Wallsendmag

First time I've said this, and any pedants are welcome to check, but I think it's time we considered a change. This is a team in decline from the team that finished 4th. The decline started last season and has carried through into this one. I'm not sure what we do well anymore. We don't attack well, we don't defend well, we don't press with intensity anymore, we arent pleasing on the eye. We need a freshen up. By this I mean on the pitch and in the dugout. I love Howe and am very grateful for what he's achieved here but I don't think he's the calibre of manager who can now allow us to push on. It's a brutal sport and I think we need to move on now. I'm not going to start calling for his head or anything daft like that but if Chelsea beat us again on Wednesday then Arsenal beat us at home, we're out the cup and likely 13th/14th the owners will rightly get twitchy. In mitigation the transfer window was a shambles but I still think there's enough there to be above the likes of Forest, Brentford, Fulham amd Bournemouth.

I was at PSG v PSV on Tuesday night, and Wow, what an experience! Probably the 2nd best atmosphere I've ever witnessed after attending well over 1,000 matches in a variety of Countries over 40 years. Possibly only Marseille was better when I went when we played them in the UEFA Cup Semi in 2004. We got in in the ground 45 mins before KO and the stand behind the opposite goal to where we were was already full and every one of them singing. It was absolutely deafening! Proper made the hair on the back of your neck go up! They literally did not let up from then all the way through to the final whistle, even after they went a goal down. Was one of those rare games where I found myself watching the crowd more than the match. They were so good! Just a totally different mentality from over here. The match was everything. Nothing else seemed to matter to them. I had to run down for a piss on 42 mins as I'd been drinking most of the day and my bladder is shite these days, and the concourse was still virtually deserted! Was completely taken aback by it all. For some reason I had this pre conceived idea that it would be pretty poor atmosphere wise but I couldn't have been more wrong. Clearly they've got issues with crowd behaviour. I received an email on the afternoon of the match basically saying that they didn't want a repeat of the racist and homophonic chanting that marred their last home game v Strasbourg so that's one thing where we are better than them, but other than that they are absolutely light years ahead of us in every other way. Was a real eye opener but yet another sad indictment as to where our country now lies in terms of fan culture and atmosphere. Should also add that away supporters were banned from attending this match so it was home fans only so it's not even like they had (or needed tbf) the away support to get them going, as you sometimes see. Apparently the Old Firm has gone downhill atmosphere wise since away fans were stopped from attending.

My mate went down on the bus. Ended up going to Wetherby on the drink instead. Got back about an hour ago.

Wimbledon was a midweek 2nd Round League Cup match against a League 2 team. Comparing that with a Premier League game is just silly.

Depends on your standards or whereabouts in the ground you are I suppose. I don’t think people are saying it's poor just to be "cool" on some football forum though That's just silly!

I'll be watching it in Crete. Can't see anything other than a home win sadly.

He's still a young kid. He'll get better no doubt but not sure he's quite ready to be our 1st choice RB for an entire season. That's why I could never understand the clamour from some fans to get rid of Trippier for a paltry £10m or whatever it was.

I think now we're at the stage in the PL where there's only us, Leicester, Fulham, Bournemouth and Brentford don't have a full end that stands all game. Some clubs have both ends behind the goals who stand continuously. Tbf to 3 of those clubs I've mentioned they are traditionally very small clubs with small fanbases. Meanwhile I got told to sit down in the Gallowgate when I stood up to watch Schar take a penalty

I just think it's largely, not exclusively though, down to the new way of allocating tickets. There was a noticeable drop off in atmosphere from the start of last season when they went with the ballots. In the past, generally speaking and going back decades, those who were the most desperate to get in were the ones who would get in. If that meant getting up to the ground early to queue for tickets that's what happened. In later times it was a case of how many browsers you could get hold of to maximise your chances. Maybe even having to take some tome off work to get sorted. Nowadays you don't need to be the most dedicated or the most desperate to get in, and I think it shows. The amount of people who either don't really look like they're enjoying it or don't really look emotionally invested in the game is crazy. It's such a passive crowd. At one time the though of missing a goal cos you needed to rush down for a piss was unthinkable. Now we have unprecedented amounts of people nipping off well before HT, happy enough to either watch in the concourse or not even watch at all. They aren't particularly bothered and what we are left with is what we have now which is a crowd that doesn't really get into the game. One thing I will say, and I don't know why this is but our Saturday 3pm matches always seem to have a truely awful atmosphere. Bizarre considering that is the traditional KO time for football matches in this Country.

https://x.com/19Darren89/status/1847704038126559690?t=yP5oYFQg9biCHEaxgWXCfQ&s=19

Had a few texts off people today (I wasn't there) who normally don't really mention the atmosphere but have said it was absolutely dreadful.

You think? Personally think he's been shite! His most noticeable contribution was blocking Isaks goal bound attempt.

Reading the last few pages of this, is it fair to assume that there's been no further developments then?

Went through 3 Spectrum 48 keyboards from playing that game alone.

Lower bowl holds 38k.

Bloke was an absolute chancer. He'd have taken them down to the Northern League if he'd been there much longer. People like him have no business being involved in a football club at any level.

There seems to be a constant stream of new build monstrosities going up in the city centre to satisfy the growing student demand all the time. As far as aesthetically pleasing buildings in the city centre go SJP is the least of your worries if it's something you're bothered about.

Is he one of their players?

Aye they're another one as well but tbf to them, Hoffenheim is a tiny club playing from.a tiny village with a population of under 5,000 and their average crowd is around 25,000.

I think the mentality of your average German supporter is completely different to over here. Obviously you picked a bad example in Stuttgart as they finished runners up last season to Leverkusen but their culture is different. You've had the likes of Hamburg in the 2nd division for quite a few years now selling out 57,000 every week. Schalke have been in a mess down in the 2nd Division for a few years now, still 62,000 there every week. That doesn't happen over here. I'm lucky enough to have visited half a dozen Bundesliga grounds and the general fan mentality at each one has always been the same. Enjoy yourself with your friends and family, have a good drink, and support your team unconditionally inside the stadium irrespective of the scoreline. Leverkusen are actually classed as a "plastic" club in Germany. Think there's only 3 non fan owned clubs in the Bundesliga and they are one of them, being majority owned by Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Wolfsburg (Volkswagon) and RB Leipzig (Red Bull) are the only other two I believe. One thing I will say is that all the grounds I've visited are indeed miles from their respective City centres which involved either using local trains, trams or park and rides to access. Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen involved walking through a forest to get to!

Wouldn't bank on Wilson coming back after the break. Next setback is just around the corner.

You correctly pointed put a few posts up that the Metro is shite so you must have some knowledge of the place!

The loss in revenue would be a drop in the ocean. Lots of clubs either cap memberships or take them off sale once the season begins. If they do that they could almost eradicate touting after the 1st couple of games of the season. At present the system is clearly broken with the amount of tickets going on sale at ridiculous prices on these 3rd part ticketing sites.

It's still easy. Just stop selling memberships once the season has started.

Great news. I'm off to spend the rest of my day on RTG now. See you all later.