Wallsendmag

Aye it was bad like. Felt like a day at the beach, came out absolutely covered in sand that was blown from the sand pit where they do the long/triple jump. Was in my hair, mouth, ears everywhere. Also before the match the away dugout (dugouts are on wheels) got caught by a huge hust of wind and blew across the funning track, just missing a female steward who was oblivious until it sped past her Enjoyed the game, great atmosphere and over 3k in attendance. Think they announced 695 away fans. Fair play to Macclesfield they gave it a good do 2nd half with the wind behind them. Took a chance at 2-0 and booked the train for Wembley. Got it for a very reasonable £136 for the 3 of us. Apparently the price more than doubled at FT!

Should be a canny game that one. Alnwick still got a good shot at the title with their games in hand.

Got tickets for Gatesheads FA Trophy Semi Final v Macclesfield tomorrow. Hoping to reach Wembley for a 2nd season in a row. Decent weather forecast for it as well. 19c!

I got a message earlier saying last night but it was a forwarded message and makes more sense that it was during the Everton match. A safe was ripped out of a wardrobe and lots of damage done as well.

Hearing his house was broken into last night. Completely trashed. Car stolen as well. Apparently he lives in Ciaran Clarks old house.

Tha Gallowgate is a great example of acoustics tbh. The design of the roof holds the noise in there really well so when you're in there it sounds very loud. If you're sat opposite in the Leazes End or the away end it sounds shite.

Another great example at SJP is that if you are in the Strawberry Corner or the Gallowgate Upper you can't really hear (or see) the away fans. They might as well not be there. However there's been matches over the years where I've left early and walking back into town you can hear the away fans loud and clear as their noise drifts straight over the East and Gallowgate roofs. In other words the noise isn't really held inside the stadium, and that's down to design first and foremost. Agree Evertons ground looks like it'll hold noise in well.

Acoustics plays a massive part imo. As people know we are ST holders at PSV Eindhoven. 35k capacity. Very steep stands all of the same height. We sit quite a way from their singing end where the most boisterous supporters are, more or less the other side of the ground but noticed even at times when there's clearly only a couple of hundred of them singing it really carries right across the stadium and sounds loud. Compare to SJP and if you're sitting a fair way from the Strawberry Corner you can see them all (1.5k+) really going for it but the noise simply doesn't carry across. Stadium design plays a massive part. Been to Ibrox several times and that's probably the best example of a stadium design that is great for atmosphere because you can actually hear the echo of the noise rebounding off each stand when they are up. It's pretty spine tingling tbh. At the other end of the you have a big vast bowl like what West Ham have. 60k+ there and they now have real difficulty generating noise, despite having twice as many fans is as the Boleyn Ground which admittedly could get pretty noisy. Southampton in the League Cup last year was a great example for me. We got stuck towards the back of L7 right across towards the Gallowgate. Atmosphere was completely dead. Embarrassing for a Semi Final. Met up with mates in the pub who'd been in the Gallowgate and they were raving about the noise.

I used to sit in the old East Enclouse (row CC which was 3 rows from the front) and it was very close to the pitch. Had the boxes behind us, and everyone would turn around and watch the replays of the goals on the TVs in them much to the annoyance of the corporate guests inside I remember in our first Champions League campaign in 97/98 they couldn't sell the first few rows because they were too close to the pitch and obstructed by the higher advertising boards they used in the CL. The capacity of the stand definitely increased when it was remodelled as they added a few extra rows to the lower tier but even now the capacity of the entire stand is only 5,240 which isn't much for a stand that runs the length of the pitch. In comparison the Milburn Stand holds almost 15,000.

He's homegrown so pure profit a FFP perspective. Moving him on is a no brainer.

He can fuck right off.

It actually used to be bigger. Ashley had it extended right the way around into the corner but I've been put in the corner twice this season when applying for Category 2 tickets so assume they have scaled the Family Enclosure back now. As @madrassays it hasn't really been strictly enforced as a family enclosure for a while. A lot of people in there seem to be in the 18-25 age range now.

Family Enclosure capacity is 5,007 (Milburn L7A/LL7A through to L7H/LL7H).

I wouldn't know any of their players really but apparently they did have 6 first teamers playing

The gap in quality between us and Man City is bigger than the quality gap between us and the mackems going off this FA Cup campaign.

It's the same patch of land as when I started going back in 1984 but that's about it. Maybe the East Stand exterior hasn't changed either other than they've taken the old East Stand ticket office windows out and bricked them up. Think it's been used before, but it's the old Triggers broom anology. I've never liked it post 2000. It's a hotch potch of different sized stands, doesn't hold in the atmosphere particularly well, and they aren very limited in what they can do from a corporate point of view, which fair enough isn't my thing, but is a vital part of PL clubs revenue streams in this day and age. I know people say new stadiums lose their atmosphere but SJP isn't particularly great on that front anyway and anyone who's been to Atletico Madrid or to a lesser extent Bilbao can confirm that new stadiums can be just as atmospheric, if not moreso than the ones they replaced. If we could secure Leazes Park or Castle Leazes that would be perfect. 70k/75k stadium which propels us right up amongst the elite.

Definitely won't be renewing mine if it's the same as last year. Apart from scrapping the ballots they need to allow members to accrue loyalty points or at least reward loyalty.

It wasn't a ballot last season. It was purely 1st come 1st served. I managed to get us 4 seats together for the final home game of last season v Leicester in the back row of the Gallowgate courtesy of having 4 linked accounts and 9 different browsers open when tickets went on sale.

@Heron Scrap ballot. Allocating fans random stands is always going to be an atmosphere killer, and so it's proved. Make entire Gallowgate (12,000 spaces) safe standing. Work with current ST holders who don't want to be part of it to enable them to move to other areas. Set tickets aside for younger supporters. I think they do this for 14-17 year olds in L7 but I'd take it further and prioritise applications from fans aged under 30 for a larger safe standing area.

NUFC away that day, Heaton Stan away as well. I'll definitely go to this. Excellent draw for them as well. Macclesfield will bring loads.

Apologies for the turn of phrase but Matthews is a cancer eating away at that football club. Despite what they say he's very much still involved and was seen taking in money (no card payment of course!) recently from fans who pledged to buy part season tickets and also money from matchday sponsors etc. Feel sorry for their dwindling band of loyal fans as well. There's not even anything on the pitchbto get enthusiastic about. A real shame.

I warmed my North Shields ST holding mate about this back before we'd even heard of COVID. It was clear what was happening. Back in 2018 at a meeting in their clubhouse, whilst pleading poverty, 3 of their supporters offered to chuck £10k in. In return all they wanted was transparency and no say in the running of the club. Unsurprisingly the club told them they didn't want their £10k amd would struggle on. Spoke volumes. Bunch of crooks.

The wheels came off 2 months ago. They aren't getting £25m for him either.

Move level on points with Leicester if they can hold on. Would love to see them come up.

Handy for me like! 25 minute walk. Don't think the wider fanbase would be keen