ponsaelius

:lol: that opening Good game boys

I thought that was easier than last week Still challenging like. Loved the Euro 2004 round. Like Yorkie that's a tournament that I enjoyed and remember really well. First stickerbook I ever finished.

Pre-season friendlies in the Saudi heat sounds horrendous/impossible.

I posted earlier in this thread. The place the ground was moving to in 1997 was "Castle Leazes", an area of the Town Moor, not Leazes Park. https://www.newcastle-online.org/forum/index.php?topic=36257.msg7165509#msg7165509 The development would have encroached slightly into (but also also significantly expanded) the pre-existing Leazes Park. On seeing the plans again, it's not actually bad at all. As far as I'm concerned, the Town Moor is by and large a massive waste of cow shit covered space. But to build on it you need the freemen's blessing.

Not really possible as there's nowhere else to play while work is being done (unlike with Spurs).

A refusal would have definitely been allowed on appeal and a good chance of an award of costs against NCC. The stadium itself has no protected status. The pitch is locally listed but that's it. It is very difficult to argue a decision based on protecting views of the stadium. You couldn't also refuse an application on a site that currently offers very little to the city, on the chance that hypothetically a future proposal may come forward that is better or preferable. That's simpy not how it works. It's frustrating, because I personally think the Strawberry Place development not befitting of the location nor setting of SJP - but little the LPA could do in this instance. And I don't blame councillors for following LPA recommendations - so often they get criticised for doing the opposite. On a personal level, I'm strongly against a move away from the current location. SJP is in my opinion the best stadium I've been to because of it's central location, and its setting alongside Leazes Terrace and Leazes Park. These are layers of history that reflect the city's identity, and is almost completely unique in British football. Even if we can't wrangle back Strawberry Place for a Gallowgate expansion I'd still be against moving.

Ki definitely has 150+ PL apps as well like. And it's his family name (regardless of which way around it is anglicized).

Yeah i'll play

Jason Dodd

Rob Lee Ben Mee Sung-Yueng Ki Chung Yong Lee?

Helluva score that

I found the World Cup and Guess the Player rounds very easy, but the other three rounds extremely hard. No middle ground.

Good effort Neesy, enjoyed that, although I struggled big time with some of those NUFC questions. If whoever does the next one can include some European and World football rounds that would be grand...

Yeah I'll play

It’s brilliant - loved it - thought I was.quite clued up on wor Diego but this added a few extra details to my memory bank - shame they turned on him after 1990 They way they turned on him after 1990 was ridiculous. He was playing for his country FFS. What's he meant to do, miss on purpose? I thought the way they framed that was strange. Fair enough if that's really the reason he was turned on, however it seemed to me his main crime was trying to convince Napoli fans to support Argentina in the run-up to the match Yeah didn’t understand that - especially from the city of Napoli - let’s just forget what he did in the previous 5 years or so for you - you were a nothing club before he arrived Thought Ciro Ferrara came out of it well - really liked him when he was at Juve Neapolitans did not turn on him - I think that bit was badly portrayed in the documentary. He's obviously still deified to this day.

Oh FFS can't believe I've missed this

Shame this season is a write-off, turning into a great one for english-oot schadenfreude.

I prefer Papu Gomez is great but Ilicic is a better player. A recent fan poll named him the best player in their history, which says a lot to how he's playing right now (but also how far they're currently punching above their weight).

Ilicic has been playing at this level for 2-3 years, completely under the radar. Fantastic player to watch.

Few teams I've enjoyed watching as much as Atalanta the last few seasons. A team built on a tiny budget but they just go for it and try to score goals.

Far better player.

I'm not quite sure how I managed to blag a weekend in Venice and Verona to watch football on my own - days before Valentine's Day - and remain in a relationship

Weekend for me just gone. Pics within spoilers, most of them shite, need to buy a camera. Venezia 0-1 Frosinone @ Stadio Pierluigi Penzo Fantastic little ground located at the very tip of Venice proper. There's been talk of the American owners moving the stadium to Mestre (mainland from Venice) and into a boxy new stadium. No doubt this would make the club instantly more supportable, profitable and easily sustainable as a Serie A side. However it would mean the loss of one of the most charming stadiums locations I've ever been to. It's about an hour walk through Venice, and as you reach the far eastern tip Venice stops being a gondola theme park and becomes a lovely residential area. The stadium only has 1 main stand (the other 3 are temporary) but has a church within the grounds. No divine intervention for Venezia though, losing 0-1, and barely mustering so much as an effort at goal all game. Results elsewhere meant they now sit in a relegation play-off place in Serie B. The visit complete with a boat ride back to the station to get back to Verona. Hellas Verona 2-1 Juventus @ Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi This is a ground I've wanted to go to for years ever since reading 'A Season with Verona' by Tim Parks. Verona is home of the Lega Nord, and their fans (or core ultras at least) are known for their outward racism more than perhaps any other club in Italian football. Historic Verona itself is beautiful, but the area in which the Bentegodi is located is pretty standard soulless Italian suburbia. The stadium is an enormous concrete bowl - like a landed spaceship. Realising the need to fit in and not appear a Ronaldo fanboy, I bought a Verona scarf from one of the streetsellers. A 'sell-out' meant I had to go through a re-seller to get the ticket. All tickets for Italian games require your name and DOB printed to accompany a passport or identity card. When my seller earlier in the morning assured me that the printed A4 paper stapled to the ticket showing it had been transferred to me would be enough, I was dubious, but reluctantly accepted since I'd already paid and had nowhere else to turn. Sure enough after an hour of queuing to get into the ground (checking every ID and every bag takes time) the security guard tells me my ticket is no good and under no circumstances can I get into the stadium. I'm shepherded to the side where a bunch of other tourists and undercover Juve fans (more on this soon) have seemingly also been caught out with a combination of fake or re-sold tickets. I argue through the fence with officials who have came to speak to the throng of rejects, ponder ringing the seller to scream blue murder, but ultimately begin to resign myself that I'm not going to get in. The officials briefly move away telling us to stay while they presumably go to clarify protocol. It's 20 minutes until kick-off, and I notice that they've started hurrying people through the barcode scanners ahead of me as thousands still wait to get in. In a flash I make a break for it without looking back, ripping the A4 paper off my ticket, through the electronic barrier, and run straight up the first flight of steps I see and into the first spare seat I find. Phew. Turns out the seat remained empty for whatever reason. An unbelievable atmosphere. Considering the distance from the pitch, and the cavernous nature of the stadium, the noise generated by the Verona ultras is very impressive. Admittedly this is their biggest game in probably 20 years - but nevertheless extremely impressive. Verona dominated most of the general play, and had a goal scored but latterly disallowed by VAR. Juventus hit the woodwork a couple of times when they did get forward. Second half is more even and Ronaldo scores after about an hour. In front of me a bunch of about 40 Juve fans (probably Veronese themselves) jump up and celebrate the goal, gleefully screaming 'siuuuuu' when Ronaldo completes his celebration. This is too much for some of the Verona fans. A terrifying group of them run over and confront them, they are urged to leave, there's a flurry of kicks, somebody is punched to the ground. This is right in front of me and groups of families with children. I don't know what it says about me that although I really don't condone violence, I can't help but think it's quite a bit deserved. Eventually it's broken up, and pressured by the irate Verona fans, around 10 Juve fans were removed from the ground by stewards. I'm very glad right by this point that I had the yellow and blue scarf. Undeterred by the goal, Verona kept plugging away and got a break late in the game with ex-mackem Borini getting his first home Verona goal. This is followed later by a VAR award of a penalty for a handball. 35 year old Pazzini off the bench buries it and it's bedlam. The final minutes of the game went by without any real Juve chances and it finished 2-1. Remaining exposed Juve fans were taunted and ridiculed as they left. A very memorable experience all round. Brescia 1-1 Udinese @ Stadio Mario Rigamonti There's very little to talk about here. Except it was fascinating watching Balotelli trying to play with a bunch of mostly Serie B standard players. In fact it's fascinating watching him play at all these days. Technically, there's no doubting he still has quality, but he seems to have absolutely no idea how to utilise it to raise Brescia's limited side. Or to even move or function as a centre forward. Sandro Tonali, who is supposed to be the next Pirlo, was largely disappointing too. Somehow they steal a goal with about 10 minutes to go after being dominated most of the game. I had to leave early to get to Milan, so missed Udinese's injury time equaliser. Stadium is not the most memorable. 1 main stand and 3 large temporary ones built to bridge at least some of the gap from the pitch. Still, a worthy visit as Brescia is a really beautiful city. Inter 4-2 Milan @ San Siro Again a sellout and leaving it late to buy a ticket means I go through a reseller. Only after buying it do I realise it's in the Milan end. Inter have made all of the Milan fans enter through 1 gate. It's carnage trying to get in and pissing it down. There's an enormous and for a small moment quite frightening crush of people. A policeman is hit on the head with a flag. No ID or ticket check though, just vigourous searching and bag checks. Finally to the gate where there's a mix of people slowly moving through, and a gaggle of others trying to 'steal' in behind whenever somebody goes through the barrier. I'm slightly scared somebody will notice I'm an alien and snatch my ticket, and also a bit frightened I could have been sold another dud and won't get in. Thankfully no such problems and I'm straight through. Once in I realise that my ticket appears to be directly in the centre of the Curva Sud. The concourse entrance is completely blocked with a forest of bodies, flags and various other paraphernalia. I decide this is a bad idea and move further to the periphery, where a number of seats have been freed by the agglomeration in the middle. I'm definitely not a Milan fan, and generally have preferred Inter in the past to be honest. I'd also probably rather they win to keep the pressure on Juve. However it's important to fit in in this scenario, and try to get carried away. This is easy to do when they dominate the first half and bedlam ensues when Ibrahimovic scores the second. Half time is a buzz of energy and general disbelief. Within what seemed like minutes of the second half starting, Inter have made it 2-2. Later on it's 3-2 and could have been more. Eriksen hits the bar from about 35 yard out. Still, Milan have a final chance to equalise on 90 minutes with Ibrahimovic hitting the woodwork too from a yard out. A final goal from Lukaku completes the comeback. The rest of the stadium is going absolutely beserk by this point. Again, a brilliant game, and a real privilege to be there and experience it. I think San Siro is my favourite stadium. It's a wreck, but it has more character than any of the new grounds. When full it is truly special. I urge everybody to see a derby there before it goes (knowing Italian bureaucracy, this will be a good few years yet).

I'm going to Rochdale and Wolves over the next couple of weeks. I just enjoy the chance to take a train journey, have a few drinks and tick off another ground. The result is almost totally immaterial at this point. Was offered a couple of free tickets to Everton last week and didn't even consider for a moment going. Have absolutely zero interest in setting foot in SJP these days, which is very sad when you think about it.

It also doesn't help that pretty much all positions of power in Italy are dominated by old men. The decision making at the Corriere dello sport and the FIGC is lead by those well into pensionable age - leading to the kind of truly embarrassing incidents of the last month.