Wallsendmag

Ground is a s*** tip for the most part like. Give me a ground like Elland Road over any of these new ones that's sprung up since the mid 1990's. Was always a great away trip down there and the games always seemed to have a bit of an 'edge' to them.

It all seems to have got well out of hand up in Scotland now. Celtic Park was evacuated this morning after a suspect package was found, 3 men arrested. http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/248975-suspicious-package-found-at-celtic-park/

My thoughts are that any grown adult who even owns a replica football shirt needs sectioning,it's a cringeworthy article and thankfully they are Geordies(from South Shields) and not mackems. So they're not either then... But they are your fans Tyneside = Geordies Wearside = Mackems South Shields = Tyneside The lads in the article are geordies and I'm happy about that. South Shields = South Tyneside, closest professional football club......SAFC. Can't understand why anyone would class someone living closer to Sunderland than Newcastle as a Geordie. Their dress sense and haircuts give them away as being more Mackem than Geordie anyway as plently of people still dress/look like that in Sunderland even in 2011. The important thing is that i'm just glad these 2 drains on society support and embarrass Sunderland, not Newcastle. And someone should tell them that Niall Quinn despises them as well!

On closer inspection of this pair of freaks it appears that one of them is wearing a sunderland top with "Boylesports" across the front and, also i'll readilly admit that i'm not all that clued up on anything SAFC, does their latest strip not have "Tombola" on the front, and if this is the case does this mean that he forgot to queue up for the last home strip launch? After all you would think that someone who prides himself in being the first person to buy every top as soon as they come out would at least kit himself out in the latest one rather than one that's out of date, especially when he's appearing in the sunlun echo. Tut tut.

I was there yesterday for the 2nd time to watch Whitley (couldn't make it last year but went in 2009) and it was another great day. Probably a bit lucky in the end as Coalville had more possesion and chances but the spirit and commitment of the Whitley Bay players is something else and special mentions go to Terry Burke in goal who hasn't been a regular starter this season and the goal machine that is Paul Chow. Also great to see so many faces I recognised from NUFC away games down there to support them. My Wembley record is starting to look a bit more respectable now as well: Defeats in 1996, 1998, 1999 & 2000 and victories in 2009, 2011.

I make a monthly donation to Cancer Research and also to the NSPCC. I witnessed Plymouths unbelieveable hospitality towards us last year despite their obvious devastation at being relegated that night so will make a one off donation to them as my way of saying thank you.

For some reason I can't see Ashley being prepared to fork out 50k a week in wages for a squad player.

I was at the Newcastle Benfield v Whitley Bay match on Monday and the general opinion afterwards was that as things stand they wouldn't be promoted as they finished outside the top 2. However there was also a strong rumour that Harrogate Railway have asked to come out of the Evo Stik league and join the Northern League in which case it would be possible for the 2 clubs to be swapped around. There was also talk that Whitley could be handpicked to join the Evo Stik League by the FA as they have attendances far higher than any other team in that league except Chester who have been promoted anyway. In my opinion the only way it would make sense to take Promotion would be if they had a plan to go as high as the Conference North as the standard of Evo Stik Division 1 isn't as good as the Northern League and Evo Stik Premier is probably only on a par or marginally better, which is proven when Northern League teams play teams from those leagues in the FA Cup. Add that to the massively increased travelling costs, increased player wages & possible lower crowds as away teams will bring hardly any supporters compared to the bigger Northern League clubs and you can see why things can go badly wrong, like what happened to Spennymoor United a few years ago when they took Promotion and it turned into a farce when they couldn't afford to complete their last half dozen fixtures and they went bust and came back as Spennymoor Town. Durham City have also had big problems since entering Evo Stik. On the other hand you have Gateshead & Blyth Spartans who managed to get out of that league with Gateshead now thriving and have even gone Professional in the Conference Premier and Blyth, after one or two financial scares finishing just outside the Play offs in the Conference North.

A Mackem at work reckons their season ticket deadline was 3 weeks ago and ST sales are around 15% down on this seasons figure. I wonder what Quinns next plan of action will be considering he's managed to stop most of the pubs in sunderland showing their games on Foreign TV but the crowds look like decreasing further?

We're doing a football double tomorrow. Dunston UTS v Newcastle Benfield at 3pm, then across to Gateshead v Newport followed by a night in the town (that's Newcastle, not Gateshead!)

Cracking story! That Leicester game and the home game against Portsmouth the week before must go down as the 2 most nerve-wracking games i've ever been to. Typical NUFC though to escape relegation on the final day of the season and then to walk away with the League the following year. They were great times to be a Newcastle supporter.

Looked quite good in the very short time he's been on the pitch for us but we've had our fill of overpaid, injury prone players over the past few years so hopefully we won't be trying to sign him. 2 proper strikers, a right back and a left back should all take priority before we sign another midfielder anyway considering we'll have Ben Arfa and Gosling fit for next season.

Seen Paul Chow at the West Allotment match on Good Friday. He didn't have a cast on then and when he was asked whether he would be fit for the Final he said he probably would be and in fact he was hoping to play some part in what could be a crucial match in the race for 2nd place against Newcastle Benfield on Monday. Noticed he was walking with a slight limp mind.

There's always one! Try winding yer neck in and read it again. I've bought a £34 Student ticket, i'd imagine a kids ticket is a lot cheaper again. At the end of the day I aint paying £42 to watch a match that I can watch on the telly. In fact I wouldn't pay £42 even if it wasn't. £34 is still a lot of money but i'll pay it because i'd rather be there and because they've priced the tickets so high for this game it won't sell out anyway so they can be happy that they're getting my £34 instead of nowt at all. I was only joshing man. On a serious note though, the tickets are too expensive but the best way to object to that is not go. Sorry about that then mate but there are one or two of those types on here who would get on their high horse about it (naming no names!) so you never know! The prices for the games against the top teams (and Sunderland) are ridiculous. I paid £25 for Wolves the other week and the exact same seat in the Gallowgate corner for a televised game with Man Utd is an extra £17! Then back down to £25 for Birmingham which is a fair price in all honesty. Suppose it makes the season ticket seem better value.

There's always one! Try winding yer neck in and read it again. I've bought a £34 Student ticket, i'd imagine a kids ticket is a lot cheaper again. At the end of the day I aint paying £42 to watch a match that I can watch on the telly. In fact I wouldn't pay £42 even if it wasn't. £34 is still a lot of money but i'll pay it because i'd rather be there and because they've priced the tickets so high for this game it won't sell out anyway so they can be happy that they're getting my £34 instead of nowt at all.

Get a students (£34), the people on the turnstiles will be non-the-wiser. Hmmm. Just went back on and tried this and sure enough I can change the ticket to "student" which brings the price down to a slightly more acceptable £34. The £8 saving is my 4 pre match pints in the Bulls but will they not ask for student ID or owt at the turnstile? Must admit usually the turnstile operators don't really seem to give a s*** although i've always had an adult ticket since the electronic turnstiles came into operation a few years ago, and there aren't normally any stewards around once you are through the turnstile. Could be worth the risk. I don't think they care, try to pick out an old-looking woman or something. When i went in the SE Corner for a cup game (forgot who), a bought a kids and when a went through the turnstiles he said "you don't look like a kid" but still let is through. So it probablies will be worth the risk, and anyway you could be doing a adult course @ Newcastle College for all they know! I've bought it now. £34. I'm only 32 and could probably pass for late 20's so hopefully there'll be no problem with me looking too old. Putting myself in the turnstile operators shoes I couldn't be arsed holding up a big queue of people to check if someone has a student ID or not and if they do say owt i'll just say I haven't got anything on me but I had to prove I was a student when I bought the ticket at the ticket office a week earlier.

Get a students (£34), the people on the turnstiles will be non-the-wiser. Hmmm. Just went back on and tried this and sure enough I can change the ticket to "student" which brings the price down to a slightly more acceptable £34. The £8 saving is my 4 pre match pints in the Bulls but will they not ask for student ID or owt at the turnstile? Must admit usually the turnstile operators don't really seem to give a shit although i've always had an adult ticket since the electronic turnstiles came into operation a few years ago, and there aren't normally any stewards around once you are through the turnstile. Could be worth the risk.

Was planning on going to this. Went onto the online ticket office last week, picked out my seat in the Gallowgate East Corner, went to check out and was quoted £42. Went to "clear basket" and logged back out. Wouldn't pay £42 to watch any football match let alone one that's on Sky. I'll be at the Birmingham game though as that same seat is only £25 for that match.

Agree 100% with this. The more northern league teams that take the plunge and go for promotion the easier it will get as the travelling is the big stumbling block at present with the majority of teams in the next league up being from the north west. Safety in numbers if you like.

He's a cracking player mate. Went to watch Benfield v Blyth in the Northumberland Senior Cup last week and he would walk into that Blyth side at the minute.

Gareth Williams?

They announced just after Christmas that they would be applying for Promotion but they need to finish in the top 2 to do that. At the moment they are 5th but should they win their games in hand they would move up to 2nd so they have every chance. Interestingly since they applied for promotion they have won every single game since so it appears the manager and players are desperate for it. No reason why they couldn't make a go of it at the next level as I think they already get higher crowds than all but 1 team in the Evo Stik Division 1 and they had their ground graded not long ago and Hillheads was given the green light to host Northern Premier League football.

Since beating Poole Town on Saturday and qualifying for the FA Trophy Final at Wembley for the 3rd consecutive year Whitley Bay have also won 2 further league games; 2-0 at Norton & Stockton on MOnday night and 1-0 at Stokesley last night meaning that they have won 18 games on the spin now and smashed a club record set in 1954. They are at home to Ashington on Saturday. It's a fiver to get in (£3 concessions) and with us not playing until Sunday it would be good if a few Toon fans could get along to support them. They had almost 3,000 there on Saturday and over 600 at their last home league game which is incredible for Northern League level.

Me too mate Looks like a 50,000 + crowd for this one. Other than the edges of the Gallowgate Upper and the wing sections of the Platinum Club the rest of the ground is as good as sold out. Looks like around 50k sold already, especially as Wolves have sold out so could be over 51k by kick off. Incredible considering we have 4 home wins all season.

Guthrie is awful and no disrespect to the lad but he just isn't good enough for the Premier League. Sadly, with Tiote missing he's the best we have to bring in as a replacement which speaks volumes about how small and weak our squad is.