Wallsendmag

I'm almost certain we played at home on the day Bobby Moore died. Pretty sure it was a midweek game as well. Remember us driving into town and that was all that was on the radio. Was massive news. Don't think there was any minutes silence at that match anyway

If you're in parts of the Strawberry Corner (the back of blocks C and D) you literally can't see or hear the away fans. They may as well not be there. If you're in the Gallowgate you can't really hear the away fans and when you're at that end of the ground you can't really hear the Gallowgate. However if you've ever left the match early when we've been getting battered you can hear the away fans loud and clear as you walk past the old Barker & Stonehoise and down past the Labour Club. Purely down to the stadium design and the noise escaping from it.

The 36k SJP was far better than the one we currently have. It held the noise in, and added to that our fans were generally more noisy back then as well. For example the Leazes and Gallowgate were about on par with each other for noise, in fact the Leazes was probably better as it was built a year earlier and most of the singers managed to get in there. It's a complete morgue now and as someone who sat there as level 7 was built above it you could feel the life being sucked out of it and eventually, me and many others moved to the Gallowgate (I lasted till 2005/06 before shifting). I've said it before but I've never been a fan of the current SJP. I don't like level 7, I don't like the Leazes End. East stand is well past it's prime. Was in there for the Magic Weekend a couple of years ago and it felt even more cramped, both at my seat and in the concourse than I remembered. The £900 or whatever it costs for a ST in there now is 100% for the view because you don't get anything else. The current design also doesn't lend itself to a good atmosphere. The vast open spaces of L7 loses a lot of the noise as it drifts over the smaller stands. As a comparison I've been lucky enough to be at Ibrox for a big game and you can actually hear and even feel the noise rebounding off all 4 stands as they are all of the same height. Not too dissimilar to big games at the 36k SJP but a bit more intense if truth be told. For me that's the big thing. Atmosphere. A new build allows to to start from scratch. We can have a 20/25k Kop style stand behind one of the goals which is a game changer. At the minute our singing end is 1,500 in the SE Corner which in amongst a 52k crowd is a drop in the ocean. Obviously other benefits as well on the financial side and another big thing is we wouldn't be financially hamstrung by it for a while like Arsenal and Spurs and we wouldn't be paying it off. Nothing lasts forever and if the option is there, and it's the right option, capacity, location etc, it's a no brainer for me. I'd be sad to leave SJP, but not devastated. It in no way resembles the SJP I was first introduced to back in 1984 so it's just a patch of land to me in all honesty. If we can more to another patch of land a couple of hundred yards up the road then that's not a problem to me.

They're absolutely obsessed with that fucking airport like. I mean seriously how can an airport in another city get people so worked up!

Remember seeing him play for Benfield quite a few times. Very decent player is Cyril.

100% legit.

Played 20 minutes of an 11 a side training game today before going off injured.

Brentford have. So have Brighton. Leicester won the league after moving to a new stadium. Boro won their only trophy after moving to the Riverside. West Ham won a European trophy after moving. In fact even the mackems enjoyed their longest ever consecutive spell in the top flight after moving!

Tbf as a young kid you could see by the adoring way he looked at Keegan when he was a ball boy that he didn't really have any interest in NUFC.

I know loads of lads who are on the fixed 10 year deals. There's a few of them against a new stadium because they believe that their season ticket process will rocket, totally oblivious at the fact it's going up around £300 in the summer anyway. Some of them only paying £480 as they were on the original deal which just kept getting extended and I think a standard Gallowgate End ST price is now £727.

I just find the whole narrative that ticket prices will suddenly rocket very bizarre. There's been loads of new build stadiums built in the last 25 years or so and to my knowledge there's only 2 clubs (Arsenal and Spurs) who have hiked up prices. Not a single club outside of London has gone down that route. The other argument is atmosphere. That's another strange one as the atmosphere at SJP isn't exactly great now and we don't even have a proper "home" end. That could change if we could start from scratch. Fact is SJP is far too small and becoming more outdated by the season. Provided we can keep a pretty central location (Leazes Park/Castle Leazes) I can't think of any good reason not to press ahead with a brand new 70k+ state of the art stadium.

Camperdown would be perfect. I work 5 mins walk away from Camperdown Industrial estate so could finish work at 12 on a Saturday, walk over to Burradon for a few pints then to the match.

Tbf Boro sold out every single game for the first few years at the Riverside and they ended up expanding it.

Seen this argument a lot about ticket prices increasing if we move to a new stadium but is there any evidence to back this up? We have the likes of Sunderland and Middlesbrough moved to new grounds and pretty sure they didn't hike up prices, same with the likes of West Ham and Man City. Don't think there's any plans from Everton to raise theirs more than they would have had they stayed at Goodison. Arsenal and certainly Spurs did but that's London and they don't have the same sort of working class fanbase as we do. We could never generate the same sort of corporate interest as either of them do for example. As it happens a lot of current ST holders are going to see huge price rises this summer when their 10 year deals expire.

Ballot success for Villa!

Think it's more to do with GLL buying the stadium tbh. They've obviously provided the security that's required.

Little tip for you. On the day of the match keep checking resale. Even for the big games there's quite a few last minute tickets become available. Was a fair few for the Arsenal match the other week and I even got one in the standing corner v Man Utd last season 3 hours before KO. Especially with it being midweek there'll be some last minute drop outs.

Remember it being very cold at that Barnsley match. We were sat in the East Stand and it was bloody freezing as the wind was blowing in our faces. Moved over to the Milburn Stand for the 2nd half which felt much warmer.

Pretty sure it's as cheap as £20 against the Likes of Celtic and Hearts "B" teams.

Think it depends on the opposition. They've got Cowdenbeath on Saturday and I'm pretty sure it's £35 for that one as that will be classed as one of their "big" games against a fellow ex League Club. I'd actually struggle to put into words how good it was yesterday. I'm pretty sure there won't be a club anywhere in world football as friendly as Berwick Rangers. We were greeted at the door by a lovely bloke. He asked if we'd been before and I said we had but not in the hospitality part. He immediately invited us to have a look around and told my 11 year old son he could go and have a wander on the pitch if he liked and when we were done just to come back and see him and he'd show us upstairs. We were shown to our table where there was a lovely afternoon tea waiting for us, tea and coffee for me and some pop for the bairn. The chairman and one of the directors then came over to shake our hands and have a bit chat. Watched the match from the Directors box, which is inside and the bairn had a radiator next to him so it was one of the most comfortable football matches I've ever watched! Got chatting to a couple of cracking lads, one of them had a son who'd played 442 games for St Johnstone and is now 1st team coach at Hibs, the other lad was a West Brom fan from the West Midlands who had very recently moved up to Berwick so had started watching them. Half time came so we decided to have a look in the club shop and the bairn got a hat and scarf. Went back to our seats in the Directors box and were sat there about 2 mins before we were tracked down by one of the directors who told us to get back inside as they'd made more sarnies and put out more sausage rolls, cakes and tea for us Watched the 2nd half and went back into the lounge afterwards for a couple of pints as our train back wasn't till 18.30. Watched the MOTM presentation and went and sat back at our table. One of the directors came over and asked what the bairns name was and told us not to go anywhere. 10 mins later the captain comes over with a football for him signed by the full team! Honestly he was absolutely buzzing and it just rounded off one of the best days I've ever had at a football match. Certainly the most hospitable. On the train home I then received a message on messenger where the same directors had managed to find me on Facebook to check that we'd both had a great day. Needless to say we'll 100% be back there again. Brilliant way to spend a Saturday!

Of to watch Berwick later on with the bairn. Decided to try out their corporate offering. £27.50 for which you get entry, a programme, teamsheet, welcome glass of champagne, afternoon tea so sarnies and cakes, directors box seating, half time refeshments and lounge access afterwards. Some lad called Mark meeting us at the main entrance at 1.30 so we'll see what it's like.

No probably about it. Entire club probably worth £60/£70m tops.

Actually now you mention that, it does ring a bell. Maybe in between playing at Blue Flames and Druid Park?

Shame for West Allotment. One of the closest teams to where I live amd I used to watch them on and off when they played at the Blue Flames and I could walk up the track. They've moved around a lot and haven't really put down any roots anywhere which isn't good for building a fanbase and their average crowd must be under 100. In the last 10 years they've played at Blue Flames, Druid Park and now Palmersville. My sympathy is tempered slightly mind as they took Percy Mains manager and most of their players off them in the summer and have left them right in the shit but hopefully they can survive this.

I wasn't born until 1978 and didn't start going until the final game of that season (Keegans farewell v Liverpool) but heard plenty of stories about when Chelsea would visit back in the day. Apparently a few of our fans were slashed by some of their lost in the Farmers Rest. Think of all the London clubs Chelsea would bring the biggest away following.