Wallsendmag

Hope we're home first match. 1st match only please, or else we'll have clapping on the 17th (18th?) and the 24th (25th?) minute every game. 17th minute applause had all but stopped by the end of last season. I think that's it done now.

Aye they will be. The lower League teams usually go back a week or two earlier than the big boys in the Premier League with their season starting earlier.

The Gallowgate Upper is undoubtedly the best option. The low roof amplifies the noise unlike the Leazes where a lot of the noise is lost. Also more likely to get more people from the Gallowgate joining in whereas the Leazes is really a lost cause now. Shame I've just renewed my season ticket in the Strawberry Corner though. Suppose I'll just stay there now rather than messing around trying for a seat swap and if the Gallowgate Upper seems canny I'll move up there the season after.

No point in announcing anything in that case. It already is a sort of unofficial singing area but there's still a lot of fans who have sat in there for years who don't sing and wouldn't move.

Gallowgate blocks R, U and V have very few season ticket holders in. A few more in S and T but assuming it's going to be the Gallowgate, which would be the best place for a singing section, the Upper tier makes most sense.

Gallowgate Upper is the obvious choice for a singing section as there's a fairly small percentage of season ticket holders up there, maybe around 50% of the seats. Should have announced it a while ago because I renewed last week and would have been interested in moving to it.

Over 38k season tickets sold last season including the half season tickets sold from Xmas. Think they might sell out this year, I know quite a few people buying one for the first time or for the first time in quite a few years when they go on sale, which would only leave around 5k spare tickets available per match. Assuming members take up a good proportion of those it doesn't leave very many for general sale. In fact I think quite a few home games next season won't even make general sale.

Aye I was up there yesterday handing in my season ticket renewal and the car park underneath the Milburn/Leazes Corner was full of various different contractors fans. Looks like it's getting tarted up for our return to the Premier League.

How the f*** do they still manage to lose money? 8th highest wage bill in the country, 22nd highest in World football and the Premier League Prize money/TV revenue is their only real source of income because they let most of the fans in for nowt.

I'd think our fans will have to travel further than Swanseas next season.

Steve McClaren 4th favourite on Sky bet That list is just hilarious man Meanwhile we have Rafael Benitez managing our club

A mackem lying in bed at 1am on a Saturday morning has nothing more on his mind that Rafa, I actually like that. They are gutted and some show it more than others. A year ago we were down and we didn't care because we knew that we were in safe hands and even in defeat we knew that things were going to only get better and it was only a matter of time until we'd start seeing it in results. A year on and they're in our position, except that they have nothing to grasp on to other than they've got rid of an unpopular manager. We did the same and we struck gold, they're much more likely to appoint a turd. They're likely to get a manager who is at best second rate and they're likely to have a budget that wouldn't compare favourably to a corner shop, they're more than likely screwed. The only thing they look forward to is beating us and that's not going to happen any time soon, there's no way they'll be competing with us while we have probably the best manager we've ever had. When we beat them 5 times in a row and that mostly down to psychology and their managers being cowards and the same goes for them beating us 6 in a row, our managers were cowards. They're not getting a manager who will psych Rafa out and Rafa will never go into a derby game thinking he's second best. Their whole reason for existing has been flushed down the toilet and they know it. If we can stay up this season we'll be out of sight. Enjoyed that! Will read again.

I'm kind of hoping we don't get the chance to find out.

Happy about this. Let's be honest, he's not good enough.

Nailed on he's off to Barcelona.

I'd rather they try for a Kevin Ball/Sewpa Kev dream team. Could only see that ending in disaster and it would be quite amusing if 2 of their legends ended up relegating them to the 3rd division. Pardew would go in and do ok for them for a while, he was decent here for 18 months, and Short wouldn't give him 5 years to destroy the club anyway. I want it to be someone who can continue their misery with immediate affect.

Leeds to sunderland is a step down. No chance they'll get him. I'd be surprised if they get a manager who is currently emplyed anyway. First of all, they're skint so the compensation would be a big stumbling block and I struggle to see why any manager already in a job would quit to go there. They go through a ridiculous amount of managers and it's common knowledge that the next manager will have virtually no transfer kitty and a crowd that will turn on him if he's not winning straight away. Remember Moyes was confronted in his dug out in his very first home game in charge.

Poor kicking directly led to Chelseas 4th goal. Was at fault for another couple. If they're relying on getting £30m for him to rebuild their squad they're in for yet more disappointment.

How's it disrespectful when the Sunderland players colluded with it? As for their fans, f*** them. This tbh.

He'd be in jail now if he wasn't a professional footballer. Bloke's an absolute scumbag.

Ours and the mackems last PL games both finished 5-1 then.

Aberdeen 5-0 up at Partick Thistle and it's only half time!

Disagree that he's not good with his feet, his distribution with his feet has been very impressive whenever I've seen him. Probably more impressive than other aspects of his game tbh. Yeah, seen him praised for his accurate side-volleys. One was lush at Arsenal the other night. I watched that match. He kicked the ball staright out of play on more occasions than he did "lush side volleys" like. He's a good shot stopper but he isn't good enough with his feet to go to a top club. The mackems I know go along with that.

Fan footage from the 2000 Semi Final v Chelsea; Take a look at @ketchell's Tweet:

Pickford looks a decent prospect although he punches a lot of crosses he should be catching and he's not particularly good with the ball at his feet which would stop him ever moving to a really top club regardless of his shot stopping ability. He'll be wanting to leave, the selling club have been relegated, and their financial problems are widely known, 3 factors that puts the buying club firmly in the driving seat when negotiations start. I predict he'll sign for Everton for somewhere between £10m-£12m.