Wallsendmag

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.

Ah great. Is he the one who likes dogs?

I suspect we'll need a half decent ref tonight to stand any chance and there's not many of those around, especially when the opposition is Liverpool. Any idea who it is?

£4 reduction on league prices then!

Wasn't sold out. Just over 50k there iirc. Think only Barcelona sold out and that wasn't until the day before the game. Only 48k at Juventus and 40k v Feyenoord, Kiev, Leverkusen. People complained ticket prices were too high and back then ITV would have had the rights for the CL so would have been accessible to all.

Fact is that their support doesn't come close to ours and throughout history very rarely has. Over the past 100+ seasons they've averaged more than us 16 times, 3 of them at the end of the 90s when the SoL was bigger than SJP. It's occasions like this where this really hits hard. Both at home on the same day, at the same time, in the same competition. We'll have double their crowd at worst despite charging much more for tickets. In fact should stadium capacity allow we'd have at least 3 times more as we'll be sold out. Anyway, roll on the excuses. They're always a laugh

They'll be charging the very minimum that you can for a 3rd round cup game, probably £10/£15 and a fiver for kids whilst we'll charge £30/£35 and £15 for kids. We'll have 52,000 there and they'll probably have around 15/20k there. They won't like that.

They'll beat you. Personally prefer playing teams we've never played before rather than a team from the same league we'll play at least 2 other times during the season.

Wow.

Tougher 3rd round draw than last year but still expect to win it.

Tbf Keegan not coming is something that's completely out of their control. I chucked in 20 quid for the display for him but not arsed in the slightest that it's not happening now. Well not on Wednesday anyway. It'll be used for future displays so it's not like it goes to waste.

Think it looked worse because it always looks bad when a keeper is beaten at his near post but I agree it was a very good header. Difficult one to stop.

I'm on about the Barcelona match in the CL when they beat us 2-0 and Kluivert was unplayable that night. Scored their first goal and we couldn't get near him all night. He got a standing ovation when he got subbed. Aye we beat Juventus 1-0 and got battered 4-1 v Inter. Bellamy got sent off after about 5 mins for kicking out at one of their players. Shearer didn't get sent off.

2/10. Think we've already dropped too many points against poor opposition and still have to go away to Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Villa so think we'll fall short again but you never know.

Think it was the CL game. We lost 2-0. He was outstanding that night.

Kluivert got a standing ovation v Barcelona when he got substituted. He was outstanding that night. I was so excited when we signed him....

Mackems at home, or away please. Didn't really notice the difference last year with them turning their ground into a pop up SJP, handing us the home end, and giving us a massive allocation.

It did easily! We had season tickets in the family enclosure back then. Atmosphere was just totally off the scale. Lindisfarne performing on the half built Leazes End pre match! 3 mins 53 secs of that video you even get a quick glimpse of the East Stand up out their seats singing and dancing. Imagine that these days! Think that Leicester game is still my all time favourite. Just felt like we'd arrived!

Aye I can totally relate to that. Had my ST since Ardiles, chucked it under Ashley but even after the takeover my enthusiasm for it all is nowhere near it once was. West Ham was the first league match I've been to this season (also went to Wimbledon and I'm going to Liverpool, Brentford, Villa so got a few together) so I should have been really up for it but I just couldn't get myself going at all. Would have been quite happy watching it in the house with a few cans. Truth be told it's not just NUFC it's top level football in general. These last 10 years or so I've been just as happy, if not happier, going to local Non League games instead, and even up to Berwick Rangers if nothing more local tickes my interest. Over that time I seem to have attached myself to 3 clubs which I've really enjoyed visiting. Heaton Stan, Percy Main, and Berwick. Also Gateshead but that's just the last 2 years when we got free season tickets due to my son playing for one of their junior teams. Not sure I'd pay 22 quid to watch them. It's pretty much guaranteed at least 1 of them will be at home on any given Saturday so it's just a case of taking my pick depending on which game takes my fancy. Obviously the standard of football is nowhere near the same but as an overall day out, and factoring in the cost, I prefer the Non League stuff nowadays. They are genuinely appreciative of your support and then you read stories on here from @JP about their treatment by NUFC and I sometimes think I'm better off out of it. I wasn't going to renew my membership this season but relented when they said we could choose our seats instead of random allocation but I do think this will be my last year. Didn't enjoy Wimbledon, didn't enjoy West Ham. 2 utterly miserable atmospheres. I'll see how these next 3 go but getting the feeling that my days as an active match going supporter are coming to an end.

Agree. Standing was never a safety issue. Fences were the problem. Germans absolutely pack them in behind the goals at their grounds every week with no problems at all. Actually standing in a seated area is more dangerous than standing on a safely designed terrace

I reckon she must have been there about 20 years. Haven't got a clue how someone like her can survive so long in a job where you are constantly interacting with the public as she had zero people skills and goes out of her way to be rude and obnoxious.

Others include West Ham stand behind both goals (lower bowl), both lower tiers at Chelsea stand, Villa are stood behind both goals (lower tiers), Ipswich 1 goal (lower tier), Southampton, Wolves all stood behind 1 goal, and drop down a league to the bigger grounds and Leeds stand behind both goals, Derby, Boro, Hull have a full standing area behind 1 goal. It's something that's never happened at SJP. I think Monday night was a stark reminder that the atmosphere argument, or people saying we'd loose that, doesn’t really stack up. I fail to see how it could be any worse at a new stadium, especially when they'd be able to group like-minded people together. Evertons new ground will be interesting. It's clearly been built with acoustics in mind with the steep stands and a Kop like end behind 1 goal. See how it compares to Goodison.

Only it is.

I'm actually not sure if there's the appetite for it amongst the fans. % wise we have the most seated fans in the league. At just about every other ground there was always a full stand stood behind at least one the goals and in some cases both goals even before SS was introduce. It's something that's never happened here. I recalled the other week about how I was asked to sit down in the Gallowgate so the bloke behind could see Schars penalty. Any other ground and everyone is stood up especially in the so called home end for a penalty. Even when away clubs return tickets and we have home fans in the L7 safe standing area they nearly all sit down.

They claimed 12k empty seats when in fact it was an awful lot more. For some reason they just won't attend midweek games.