Wandy

5 minutes ago, RS said:

He said development though, not redevelopment. I’d expect the wrapping around of the Gallowgate/West stand and possibly reworking of the East stand within the existing envelope following.

Doesn't really matter on how he was quoted. Redevelopment is still a form of development. Also, I doubt they had a plan set in stone when they first thought about this, They have been learning on the job.

All of the current stands in SJP are antiquated. I don't see any way in which they can be modified to meet the standards of the world's best stadiums and deliver high-end corporate facilities. The cost alone of extending the Gallowgate by 8k seats will probably be one third of the cost of building an entire new stadium with a 75k capacity on roughly the same site, or on Castle Leazes.

Moving on to their 19th manager in 20 years.  Shambolic.

46 minutes ago, TeddySAFC said:

Good decision in my opinion, About time we were ruthless instead of just plodding along hoping something changes.

 

Mowbray undoubtedly did a good job on the whole, Had us playing some lovely football but the chances of a Mowbray team getting promoted are slim. Rumours are the board wanted shot in the summer but they kept him on due to the performances last season. We had Farioli lined up and backtracked, He's got Nice absolutely flying.

 

He was never a long term appointment, He was a stop gap for stability and to allow younger players to flourish. He's done that and it's all gone a bit stale, Obviously it's a gamble but it's one the owners think is worth taking in the next 'phase' of building the club back up.

I do think they have probably made the right decision. I also think the cup draw brought forward the plan to ditch him.

9 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Hate to sound like a cynic, but I am so I’m bound to - but I don’t think that the ‘fan survey’ will have any impact on the PIF’s actions.  They’ll go for what meets their needs - though of course that’s easier if most are behind it.  
 

I can’t see any significant protest if the decision is to leave SJP.  Firstly, because we don’t really do protests as a support.  Secondly, I didn’t see much of that from Arsenal when they left Highbury, and nowt from Everton when they left Goodison - both grounds being as well-known as any in English football and tied intrinsically to the early histories of the clubs as much as SJP is to NUFC (Arsenal leaving Woolwich for Highbury meaning they were effectively an early franchise club, and Everton leaving Anfield for Goodison led to the creation of Liverpool FC).  Barely a peep from West Ham in moving to that soulless Olympic ground, Man City’s support said nowt about leaving Maine Road.  All big clubs, I’m sure plenty of them got a bit misty-eyed for the final game and then onwards and upwards. 

Agree. Although I can appreciate the effort made by the club, the simple fact is that fans left to their own devices will never agree on much and will usually act in their own self-interests. We can already see current ST holders have an I'm alright Jack attitude towards moving their seat, never mind moving to a new stadium.

The club should just put forward their plan, give the reasoning for it, and take it from there.

31 minutes ago, RS said:

At the beginning of the year a relation of mine was working directly with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who told him focus was on developing St James’ Park and not moving. That may have changed since but that was the stance at the time. 

"Redevelopment" probably meant a total rebuild though, ie a new stadium on the same site.

The more I think about it, the more I am of the opinion that this survey is an indirect way of the club telling the fanbase that a new stadium needs to have a large corporate presence. And they obviously know that the average Joe is going to respond to the survey questions by saying they won't pay a fortune for a ST. They can then present the findings by saying that if the fans want the club to fulfil it's potential, with increased capacity, more revenue & better atmosphere then SJP in it's current form won't be able to deliver that.

Interesting times. The fanbase' response to this could determine how much extra investment the Saudis will put in and how long they will stick around for.

It may be their thinking that having a significant corporate presence will allow standard ticketing to be kept at a “reasonable” level. This might well be the reasoning given for binning off SJP in its current state. An all new stadium, pretty much in the same area but with the scope to accommodate all class of fans in large numbers. The current stadium will simply never be able to do that.

With the new regulator coming in, they couldn’t move away from the city centre if the fan base opposed it. It’s not happening anyway, they know the city centre location is a dream spot. If anything, more clubs will look to get closer to their respective city centres if they are looking to relocate.

Mowbray wouldn’t have got them promoted so it’s a brave decision by their board. They must have someone lined up you would think. In no way should this make a difference to the derby. This isn’t 2015.

Yesterday’s draw sealed his fate, the poor sod. New manager bounce for the derby marra, works every time. 

What’s happening on twitter?

My other half got the survey and I filled it out on her behalf. 

I made it clear that a new stadium should be no more than 10 minutes walk from the existing site.

Thought the survey in general was fine. Are people really twisting about this?

6 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

The stadium location is both the best thing about the club but also a massive pain in the arse for their dreams of revenue maximisation at all costs.

 

You can read between the lines to see how they are grappling with this reality. Perfect location means guaranteed huge crowds every week and an iconic stadium brand for the club, but it also means no fucker is interested in rocking up an hour before to eat and drink overpriced shit when there's a thousand better places in walking distance. 

 

I've heard on the grapevine that they are completely not interested in the arena site. I do find it mildly surprising if true as it's probably perfect for fulfilling the niche of not quite being out of town but also being peripheral enough that they could probably drag people in early the way Spurs stadium does, or have it surrounded by fan parks and soulless club associated eateries 🤢

If they include catering & entertainment facilities that are impressive and affordable enough I’m pretty sure that they’d entice enough people in mind, especially with a 70k+ stadium. And particularly, the all-new fans that have no experience of the ‘established’ pre-match rituals.

To be fair, the corporate sections can be whatever they want, so long as the majority of the stadium caters for your average Joe.

5 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

The survey is awful mind. There is one cursory mention of improving the atmosphere. Literally everything else is about improving corporate, comfy seats, food and drink, how much you are willing to spend. All stuff I literally couldn't give a single fuck about - but this seems the way it's going to go.

 

Particularly jarring when you consider Mehrdad's comments on atmosphere.

Yeah, they need to be in no doubt that any rebuild needs to have atmosphere as a priority. That means a proper roof that extends to the pitch and stands close to the pitch too.

10 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

I get the feeling they're seriously considering the new stadium route, be damned what Mehrdad said.

I said ages ago that Mehrdad would regret saying that about not moving. The truth is that even the owners underestimated the potential of the club.

I still say they will try to move the terrace first, moving it deeper into the park. After that they can start the new build by building up the entire east side of the new stadium. They then knock down the Gallowgate or Leazes next and move ST holders from that stand into the all-new east stand. From there, keep knocking down the other stands and temporarily move ST holders from those into the next newly built part of the new stadium.

1 minute ago, Nucasol said:

Brick by brick?

Pretty much. Easily done too. Permission to do it is the (very) tricky part.

2 minutes ago, Orphanage said:

Wont happen . Its either a new stadium on part of Leazes park - which solves the where would we play in the meantime question - or its as you are cos its hard to see how they can extend any other part of the ground . 

They are trying to get the terrace moved, I'm convinced of it.

We will be on the telly every week pretty soon....

https://x.com/SkySports/status/1731732671674335697?s=20

https://x.com/footballontnt/status/1731731901830807893?s=20

We aren't going to be moving from the city centre, it's simply not happening. It's becoming very clear though that a complete rebuild on the existing site is looking the most viable solution.

40 minutes ago, midds said:

It's a one-off game and that tends to favour the underdog. It'll define their season tbh - a 6th place finish and lose to the mags = failure, a 14th place finish and beat the mags = success. This game is their cup final and it's naive to think they won't raise their game and be massively up for it. They also have little pressure and are expected to lose. I'd love to go there and put 4 or 5 past them but realistically it'll be tighter than we'd all like. 

 

What I think I'd like most of all is a replay and the chance to do them at SJP and make it a biblical victory. Just going to put it all on the backburner for now though, we've got genuinely more important matters than those cunts to see to first, let's see where we are on Jan 2nd and take it from there

 

edit - we've also got the benefit of their best player (Clarke) playing on the LW and he's up against Trippier. By most accounts if Clarke doesn't perform then this lot are bang average at best. Trippier plays then I'll be confident 

Think you might be understating it tbh. For them, it could define their next 5 seasons, for better or worse. A crushing, heavy defeat for them could send them into a deep depression but a win could give them an almighty lift to snatch a play-off win.

For us, a defeat would be infuriating & very embarrassing, so there is plenty at stake for us too. We'd get over a defeat pretty quickly of course but there's no point denying it....this is the biggest TW derby since the 1990 playoffs. We lost that one so it's time to avenge it.

1 hour ago, Izakaya said:

Oh my god. This season is utterly insane. 

It really has been utterly bonkers so far, and feels like virtually every game we have played has had monster stakes attached to it. And this Mackem game has just upped the ante by another few notches.

It's a cliche to say it, but every game really does feel like a cup final at the moment.

I don't like it when they are this grounded. Can we have some of that loveable Mackem delusion please?

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/us-v-the-mags-honest-predictions.1620967/

Our record in knockout competitions against them is actually dreadful. 8 ties over 5 different competitions and we have lost 6 of them. We need to start putting that right, starting now.

Let's face it, all of the pressure is on us. If they win they will dine out on it for the next 40 years. We really have to beat them, no excuses.

Can't remember the last time I've seen a new signing look so impressive right from the off. Every game he just looks top class. I really hope that Lewis Hall turns out as good as this kid.

Thought it sounded great yesterday, and maybe there were some of the old brigade congregated together in there too? Heard for the first time renditions of "Hark now hear..." and "Drink, drink, wherever you may be...." Proper 80s songs, and I can't remember the last time I heard them at SJP, or even at away games.

I was out in town on the booze with work from 12pm yesterday and the town bars were buzzing right from the off. You can tell when people are just up for a game. PSG at home had the same vibe.

On another note, is it just me or does the crowd noise sound louder on the MOTD highlights than when on live on Sky & TNT? Wonder if they muffle the mics for live games?