Wallsendmag

Arsenal definitely Londons biggest club. There's a good case for them being England's 2nd club as well. Liverpool didn't really start doing things until the 60s and in fact Everton were probably Merseysides biggest club until that point. I'm sure when we played Liverpool in the 1974 Cup Final we were level with them on trophies won. Not even sure if we didn't have 1 more. They probably have overtaken Arsenal now, and I also think Chelsea have overtaken Spurs, Man City have overtaken Villa/Everton/us in the last 20 years as well.

Was in the Gallowgate Upper last night. Atmosphere was decent up there, nothing special, but not bad at all. 2nd half I stood with my mate in the Strawberry Corner and thought it was excellent in there.

Still baffles me how so many people get an Internet signal at SJP. I've never been able to get one. Not that it particularly bothers me.

So pretty much half the price of ours and they'll have about a quarter of our crowd number. Can't wait for the long list of excuses we can look forward to hearing.

Generally speaking younger people are more excitable than older people though. I'm 46 and I'd be first to admit I'm not as shouty and as animated at the match as when I was 26. Atmospheres at UK football grounds were built be young teenage and 20 something lads all congregating behind a goal and being daft and noisy, not 40odd/50odd/60odd year old blokes like what mainly populate the Gallowgate these days. They would have moved along to the sides by then. It's no coincidence that as the average of the Premier League supporter has increased, the atmosphere has decreased. In the lower bowl at SJP I'll guarantee that the lowest average age of supporter is in the Strawberry Corner which is also the loudest section. There's obviously other things at play now. A lot of people who would create the noise, young and old, have simply been priced out. Obviously a lot more families there these days as well which genuinely isn't conducive to a raucous atmosphere. Family enclosures are notoriously poor for atmosphere and generally speaking parents aren't going radge in front of their kids and same goes for kids in front of their parents, and we happen to have the biggest family section in the Country.

Not sure what they're charging but we're paying £30/£35 v Bromley and it'll be a sell out. Whatever they're charging it'll be nowhere near that.

There's 2 massive issues regarding the atmosphere. The stadium, and the people in it! The people in it are getting older and more miserable. For many they go out of habit as much as anything else. Gets them out the house. They sit there, arms folded, tutting at every misplaced pass and it all seems like a bit of a chore for them. We've all seen it. That's all 4 stands as well BTW not just the East Stand which might have been the case 30 years ago. Secondly the design of the ground is absolutely hopeless for creating noise. The design is all wrong. The sloping down design of the Gallowgate roof keeps the noise trapped inside of it so if you're in the Leazes you can't really hear it and if you're in the Gallowgate you can't hear those in the Leazes because the noise just escapes from the place. I already mentioned that I left the West Ham match 5 mins early and from my seat in the Gallowgate Upper I couldn't see, or hear the West Ham fans at all. Walking down past the Labour Club whilst the match was still going on the West Ham fans sounded very loud because all noise they were making was going straight over the East Stand and Gallowgate roofs. My opinion is that it's too far gone now at SJP. For 90 odd% of the 31k or so ST holders who make up the majority of our crowd, they aren't interested in creating an atmosphere. We all seen that at the League Cup Final. If you can't get yourself up for that you aren't getting yourself up for a run of the mill match v Leicester. A new stadium I suppose could at least create a blank canvass where they could try and group like minded people together but at SJP it is what it is unfortunately. As people have rightly said, it's not something that the club really care less about, and none of the fans groups seem interested in pushing it either.

That was some reaction from the Milan fans at FT there! They aren't a happy bunch at the moment

It's only been a discussion since the talk started of us either building a new stadium or extending SJP.

Knew they were using Hadrians Tower as an out of stadium hospitality area but looks like they're also using Fenwicks as well for Pre Match hospitality now. This will be another area where SJP lets itself down as there simply isn't the room to have as many hospitality areas as is required these days. Amazed me when I did the stadium tour years ago how narrow the Milburn Stand foot print is. You literally walk through the (old) main reception, through a door and there's the tunnel and the pitch right there. Such a narrow space and so limited in what they can do with it.

That whole set up just looks so small time and tin pot regardless of the ceiling falling down

They looked like proper supporters buses. Bus companies were from from places like Otterburn, Stanley etc.

What a waste of time that would be. All that money spent on what would be 7,000 cheap seats. Would kill the atmosphere in the Gallowgate as well like it did in the Leazes.

Looked similar to their crowd on Saturday. Around 20k, definitely not as much as 50% filled and from a photo I seen on Twitter from the away end their Upper tier that they closed down for years was near enough deserted.

One thing I did notice after the Liverpool match we exited out of the Milburn Stand and onto Barrack Road and headed down towards the town from that way and there a canny few buses lined up along there all with NUFC fans on. We never leave via Barrack Road so that's the first time I've noticed this but it it surprised me how many of our fans travel by organised coaches to home games from other parts of the NE.