Wallsendmag

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.

Just got the unsuccessful email for Bournemouth. Reckon there'll be a decent chance for general sale for this one though as they'll only sell 3 blocks at most.

Bad transport connections to the Durham pit villages is their latest excuse for the midweek no shows. You'd think with all these "branches" they have they would consider running buses to enable all these MLFs to go along to support their team.

Aye got to say I've never not gone to a football match I've had a ticket for due to the weather in my entire life. Fact is if they've announced a 39k crowd yesterday, then near enough 50% of all ticket holders have decided to give it a swerve

You're setting your benchmark based on 14 years of Mike Ashley but that's fine I guess.

He's overseen the rise and now he's overseeing the decline. I said on here after the Brighton game (and it's the only time I've ever said it) but I felt he'd taken this team as far as he could and it would be downhill from here on in. Last season was poor, but there was mitigating circumstances. European distractions and injuries, plus Tonali. This season the fixture list is light and the injuries have been few. Only really Botman missing out of regular 1st teamers, maybe Wilson but Isak plays ahead of him anyway. Performances are even worse than last season though and worse still we've gone from having the tightest defence 2 years ago to leaking goals left, right and centre. We aren't going down. We aren't qualifying for Europe. Personally I'd keep him till the end of the season and then shake his hand and pay him off. I actually think that's what they'll do as well. I think they'll try for Mourinho and I also think he'd walk here from Turkey for a job he's always wanted. My choice however would be Iraola at Bournemouth. He's different class and I'd love to see what he could do with a bigger budget.

They've literally near enough doubled the actual attendance there hahaha

About 22k there. How they had the nerve to have a pop at us cos some of our fans left early v West Ham when they don't even turn up in the first place is beyond me. And the less said about their "atmosphere" the better

I've always thought that. Changed my opinion somewhat yesterday. Had absolutely cracking seats row K seats 121, 122. Bang on halfway line. View was superb. Atmosphere up there was pretty decent. Pockets of singing rather than en masse apart from just after we scored our goals. What you do see is how bad other parts of the ground are. Leazes End is beyond pathetic other than the East Corner and the Gallowgate starts off great at the Strawberry Corner and visibly deteriorates the closer you get to the Milburn Stand to the point where it becomes as bad as the Leazes End. Can't see Upper tier. Atmosphere overall I thought was pretty mixed. Not great but not poor either. Liverpool fans were loud on the occasions they did sing but that wasn't all that often. I'd say average age of fan around where we were was probably mid/late 20s.

You'd hope that would be the case but you never know these days. If we can't get up for a game v Liverpool there is a problem mind.

Ah right. I remember one of them wrongly sending Coloccini off at the SoL and one of them having to take a break from refereeing for a while after some controversy over allegedly getting too close to a dog but can't remember which was which.