insignificant and that being in the second tier is generally seen as par for the course and not notworthy.

Same here. I let them off with so much shit in the 90s and then kind of wished I'd given them more grief when they were doing well under Reidy and giving it the whole "2-1 FTM Top Dogs" shit of the early 2000s. But they again turned to shit, we soared again under Bobby and yet I still couldn't be bothered to grief them. Then we had the Ashley years and the six-in-a-row, the relegation in 2016 and once again they milked it for all it was worth. Now we have seen them be an utter shambles for the last 6 seasons and we've now shaken off Ashley, with a dazzling future possibly in store, with them going nowhere....and I still cant be arsed to properly take the piss. It's easy to see why though. Going excessively out of the way to mock them would just make us small time, like them.

So it really is best to just ignore them. And, ironically, that actually gets them wound up a lot more than any pisstaking ever could. It's much better to be hated than ignored.

42 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

I honestly don't know how I'd have coped and that's the truth! From that perspective I can understand the scale of the meltdown on Wearside and the fact that they've picked out human rights as their comfort blanket tbh. They've got nothing really. A middle of the road 2nd tier team, who, without wanting to sound arrogant here, are probably never going to get near us, the club that they set their benchmark against, in many of their lifetimes.

 

It must be completely soul destroying.

Yeah if it had been them hitting the jackpot and us in the shit then I would have been mortified. And it was pretty terrifying when it looked like they were going to be rich with the Dell takeover. So for that reason I don't blame them for losing interest or even thinking of walking away from football if we become an elite club.

What I cannot stand about them though is the OTT personal stuff....scum, vermin, murderers, horse punchers etc. And using a few individual idiots in our fanbase to fit their warped narrative. Like you say though, it's just a comfort blanket.

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

There's a couple of them work at my place. They point blank refuse to engage in any football conversation these days. One thing I will say is that they never mention hewman rights, nor have I heard any one else out in the real world.

 

I think that line is more a RTG coping mechanism than anything else, especially as their most vocal protester, Exile, was begging PIF to buy Man Utd a little over a year ago.

The ones that I know, and at work, are quiet as a mouse too. You can tell they are quietly seething though when the office is chirpy with all of the NUFC positivity. They are gagging for something to go wrong for us too, hence when we had the blip against Bournemouth a few weeks ago I had some texts from one of them regarding Howe "getting sacked hahaha". I have actually been easy on him for the last 5 years of their laughable existence but quickly shut him up.

It's unimaginable how bad they would have been if the two clubs' fortunes had been reversed over the last 5 years. The mouth on them would have been off the scale. 

9 hours ago, et tu brute said:

The one with Willock will be jlaws. That fucker every week makes up some shit, which then is blown apart. Even a day or two ago, he was saying the owners would sell up within 5 year, only for the Chairman to come out today, stating long term investment. The fuckers are absolutely broken and it's only increasing.

jlaws is probably the biggest whopper on there actually. Exile1968 is just an unhinged, deranged lunatic but this jlaws prick actually tries to present himself as some kind of intellectual because he has worked with Saudis in the past, or some shit like that. 

One year ago to the day when their world fell apart.  And cued up over 10,000 posts of delicious Mackem tears in less than a week.

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/nufc-sportwashing.1557357/page-352

12 months on, some of them have gnashed their teeth down to the gums.

https://twitter.com/moneymikeashley/status/1445819247133745152?s=61&t=kxzMyjQzli945s4u7vdq4w

Just reading through the thread from a year ago and this tweet from Money Mike caught my eye. Will we ever find out if it was really him, or one of his team? This tweet sounded uncannily like it really was him tweeting. 

1 minute ago, Groundhog63 said:

I still haven't recovered. 

I distinctly remember feeling gutted as I was sure we'd have beaten the dippers that day.

I can only imagine what this place would have been like if it had existed 25 years ago when our game got cancelled after Diana died. 

The last time this lot were ahead of NUFC in terms of number of trophies won was at the end of the 1922/23 season. Nearly ONE HUNDRED years ago.

Take out the 73 cup win and their entire status, in terms of any kind of success, happened pre-WW2. Since the end of the war though they have been in slow and steady decline, and have done almost nothing of note outside of the cup win (which was also a giant-killing freak result). Relegated 11 times though, which is impressively shit.

Their average league position since 1945 is something like 22nd in the entire league pyramid. Making them, officially, a second tier club.

The Championship is their natural habitat.

Hahaha, this is absolutely incredible. 

My last post in this thread was saying that Neil is the best manager they have had for 20 years and that he would get them up within a year or two. Well, they are absolutely goosed now. 

Its impressive how this lot find all-new ways to be a laughing stock. Never change Sunderland, never change. 

7 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

It was quoted earlier in the thread, Jon Driscol is either thick, or laying bait.

Hope so. The guy sounded ridiculously negative, to be fair. But I do have a feeling that expectations should be tempered with regards to what this lad will do for us.

Has anyone else listened to this? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0cwb5cn

Not exactly a glowing reference. I hope people aren’t expecting this to be a Shearer-esque signing. I’m confident that Eddie will extract every ounce of ability out of this lad but it seems we have wildly overpaid for him.

2 hours ago, UncleBingo said:

I know Walter and he's as bitter as they come, probably as he grew up in a predominantly black and white area. He's a canny lad normally, but he has an unhealthy obsession with NUFC.

From Whickham isn't he?

He hasn't changed at all since the late 90s when he was posting on the old Strawberry message board.

He reeks of someone who swam against the tide, chose to support SAFC whilst living in a NUFC stronghold...and has regretted it ever since. Wont ever admit of course.

They aren't coming up this season, but if they stay patient with Neil he will get them up either next season or the one after that. He's the best manager they have had since Reidy.

Looking forward to reading the Gerrard thread on Villa Talk tonight. 

With the state that Man Utd are in, it's now become apparent that 6th place is very much up for grabs. Even with just our current squad I think we will now be in the running for it. We will undoubtedly bring in more players too in the two windows of this season so it's not unrealistic to expect us to think that we might actually grab 6th now. Lots of things will have to go our way too, of course.

1 minute ago, loki679 said:

 

But you're just doing exactly the same thing you're trying to take the piss out of them for

 

You've gone full mackem

No, I am just highlighting their hypocrisy and duplicity.

They simply do not give a fuck about what's going on in Saudi Arabia. Their whole agenda is based on the fact that NUFC are, in theory, awash with money and are seemingly on their way to becoming an elite club.

4 minutes ago, loki679 said:

It's horseshit.  Everyone necessarily has connections with societies and behaviours that they might not agree with.  I don't particularly like the way Qatar have gone about building for their world cup but I still put petrol in my car.

 

It's not black and white, the world works in shades of grey. 

Exactly. And for that reason, we can have a go at the Dreyfuss family for their involvement in the middle east, the same way others can have a go at our Saudi ownership.

Just now, loki679 said:

So nothing you possess is of Chinese origin?

Loads of stuff actually. Including an iPad. 

I'm well aware too that, by buying that stuff, I contribute to the bad treatment of Chinese workers. I just don't care enough to stop.

I care about the human rights issues in Saudi too, but not enough to stop supporting NUFC though. Or actively celebrating the positives for me as a fan that come from Saudi ownership either.

Same way I turn a blind eye to appalling workers rights in China so that I can enjoy my ipad.

You are no different either, so stop pretending that you are.

1 minute ago, loki679 said:

 

Horseshit

Nope.

Also, the other two examples are bullshit as you have to wear a seatbelt by law. And no matter what you do, it's impossible to NOT participate in society. Buying an Apple product though is very much a personal choice.

1 minute ago, loki679 said:

 

 

It's horseshit.

It's not horseshit at all. People who care that deeply about Chinese treatment of their workers shouldn't buy an iphone and should boycott buying Apple altogether. The fact that pretty much everyone still does by Apple products, despite knowing how badly treated the Chinese workers are, is a great insight into how much they actually care, when it comes down to brass tacks.

Just had a quick catch-up on that abortion of a thread, and they are absolutely desperate to see us kick off because we haven't signed a whole new squad of expensive players, but are rattled to fuck that this is not happening, apart from a few bell-ends on twitter. What is actually happening is that the takeover hasn't gone as THEY feared it would.

Some of them will genuinely have a mental breakdown if they languish in the Championship while we become an elite club.