Wallsendmag

Isak just came out of the blue. Remember dropping the bairn off at football camp in the summer holidays the day he signed. There'd literally been no talk of it then when I picked him up at 3.30 we'd signed him. Edited to say the first mention of Isak on this forum (the day the Isak thread was started) was 24th August 2022 and we signed him on the 25th.

Reporters know nowt. First we heard of arguably our 2 best signings, Bruno and Isak was when they'd been completed. No speculation or anything. They were just announced.

Only getting 11.5m for him once Spurs take their cut. We got 35m for Elliot Anderson

He's been on Talksport this afternoon.

Probably our best ever atmosphere for a home game v Southampton I'd imagine.

I've honestly got no recollection of that whatsoever! Only thing I really remember from it was Basil Boli and Chris Waddle playing.

I was at that one as well. Still got the programme in the loft. Think it was billed as NUFC v Ando's All Stars. Thankfully we'd just escaped relegation to Division 3 the previous week!

It's not even that now. Council safety certificate only allows 7,000 in there these days. That's all they were allowed last pre season when they played us in a friendly. Grounsharing (with anyone) is definitely not an option.

Heaton Stan finding it tough in this league. 2 loses now and apparently they were well beaten last night. On saying that they've played 2 of last seasons top 6 amd once they find their legs in this league I'm sure they'll be fine.

Spurs have around 80,000 on their ST waiting list. Arsenal similar numbers. If you join Liverpools waiting list now your estimated wait time to get to the front of the queue is in 25 years time. We could sell 70k every week easily. At present a member only has a 25% chance of being successful in the ballot and general sale is just a complete no go these days.

Tbh mate I think you're wasting your time with this shite. You could simply reel off a load of random surnames and pass them off as your players and many on here, me included, would be none the wiser. It's basic just a bunch of nomarks pulling on your strip these days.

Ah my mistake I've misheard him.

They've owned the club for almost 3 years now, and whilst in that timeframe I wasn't expecting any new bricks and mortar I must admit I thought we might have had some indication of what they were planning to do regarding SJP, whether that's an extension and a tart up of the place or if a new site had been identified. It all seems to be moving at snails pace. Frustrating for the 1000s locked out every match! It's a couple of weeks since Eales said in his interview that stadium news would be "iminent" so hopefully we should be hearing something very soon.

It certainly has as well. Here now (just having a pint at the Waiting Room at Durham station before our train back) and the number of NUFC shirts on show today is into double figures. Also saw a Rangers top, Fenerbache (my son told me which team that one was) and a Belgium National top and not a single Sunderland shirt all day. If there's any RTG dwellers around here the fewm will be off the scale.

OK then. Mocked us and went and did the same. That better for you?

We'll have to agree to disagree here. They had 10 successive years in the PL not so long ago and I'm still waiting for you to tell me about all the economic advantages and extra exposure they got from being there for an entire decade, other than a poster they put up at the Airport.

Not sure how that benefits the wider NE area mind, and judging by the amount of empty crisp packets swirling around the SoL pitch last season on windy days I still think they do very well on the crisp sales front despite their lower league status.

Again I'll ask the question. They had 10 successive seasons in the PL and what investment into their area did that bring them? What benefits did they see as a city from it?

What investment did they get when they spent 10 successive seasons in the PL not so long ago then? They're small time wankers. When we spent 1 season down there and they were PL they spent all their time lording it over us rather than actually concentrating on maintaining their position. Fucking hell man they even put up posters in Ponteland (sic) Airport saying if you wanted to watch PL football you'd need to go to Sunderland. Hope they continue to wallow in lower League obscurity for years to come. It's where they belong.

The North East doesn't NEED 2 PL teams at all though. I'm happy to see them languish in what has been their rightful position for the past half century.

That actually looks quite promising. I was expecting mainly single seats with the odd 2s and 3s. Plus the East Stand is one of the most populated by ST holders.

Called us flag nonces as well as they watched flag displays with envy, only to start to try to copy them and failing miserably Such a weird group of people but in reality we couldn't wish for better neighbours than this lot. Always good for a laugh.

Mocked us and then copied us. Genuinely the thickest fanbase on the planet.

It's a totally different era now. There's more fans around and football has never been so popular. Back in 2002 you'd never have dreamt that a club like West Ham would be pulling in 65k every week, but here we are.

I can see where you're coming from like. Under the last couple of years of Ashley's time here, of the matchgoing fans I know, more were going for their day out around town on the drink as opposed to the football. A city centre stadium futureproofs the attendances I'd say, in that people will always turn up because of where it is. Move to an out of town arena, and when we're playing badly it's easier to find excuses not to turn up if it's a bit of a hassle.