Wallsendmag

£60k a week freed from the wage budget as well. Good news for all concerned.

Ah well see ya Andros. You could have had a great career here, instead you'll fester and your career will go into decline under Pardew. Enjoy your impending relegation battle.

They've just offered Michy Batshuayi £110,000 a week.

Although I think he'd potentially be our best player and would take the Championship apart gone are the days I get worked up about players coming and going. It's all part of the game and I don't expect Townsend to show us any loyalty or think he owes us in any way to try and get us back up. Let's face it, players like Alan Shearer for example don't exist any more and if Palace wave £100k a week in his face we won't see him for dust. That's the way it is these days so there's no point worrying about whether he stays or goes. It's another reason we're so lucky to have Benitez here and I'm not just talking about his managerial ability. In truth he shouldn't really have stayed. He's so much better than managing in the 2nd tier of English football and had he walked away far more prestigious jobs would have been offered to him. But he's a very loyal, dedicated and principled man. We knew that anyway but now we've seen it first hand. If any current player doesn't want to play here, for him, then they don't get a 2nd thought from me once they're gone. Alan Pardews Crystal Palace is a massive step down from Rafael Benitez Newcastle United, regardless of league position but if that's where Townsend sees his future then that's his problem. We know only too well how Pardew handles flair players.

How did it go then?

Krul will be away no doubt. Distribution from GK is vital in the way Benitez likes to play and that's his main weakness.

What about Aarons ? Edit: And we have Sammy returning too. Big question marks over Aarons fitness and in all honesty I don't think Sammy is up to it.

Would be pretty happy with Gayle, Mitrovic, Perez and Armstrong as our forward players tbh.

Was hoping/assuming "the couple of best players" would be Sissoko and Wijnaldum. It would be a kick in the teeth if Townsend, who was training with Spurs juniors when we signed him, jumped ship at the first available opportunity to a relegation threatened club with a fu*kwit of a bloke managing them. He signed for us when we were in the relegation zone with little hope of getting out of it under clueless McClaren so I'd like to think that he is looking at the bigger picture and realises how much he could develop as a player under Benitez compared to Pardew. Of course Palace could comfortably afford to double his wages and if that's his main motivation then he'll be away.

Happy with this signing but I'll be gutted if it's part of an agreement where Townsend goes the other way.

He comes across as a lad who wants to play football first and foremost which is the reason he left a club going for the title for a club fighting relegation. With that sort of attitude I'd be gobsmacked if he left a club managed by Rafael Benitez to join one managed by Alan Pardew. Stranger things have happened but I'd be surprised and disappointed if it comes off.

still can't believe they covered it all up because they were so desperate to remain in the league. What a truely disgusting organisation they are. Yep - still can't believe the lack of wider interest/commentary pieces on the fact a Paedo effectively kept them up. I should think Marg Byrne is still getting paid now for doing her job well and then taking one for the team. I thought she was given a job over in America at one of Ellis Shorts companies.

still can't believe they covered it all up because they were so desperate to remain in the league. What a truely disgusting organisation they are.

Keep forgetting he's on the books.

We didnt have flags at that game... There's always one

Townsend

Tbf he's a bit better than competent. Probably one of the top half dozen managers in World football.

Best of luck to you fellas. I've got my season ticket back for next season and although I couldn't get back into the corner I've managed to get pretty near to it and I'll be joining in with whatever you do. Ideally the rest of the stand will get involved as well because the noise is immense when the whole of the Gallowgate are all up and singing together.

It's certainly going to be interesting when they play Boro at home in the battle of the beasts. It'll be a right paedo fest with both sets of fans chanting about the others being nonces all without a hint of irony.

Norwich away. Blackburn home on Boxing day.

Apparently season ticket sales will be capped at 44k, which baring in mind away fans will be allocated just over 3k seats, leaves just over 5k tickets (or 10% of capacity) for general sale on a match by match basis. 44k season tickets was the maximum reached when SJP was extended when Sir Bobby Robson was manager. Realistically we may hit 40k season ticket sales this year and could possibly go higher if we're flying high when part season tickets go on sale at Xmas. I don't think there's another club in the country that could command that sort of support after so many years of mismanagement and under achievement (see the literally 10s of 1000s of empty seats at Old Trafford and The Emirates last season when their fans thought they were under achieving). Clearly we need to get things right on the pitch, and certainly that will happen if Benitez is here for the next few years, before we need to consider extending. If things do click on the pitch extending the stadium to a 60k capacity is a must because we've gone from having the 2nd biggest stadium in the country a decade ago to the 6th biggest next season and in a few years time the 8th biggest when Spurs and Chelsea expand.

Great post, would it not be possible to put another tier directly above the east stand but don't build out? What would the capacity be if the Gallowgate was extended ? If it was designed exactly as the Leazes End is it would take capacity up to 60,000.

NSFW Why bum bags need to be banned from Euro 2016;

Four goals, flares, fight in the stands, perv cam, and a guy blew up. Can't disagree.

SSN reporting that 200 Polish fans have been arrested after a night of violence in Paris and are being deported back to the UK.