TheGuv

I’ve seen a fair few on X bemoaning it and hating the new tourist element. But I suppose it does depend on any given mood on X. Probably doesn’t help they’ve been absolute dogshit this season.

And yet a lot of Spurs fans hate their new home, despite their wonderful standing section and it’s taken Arsenal nigh on 20 years to create any semblance of an ‘end’. I’ll be watching the new Everton stadium and how their fans find it with great interest. Perhaps they’re the real litmus test on this to compare to - moving from an incredibly historic ground with a great supporter base.

I think the original would have sufficed

A lot of the atmosphere argument is dependent on what the Club does. I’m locked out and I’m sure many can attest on here that I love to chant and try and sing wherever I am. But there’s no guarantee even with a larger stadium that I and thousands of others who like to create an atmosphere will get in regularly. If on the other hand we were all corporate fans I’m sure we’d have no problem getting in… If a 70,000 seater stadium with fantastic acoustics just means we have an extra 20,000 there who don’t want to make a noise but will improve PSR then I’m really not sure I can be arsed anymore. The club have made zero attempt to improve atmosphere or embrace ‘legacy’ fans since 2022. For those thinking a stadium increase will increase their chances of a ST I think it’s very unlikely. And if they did, imagine if it was done the way the ballot currently is performed? Good luck with that! The release of 1000 STs in 2022 felt incredibly unfair at the time by doing it online. Even then I made the point that it should be done in person. Do you REALLY want a season ticket? Take 2 days off work then and queue up. I and many others will have undoubtedly done that. It would be interesting to see what the opinions of current season ticket holders would be if the club said - the new stadium is a fresh slate - so there’s no season tickets and you’re all on the ballot. Would so many be banging the PSR drum then? I think not. Or an even more likely outcome could be, this brand spanking new stadium needs to generate significant income - your ST is now £2000 a pop. I can probably afford that but can thousands of others? I’m just rambling as usual - but there’s far too many questions at this stage and I don’t trust the FAB to actually stick up for the normal match going fan and it’ll be pushed through without significant foresight into what people want. We’ve had 3 years of PIF and off the pitch matters have left a lot to be desired in my opinion. Every forum they’ve held they’ve basically taken nothing on board. I don’t see why a new stadium will be any different.

?

Always makes me laugh when people will stand for 15 minutes at HT but then have to sit down immediately again when the match kicks off again.

This literally happened last season against Bournemouth to me though. I posted about it at the time. I was on the front row and stood up and received the most ridiculous abuse for 20 minutes - eventually I just sat down as I couldn’t focus on the game. Maybe that’s why plenty on here like to call others out about it?

Eurrrrrrghhhhaaaaaasaargh!!!!!!!

I reckon me and Heron would have fun singing that in a pub again. Maybe some others would join in! Quite a few years ago since we sang it in the Cummy Arms in Byker!

Was he not just flexing his arms and saying “to the beach” and pointing, as he may have worked out? That’s the only thing I can think of

Slightly off topic but I was at Arsenal away last week. Great day and night. I had no voice after the game. I moved behind the goal in the second half as it was a bit flat to the side and all the noise was being generated from there. Me and another random lad kept singing the Blaydon Races and not many were joining in. But we kept doing it and it eventually went around the away support before fizzling out at a high speed. I then start the second verse on my own, the other lad joins in for the chorus (at the correct and much slower speed) and it begins moving around again at this wonderful speed. Only for it to be accelerated to fuck as the whole stand joins in. It was so glorious yet frustrating. So I do the third verse and it happens again. It was great to know that many actually do want to sing it at a slower speed but the nature of our support just accelerates it (mainly because many don’t know the chorus and want the song to finish quickly. It’s the same with “who’s that team we call United”. Sing the words they know loudly and then just accelerate the bit they don’t know. And hey Presto - we can’t even sing that anymore). However, my point is two fold. 1 - you just have to have to get likeminded fans together (easier said than done in the present climate). But how many times do we have to say it? I’d love a singing section in a part of the ground people generally don’t want to be. Leazes Level 4/and or 7 is a perfect example. You want to sing? Move there. I guarantee plenty of those in the SC wouldn’t dare move. They love the easy access to the corner and their view. Call their bluff. 2 - our fans genuinely need educating on our songs and how to sing them. It’s painful. But there’s too many “soopa fans” that would be disgusted at the notion that they don’t know the correct words, speed or action to actually create and SUSTAIN an atmosphere. My wrist actually had a small cut and was bleeding for my incessant clapping in between every “United” instead of shouting Toon. Yes, I’ll blow on my own trumpet - It actually had an effect for a small portion of fans surrounding me. They also started doing it after a while. It just shows how mentality can shift over a small amount of time. Imagine a longer and sustained amount of time with a larger group? Perhaps it needs those like minded fans to drive this home in a new section. (How does the section happen? It has to be sustained pressure via the correct channels. I have tried before but it fell on deaf ears). Maybe bring the butcher coats back for all I know and have specific known groups of chanters dotted all around the area to make sure it’s done right. And you do it game after game after game after game. Until the osmosis actually seeps in. However it needs to be a concerted effort and those leaders/chanters need to be in agreement. I know BNWA attempted this but it quickly fizzled out after one or two ground marches. Fundamentally it needs to happen in the ground. Maybe I’m just of a bygone era (I’m 31 😂) - but I do genuinely think it can change. But the Club needs to listen and action it. I’m a broken record on this and I can’t even get in the ground anymore myself. 1 game all season courtesy of the ballot 👍🏻 Unfortunately, the only people perhaps able to pressurise the club into implementing this change are Wor Flags but they do enough as it is. And would the club even listen? Probably not. Ah well, sorry for the rant as usual

Ducking boo

Got a ticket last minute. Where does one generally drink before Arsenal in that, there London? Is the Dolphin at KX the place to go?

Utterly depressing reading the same comments most weeks. The Club don’t give a toss - any opportunity they did have to really take heed and try and change the atmosphere was in the summer of 2023. On a ground swell of good will at the end of that season, they could have done something radical. Perhaps 2 or 3 standing sections in different parts of the ground (as was discussed by plenty at the safe standing forum). Instead they used it as a box ticking exercise and took the easy option. As was said at the time, plenty in the SC wanted to be part of an atmosphere and not make it. How many would have moved to be a part of something if it was in the Leazes L4 corner? Or the top of the Gallowgate? Not as many as elected to stay of course. With arguably one of the best views in the ground with the closest access to most of the pubs. I ate my own words in the first game of the 23-24 season against Villa. The SC sounded majestic. But as the novelty wore off, plenty of those who didn’t relocate also now make up the numbers in the SC, leaving the same lads to keep the atmosphere going in a 1500 section of a 50,000 stadium. As mentioned before, further up, the rest of the stadium is made up of a lot of people who just want to say “I was there” and an increasingly ageing demographic in the lower bowl along with the country’s largest family enclosure (which was brought in under Ashley to fill seats). No tough decisions have been made on that section either. Under SBR the family enclosure was 500 seats. If you wanted to go as a kid you had to sit elsewhere. I did. I loved it. I learned all the songs as we were 4 rows from the top of L7 next to the then Toon Ultras. I actually wanted to go to the game. We’ve seen plenty of comments in here in the past of kids at the game in the family enclosure, more bothered about their phone than the game. I’ve also mentioned before that I have friends still in the FE with STs at the age of 31. They’ve been in there since they were 14. The Club clearly hasn’t checked their age in a while. Go figure… Add in the mess of the memberships and it’s no wonder the atmosphere is shite. And will continue to get worse. Even if we we were to rebuild SJP or move the ground I could see them placating us with a minimalist gesture (like they did with the Strawberry Croner), wipe their hands saying job done. That’s it forever. Get used to it. Silverstone and the like frankly don’t care as long as they’re bleeding the fans dry for the sake of ‘PSR’. I’m happy to be proved wrong - but everything the Club has done over the last 2 years gives me absolutely no faith that they’ll listen to supporter groups and come up with a viable solution.

I’ve been successful only once this season (Chelsea in the LC) and applied to every game. Grim and yet not as bad as some!

I certainly resonate with a lot of that.

I know some circles in rugby and the RFU don’t want this to happen… If it did and the Saudis took over - could KP be a temporary ground I wonder…? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2024/11/27/newcastle-falcons-owners-club-sale-profits-premiership/

I still maintain that a new stadium, with all the bells and whistles of amazing acoustics won’t change the fact that we will see an increase of day trippers and match going fans that aren’t bothered about making a noise but want to be a part of it. It’s already an issue now. It’s not an easy fix at all. It’s painfully obvious though that the Club don’t really care, as they can pat themselves on the back that we have a wonderful atmosphere due to the hard work of Wor Flags whom give the media the photo they want for pre match before the atmosphere inevitably dies off after 10 minutes if we haven’t scored. It’s all so avoidable but the Club won’t care a fig.

Even the Strawberry Corner full of empty seats here. Moving stadium or not, the club has a real issue with the current demographic of ST holder imo.

So soft

Of course! However, I’m also talking about the finer details too. One example would be if there is a standing/singing section(s), will there be a % of members tickets also available in there. It is something I brought up in the safe standing debate (along with opposing corners) which everyone agreed with and then wasn’t implemented. The club just smiled and nodded. Because in truth, they aren’t arsed about things like that. Bearing in mind you’ve got only one chance to get it right and it isn’t just the blueprint, the looks and the acoustics and the physical make up of the ground. I understand I’m being a Debbie Downer like

Good points. However, another word of warning for me. Having attended two of the fan workshops (on safe standing and atmosphere) I do have a worry that the Club won’t seriously listen to the fans on any rebuild either. Every single time they have gone into this with their own plan, sat and pretended to listen to fans’ views and then implemented nothing other than their original plan anyway.

This ^ For those “locked out” (like me) I doubt an increase in capacity will wildly increase my chances of attending. I’ve been successful in one ballot all season. Even if we added 15-20,000 extra seats - I’m sure there’d be more memberships and international memberships snapped up with the (slight) increased chance of going to a game. That’s before we even start on genuine tourists and those who fancy a day out at the football for Tik tok. They won’t release many more (if any) season tickets at the new stadium. Everyone keeps banging on about how we have to make money and compete. Which is exactly what the club will do and HAVE to do to pay back the £1bn-2bn+ for a new stadium. And it’s very simple for them. There will be very few, if any, new season tickets released. There will be an increase in foreign day trippers from the Far East and Middle East paying £500+ a ticket for a match day experience. (In truth we already have them, as tickets miraculously appear immediately on a ballot day on tour websites at £300+ a pop). Even more memberships will be sold at a higher price. (The value for money is already daylight robbery). There will be a terrific and unrivalled corporate hospitality spanning the whole stadium. With boxes ranging from £100k-£1m+ a season. The new stadium will no doubt be wonderful and the acoustics unmatched. The excitement of the new ground will be great for the first 2-3 years or so. Until it isn’t, and the above issues slowly creep in. Like Arsenal, like Spurs with no guarantee of success on the field. In some respects, it’s not the change in stadium per se that worries me. It’s the inevitability of the above points that I know the stadium change will bring. And then for me, Newcastle United will become a very different entity to the one I knew. Times change I suppose… There’s something about the current custodians of the Club that I am not convinced by, and if that makes me a bed wetter then so be it. Plenty of you know I had a close friend who worked directly for Staveley and Reuben. There was always certain elements of that never sat right with me in how the club operated - and I think it’s no surprise that Staveley and Mehrdad are now longer here. Don’t get me started on Silverstone. Anyway. We will most likely end up moving but until we know the facts I won’t be able to even consider getting behind it. (Not that it makes any difference to them or the majority in this thread).

The real ambitious route is therefore to stay at St James with a temporary stadium elsewhere in the mean time