Wandy

24 minutes ago, loki679 said:

It is whataboutery though

 

There's no rational comparison between being part owned by a company that has investments in the middle east and literally being owned by the Saudi state.

We aren't owned by the Saudi State.

14 minutes ago, 54 said:

They're Brighton fans and are just down the road from Bournemouth. 

I get that. But rating Potter higher than Howe? That is contentious, to say the least.

Very reasonable comments on that Brighton forum. They don't like Eddie though and seem convinced that Potter is better than him. What do we make of that?

This is going to drag on through the month but I do think we will get him.

2 minutes ago, Jaqen said:

 

People were arguing Botman would be crazy to sign for Milan over us on here too to be fair 

it’s the way they are looking down on us as a club and area that is laughable. No matter what they do, LCFC will never, ever be bigger than NUFC.

53 minutes ago, Gaztoon said:

 

 

Crazy ain't it.

 

Shearer 15m gets more and more crazy as the years pass 

If the current transfer market had existed in 1996 we would probably have needed to throw £150m at Jack Walker to get him to sell Shearer to us.

The delusion on the Leicester forum is astounding. Talking about themselves like they are Arsenal or Chelsea. 

I've not been keeping up with these clowns over the summer as their bile towards us on that NUFC thread is just tiresome. Have they actually bought anyone at all yet?

3 minutes ago, Hovagod said:

Absolutely. But I don’t think I would have stood on terraces like that. I suppose I’m haunted by the pictures of you know what. 

Not surprised. And there were many, many games pre-Hillsborough where the "tipping point" was nearly reached and a similar tragedy might have happened. 

2 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

Weirdest thing is at my first two away games - mackems 91 and Derby 92 I seen about 3% of the game and absolutely loved it.

The perspective then wasn't about a day out or entertainment just support really

 

 

 

Especially when supporting the NUFC of the 80s and very early 90s. 

It was all about the day out back then. One weekend I remember in the old 2nd division we played Bournemouth away. The coach was delayed and we missed the kick-off, and also missed NUFC taking the lead. Just as we got in to the ground, the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked. Then Bournemouth eventually won 2-1. Then we went straight back home.  Was still a great day out though.

6 minutes ago, Hovagod said:

I just can’t believe people were happy to be crushed up next to each other like that. It’s an aspect of football culture I have never understood. 

Atmospheres in stadiums in the modern game in the UK are still based heavily on 1980s terrace culture. It probably does seem crazy to someone who has never experienced it but, believe me, it was brilliant.

14 minutes ago, Happinesstan said:

They were absolutely terrifying at times. The number of times I thought I was a goner, ribs squashed against concrete barrier.

Loved it.

The whole era was scary, dangerous and exhilarating. Probably the scariest I have seen was Spurs away in the FA cup in 87. If there had not been an empty corner pen to put excess NUFC fans in then we could have been talking a Hillsborough situation before Hillsborough even happened.

Away games were scary as owt too. Running the gauntlet when walking to the stadiums via fields and back alleys. I was never remotely a hooligan but got caught in the crossfire on a fair few occasions. It was all part of the "thrill" though.

1 minute ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

The Man U at home game the following season had, ahem,  quite a good atmosphere too! Even though. I swear we didn’t dominate as much as the 0-1.  

Good point. But I think the atmosphere in the 1-0 was on another level for the pre-match 30 minutes and then the entire 1st half. Once Cantona scored there was a sinking feeling around the crowd. The previous 90 minutes though was simply incredible.

The 5-0 was fantastic too mind, especially once we got "comfortable" at 4-0. And yeah, we absolutely pissed all over Man Utd much more in the defeat than we did in the win. How we were not at least 3-0 up at half time in that lost game is a mystery. If we had just drawn that game we'd had won the title IMO.

Since we are reminiscing about the KK era and nights out of old... I still shudder at the thought of watching the Liverpool 3-4, Blackburn 1-2 and Forest 1-2 defeats on the big screen in Bambras. Like many, I am still scarred by that feeling of the realisation that we were going to blow the title. 

On the flipside, the atmosphere in the 0-1 home defeat to Man Utd is probably the best I have ever witnessed at SJP. Only Barcelona at home could maybe rival it. I cannot see there ever being an atmosphere like those two at a NUFC home games ever again, no matter what we end up with as a stadium.

43 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

Ah! Nightclubbing in Shields. Buddy’s anyone (below)? £2 in and 40p a pint (Christ I feel old). Occasionally walking home (… about ten miles!) when taxis started demanding money up front. Never saw Kev there mind ?‍♂️

Pretty much all of the old Shields bars have gone now. Roxanne's is still clinging on for dear life though, I think. 

One more from me. Back in those days we would have nights out in Newcastle, Whitley Bay, South Shields and, yes, even Sunderland. All were great nights out and always busy. I always liked South Shields as something a bit different....Oz nightclub, anyone?  ...

Then you had the likes of Whickham on a Sunday, always rammed. I was up there a few weekends ago and it was like a ghost town.

3 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I was out pretty much every night from 15-25 in Toon and you could say it was busy compared to now of course, but some bars and clubs and places were dead from my experience. It, again, was mostly the familiar bars that were busy thanks to regulars, like the Black Garter who after work in the Grainger Market, everyone would go to for a few, myself included. If NUFC played at home on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays then things got busier. Sundays from my memory used to still be busy, not Friday-Saturday levels, but busy enough

Was this the early/mid 90s though? And are we talking about the Bigg Market / Quayside bars here? If you are talking about other areas of town, like Haymarket / Granger Market etc then yeah, I can see your point. But my experience of the party bars that I went to was that they were very lively for nearly the whole week through.

21 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Only night town was quiet was Sunday and Monday. Shops mainly closed on a Sunday in those days remember and drinking only allowed for a couple of hours until lunchtime approx. (I bet that blows peoples minds ? )

 

Tuesday was always busy as it was Nurses night so all the hospital staff and student nurses etc tended to go out. Wednesday was a dance night and the nightclubs opened up for the night with cheap drink deals, likes of Walkers (with metal detection security?). Thursday tended to be works nights with council etc staff.

 

Thats another that’s massively changed. Socialising amongst your work colleagues. Seems nonexistent these days and last few years. Especially for the pay day nights out etc.

It's bad enough what has happened to social attitudes with regards to drinking times etc, but I think the pandemic has really, really damaged us as a society when it comes to being social etc. I find it really depressing how so many people are delighted to work from home instead of being in the workplace. I get that there is a big saving in transport costs etc but being in the workplace is just so much better for mental and physical wellbeing IMO.

1 hour ago, LFEE said:

Well back in the day (awaits everyone to insert rolling of eyes emoji’s ? ) you had a limited but sensible time allowed to drink with last orders normally called around 22:50 and then you were shown the door around 23:15 when time was called around 23:00.

 

So growing up everyone used public transport and mingled (all age groups) and headed into town on a Friday for example 17:30-19:00 after a days work. Buses and metros always busy and lively and this carried on into pubs where all your groups would have their meet up points and route pre-arranged (no mobile phones remember!) with mine being Dobsons between 18:30-19:15 and working through Bigg Market and ending at the Blackie Boy 22:00 for lasts.

 

Everyone would then either all head home and be done or have a couple in someone’s kitchen if still in the mood whilst others would go to a Nightclub opened up specially for a dance and to try and meet someone you fancy.

 

The beauty of this was the pubs only needed to pay the staff a sensible amount of hours which were full on. The council got the benefit of the majority of people using public transport. The younger ones were kept in line as were mingling with older folk so everyone self policed themselves so ASB and litter etc was a minimum. The taxi drivers earnt a decent living as a restricted amount running for those living further afield and for the nightclub crowd. Everything was just more of a routine and dare say predicable but always busy.

 

Since the extended drinking hours (04:00?) you’ve got one age (older) group going out sooner so pubs still having to open even earlier in the day and as their nights are coming to an end and they get quiet public transport back the more middle aged have arrived separately and started their days then leave either last line of public transport or stay on an hour and grab a taxi parked up whilst the younger ones pre-load all together in one of their houses with cheap drinks from supermarket then mini bus or taxi in around 11pm earliest and then spend very little in bars staying open until 4am paying their staff extra hours etc leading to higher drinks prices which then deters the older and middle aged to visit as often. The public transport prices then go up as not used as much. The ASB and litter gets worse because the young ones practically have the town to themselves and no self policing going on.

 

Notice I used the word Bars. Used to be pubs and then nightclubs by and large. Now you have Bars having to cater for the music oriented customer which of course deters the older and middle aged crowds with the constant boom boom.

 

So in short the wider timescales people have to drink have slowly but surely separated social groups further, increased prices of drinks due to many preloading and staff, power, insurance etc having longer and higher usage costs for no income benefit. Transport both public and private more expensive as having to pay for night buses or taxi longer hours , increased ASB and litter making certain areas less appealing. 
 

I reckon the only positive has been very few queues to get in anywhere or get served compared to the 90’s. The smoking ban was great but obviously not for some. Also gives those a chance who work in pubs to go out for a few hours after a shift I dare say.

 

Town still can be great after everyone has been paid and hoping matchdays will get back to what they were with renewed optimism as you’ve many age groups going and then staying out after the match but as a whole and I think this applies City wide I.E. not London, I think extended drinking hours has had a very negative effect on society.

 

Something you can probably tell I’ve been thinking for a while ?

Agree with a lot of this, except that I think anti-social behaviour has reduced since the change. Not that Newcastle was ever a rough night out in the 90s. The Bigg Market's bad reputation came from the earlier period of the early to mid 1980s, when some of the bars were very lairy. I worked in some of the bars around the Grainger Market in the later 80s and that was an "interesting" experience at kicking out time at 11pm.  ....but the 90s seemed to herald a change in attitudes all round.

28 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I’ve been drinking in town since I was 15 up until a few years back and it was never as busy as things were made out during weekdays, yet come Friday to Sunday it was always massively busy. During the week only a select few bars with their regulars were busy, like the Black Garter for example. Obviously whenever NUFC played or play the bars get busier. It’s not and never has been this 7 day a week party city that the media portray. I can’t tell anyone how busy it is these days on any given day as the last time I drank in Town was before Covid!

Sorry, but you are wrong on this. For pretty much all of the 90s Newcastle's "party bars", ie the Bigg Market, and the likes of Legends on Grey Street & Bar 42 on Hood Street were busy for most of the week. I'd say the Bigg Market bars were at 100% capacity on Friday & Saturday nights and a little less on Sunday night. Then you would have the student night of Monday, which easily had these bars at around 70% capacity, because a lot of the students were actually locals....and non-student youngsters just tagged onto the night anyway. Tuesdays were always dead but on the Wednesday things would start to pick up again and then on Thursday nights the bars would probably be at about 50% capacity. Believe me I know this, because I did it heavily throughout the whole period. The fact that KK's NUFC were so massively popular and always on the TV also helped as the games were shown live in a lot of these bars.

4 hours ago, Sima said:

I was 12-16 when Keegan was our manager and had a ST for it's entirety. 

 

What a fucking ride, man.  Some of the best years of my life.

I was 20 - 25 for the KK era, and also wisely got one of the half-season tickets available in the 92/93 promotion season, otherwise I would have been locked out of SJP for those 5 amazing years.

Literally could not have timed it better. It was a glorious time, not only to be a NUFC fan, but also being a young Geordie living on Tyneside. They were the days when the Bigg Market & Quayside were in their absolute pomp, rammed every night for 6 days out of 7. Even more luckily, my University years also ran concurrently with the KK era, and it's no exaggeration to say that the weekend started on a Wednesday and ended on the Monday, with Tuesday off to recover. 

The town is a woeful night out these days compared to the halcyon days of the 90s...only truly busy on a Saturday night, and the bars are just dull as fuck. I actually feel a bit sorry for the local kids of today, not seeing how or why Newcastle got it's party-town reputation.

1 hour ago, Whitley mag said:

How will an expanded Gallowgate in the mirror image of the Leazes end change the atmosphere ? The Gallowgate end significantly creates a better atmosphere due to its lower roof, but this could be down to the more vocal fans being in that end also. I would worry though that the atmosphere would suffer with the current  structure just simply continued around to the Gallowgate.

 

Expansion is a must, but the current Leazes development has never been conducive to creating a good atmosphere and keeping noise in the ground.
 

 

Agree with this. Taking the cowshed roof off the Gallowgate will definitely make the SJP atmosphere worse but it looks like it will be a price we have to pay. But if they do build a glass wall on top of the East Stand then that will help to keep some of the noise within the stadium.

They have obviously seen this mock-up and thought "Bingo".

It is hilarious how they now trawl the internet every day in a desperate search for kindred spirits who may think in a similar manner to them when it comes to NUFC. This is their football-supporting life now, utterly consumed by rage and envy of their neighbours. Thoroughly heartwarming. 

1 minute ago, SteV said:

Members get first dibs, so it depends if there’s any left after they’ve been on sale to them. And the way things are going that’s looking like becoming less likely, certainly for ‘big’ games. 
 

If you’re going to be looking to purchase individual match tickets, it’s definitely advisable to get a membership.

Is membership an annual renewal thing?