Wallsendmag

Always thought the away concourse was a decent size. Been in there a few times, back in the days when away fans were in the L7 corner and always found it decent for space, certainly compared to the likes of Stamford Bridge, Goodison, Anfield etc, and even better than some new build stadiums like Sunderland for example.

Probably an extra 10/15 minute walk from my regular pre match pub so wouldn't change my matchday habits. In fact if they built a new stadium at the Arena site and could get the turnstile queues down tomthe same levels as before this season I wouldn't even need to leave the pub any earlier.

If we were winning things we'd definitely fill 70k even if it was in Wideopen or somewhere daft like that, provided their was a transport infrastructure to support it. It's not something I'd ever want to contemplate leaving the city centre, but I've been to several German stadiums, Schalke, Koln, Leverkusen, Monchengladbach, Frankfurt to name 5 and all big clubs and none of them have city centre locations. We went to watch Monchengladbach earlier this season and it was a 30 minute shuttle bus journey to the ground from the city centre. Apparently they are the leaders in giving supporters the best football experience though.

The reason our attendances held up so well during the shitshow of the Ashley years was due to the location of SJP. People didn't want to give up their day on the drink in the town. Move to Wideopen or some other far flung place amd only continued success would keep the place filled.

No you've not missed anything. Think there used to be Wallsend Town who played at the Barking Dog for while but don't even think they're still going. Agree it's strange that a town of 45/50k people has never had a decent Non League team, especially when you look at many NL clubs who represent much smaller towns and villages,and have done for years.

We could fill 70k every week now if we had the capacity, as a mid table team. Every match has been sold out and apparently the ballot success rate is around 25%.

Thought the number 3 for WA was excellent.

Just back from Heaton Stan v West Allotment. Very Decent game. 1st half fairly even, maybe WA just shaded it but 2nd half total one way traffic heading towards the WA goal. Woodwork hit a couple of times and some herioc defending kept the score at 0-0 until Stan finally went ahead in the 83rd minute. Assumed that would be that only for West Allotment to get a corner 5 mins later which they scored from. 1-1 FT. 2 points definitely dropped for Stan.

I'm going along there tonight. Nice little local Derby to put the night in.

Just got the email to say my application to go to their atmosphere event has been unsuccessful. Ah well.

Looked 28k max.

And that's in the lower sections. Imagine how empty upstairs is!

Yes they built around us when they did the Milburn/Leazes extension and we just got wet. Obviously the derby was the standout game for getting absolutely soaked.

On a serious note though and speaking purely hypothetically here, if we ever did build a new stadium with say a capacity of 70k and this allowed the club to sell another 20k season tickets I'd be all for giving priority to younger supporters to get a bit energy inside the place. At 46 I know this would hamper my chances of getting one but it'd be for the greater good.

I was part of that singing section. Had a great few years up there before Ashley spat the dummy, especially being in the balcony part at the front. However my mates who were in the Gallowgate at the time used to comment that they couldn't really hear us from there, again down to the poor acoustics of the stadium and the noise just getting lost due to the lopsided design.

Aye our East Stand just totally ruins it. Went to Benfica just before COVID and that holds 65k. We were sat near the back and it the view/experience couldn't have felt any different to Level 7 because we had fans all the way around the stadium sat at the same height as us. You really felt part of the crowd. When you are sat near the back of Level 7 and looking out over the town I find I feel totally isolated from the actual occasion. I hate it.

Just reading this about Espanyol. They are making a drive to get more younger supporters on board and say the average age of their season ticket holders is 37. Would be interesting to know how that compares with us but I reckon we've got at least 10 years on them there. https://www.rcdespanyol.com/en/new/more-than-30,000-members-and-25,000-season-ticket-holders/16177

The problem with extending capacity though is that it's essentially just a Level 7 extension. Adding 8k of the cheapest seats with the worst view in the stadium. Looking at it from a purely business perspective I just can't see the point bearing in mind the cost and then the return. As someone else mentioned that could also be the final nail in the coffin regarding atmosphere at SJP. The L7 expansion absolutely killed the Leazes End. I used to sit there from 1993-2006 and the change in atmosphere from 2000 onwards was tragic. Same could well happen to the Gallowgate.

Again that's another thing that PSV do. So you have the usual family section that you get everywhere, then they have the East Side and NE Corner which is for their more lively element but then you have another Corner which you can only buy a season ticket in if you were born after 30th June 2005, so essentially it's a section for U21s. Unsurprisingly that part is also pretty boisterous and makes good noise. Season ticket in there costs €205 so basically €12 per game or just over a tenner in our money. There's loads more we could be doing here, that's Newcastle and England generally, but sadly I think the ship has probably already sailed.

OK as a few of you will know I regularly travel over the North Sea to watch PSV Eindhoven play. Was there yesterday and the one thing that always jumps out to me is how different the demographic of their fanbase is to ours. That's the 100% biggest problem at SJP and I honestly don't see a solution to it. Sat outside a bar yesterday watching all the other supporters walking past us and it was a massive majority of large groups of lads in their 20s and 30s. Admittedly the overwhelming choice of clothing was Stone Island and at first glance "football hooligans" is probably the first thing that would enter your head (very rarely see any bother there mind although away fans aren't allowed to drink in the City centre so you never see any) but generally it's large groups of younger males who like a bit bounce about, daft carry on, and a sing song who make up a large part of their support. Compare to an average home game here and it's predominantly men and women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s who make up a large amount of the fanbase. Typically these don't enjoy a bit bounce around (they don't even like standing at the match) or a sing song. They want to sit there, arms folded and to be entertained. That's how it is here now. All seater ST culture and high ticket prices have driven us to where we are these days and the unfortunate reality us that there is no going back. The other 19 PL clubs all have the same problem however. It's an English problem, not one that's specifically ours. A new stadium might help out for the first few seasons with the novelty factor but then it would sink into the same malaise that SJP finds itself in today I reckon.

Slightly surprised if they've decided to stay at SJP and extend to 60k+. All I can assume is that there's nowhere else in the city centre vicinity to build a new one. For the owners point of view it's going to be a lot of hassle and a lot of money to build an extension where the vast majority of the new seats will be the cheapest in the ground, ie Gallowgate Level 7. Speaking as someone who absolutely hates sitting in Level 7 it wouldn't be a particularly inspiring move for me but I suppose if a new city centre stadium is completely off the table it's the next best thing, but with all this talk about how poor the atmosphere is, I can't see how bolting 8k seats onto the Gallowgate and tweaking the East Stand will make any positive difference in that respect though.

I was there today. Currently sat in departures at Schiphol. Bakayoko played. Was poor yet again. After a great start to the season he's really struggled for form these past couple of months. Personally I think he's playing on the wrong wing and him and Lozano should swap. Was interested to see Minteh today and have to say I was very impressed. Very lively, scored a good goal and was pretty much a menace until he went off in the 75th minute. Played through the middle today but I think he also has the attributes to play out wide, he has pace and some nice tricks. I'd think he'd be knocking on the door of the first team next season and going off today alone he looked a better option than either Almiron or Murphy in my opinion. Also sure I read on here that the Feyenoord fans don't like him. Well we were sat a couple of blocks along from the away fans and they love him! He got an incredible reception off them when he was subbed.

He also reckons Malcolm Macdonald was at their home match last Saturday and was having an argument with one of the lads who's part of this newly formed Supporters Club telling him they were going on about things all wrong way. Impression I get off him is that most the fans have now either stopped going or the ones that remain are just totally disillusioned with the club. 183 at their last home game says it all.

Mate of mine had just joined their newly formed supporters club. Already just shy of £200 members and by all accounts they've already raised a few £K in subscriptions and donations. They emailed the club a on Monday I think it was about arranging a meeting with them so that they couldn't work together to hopefully bring some stability and prosperity to proceedings but unsurprisingly they haven't bothered to respond. He also reckons they were donated a turnstile form some security company a couple of months ago (no turnstile was one of the things their ground failed on last year) and its still just standing there outside. They haven't even bothered to install it. Oh, and they still refuse to take card payment at the gate.

Applied to do this workshop online. Something needs to change.