Wallsendmag

Don't think North Shields have invested a penny of their own cash into the ground. Even the new clubhouse when it was build was funded though grants. Honestly the amount of money that's disappeared out of that club is criminal.

You might still get lucky. Sporting hardly ever sell out. Their stadium holds just over 50k and last season they pulled in 39,528 v Porto and 39,348 v Benfica, their 2 biggest games by a mile. Most of their other crowds were between 25/30k.

Got one there the other week with no ill effects and can report that my guts are fine this morning as well

Firstly one thing I would say as that Man City are leading experts in strangling the life out of a crowd! Also my train got back into the Central at 18.35 yesterday, so more or less as the 2nd half was getting ready to kick off. Was genuinely shocked at how loud the crowd sounded whilst walking through the town, up past the Gate amd along Percy Street. Being able to hear the roars of encouragement and different songs breaking out was fascinating. As I waited for my lift outside the Civic Centre I could hear a huge chant of "Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle....." break out. It must have only been a couple of minutes before they equalised and it sounded ridiculously loud. Strangely, standing in the same spot I couldn't hear the Man City fans celebrating their equaliser at all, but could clearly hear the tanny operator announcing it. So although I can't comment on what it was like inside the ground, it sounded bloody good from outside!

Bwrwick won 1-0. Canny game. They played the last 20 mins with 10 men after the right back was sent off for 2 bookings. Paid £7.50 to get in. For that I got entry into the ground, a pint of Estrella Galacia and a Scotch Pie. Can't grumble. Crowd 407

Off to watch Berwick Rangers v Civil Service Strollers today. Went to their last game and got a voucher for half price admission for today so thought we might as well since I've fucked the NUFC ballot off. Probably watch our game in a pub up there before heading home.

I'm the same. Don't trust cash machines. My brother got scammed at the one at Tescos at Billy Mill to the tune of £600 a few years ago and it's made me very cautious. Morrisons at Tynemouth still do cashback but no doubt that'll stop soon. Shields ask fans for ideas and input but if someone mentions a card reader at the gate they are just ignored.

Not until they install a card machine at the gate. My mate was there on Wednesday. Says it's all the same faces on the committee. Until they allow me to pay by card so that I know my money isn't going straight onto someone's back pocket instead of the clubs bank account they aren't getting a penny. I'm not funding their end of season beano to Benidorm.

9k Hartlepool there that day. No issues with season ticket holders being shifted for that one. Anyone would think they are only kicking off because it was us they needed to move for. Aside from that if you take their last 20 or so home cup ties, the stand where we were put in wasn't even opened up for for over 50% of them and season ticket holders in there had to move to the East Stand so it's hardly like it's unprecedented. It happens more often than not.

Was at both the O'Brien over the wall and Dabizas games. I genuinely feared for my life as a 14 year old lad during the aftermath of O'Briens goal. I was swept clean off my feet and ended up wedged up against a crush barrier about 10 feet from where if originally been standing, and totally separated from may dad's.mate who took me. I literally couldn't move and could feel my rib cage being crushed against it and couldn't catch my breath. Proper blind panic came over me. Luckily some huge monster of a bloke realised what was going on and managed to position himself between me and the mass of people behind me and I was able to scramble underneath the barrier and stand back up in front of it. The Dabizas celebrations were pretty mental as well mind!

If you have a membership you are also eligible to buy a ticket through the resale process. This is where season ticket holders resell their ticket through the NUFC ticket office if they can't make a particular match. I don't bother with the ballots anymore as I was fed up of sitting where I didn't want to be, and for the Man Utd and Fulham games bought my ticket this way instead.

That was my first visit there in almost 20 years so can't comment if that was at their best or not, although I very much doubt it's like that every week in the Championship against the likes of Rotherham! What I do know is that last year's Semi Final certainly wasnt us at our worst either, it just wasn't very good, but we've been much worse than that this season. It was noticeable that Boro have a much younger, excitable and vibrant crowd than we do which in turn contributes towards atmosphere.

I was just comparing it to our Semi Final last year mate as that's pretty much like for like, except our home game was the 2nd leg.

It'll be best part of 20 years since I was last there. Couldn't believe they still play it Another correlation I've worked out is that the easier it is to get tickets, the easier it is to get a good atmosphere going. I bought 4 prime seats altogether in a prime location on general sale and without any purchase history. It enables likeminded people to group together much easier.

Was at Boro v Chelsea last night and sadly have to report that their atmosphere absolutely pisses all over ours, if I was to compare that to our Semi Final last year. Firstly their DJ does a great job in working up the crowd. It was already full 15 mins before kick off so he turned the music off and just let the crowd sing and it was the best build up to a match I can remember in years. We were in the West Stand, equivalent to the Milburn at SJP, and people were bouncing up and down in there! Certainly wouldn't happen at SJP. Their main singing end was to our right in the South Stand. It's clear that they have an organised Ultras group in there and there's even a podium for the drummer to stand in What I will say is that they never stopped all night. A full end, 5 or 6k all stood for the entire match and song after song. The North Stand opposite, although mainly seated except towards the back, was also very loud and both the East and West Stand regularly joined in. Made for a really noisy experience! One thing I did notice was how different the demographic is between their fanbase and ours. In their main singing end it appeared to be all teenagers and lads in their 20s and 30s. Where were we it was more people in their 30s/40s but still loads of kids.. You can probably add 20 years onto that if you're talking about the SJP crowd. Was nice, as a neutral, to be part of such a young, enthusiastic, vibrant support though although came away slightly envious I'll be honest. They might get sanctioned for an entire Stand singing "You're just a town full of rent boys" at the Chelsea fans however. That was very loud and will certainly have been picked up!

Aye he's class. Going to see him at the Whitley Bay Playhouse next month. Should be a cracking night!

The lot of them were shite because they were playing against a team of level that was way beyond any of them. That was glaringly obvious.

I'm at Middlesbrough v Chelsea tonight. Don't care who wins.

All that worry for nowt. They are fucking hopeless.

17 grand you say?

So it's been a tradition that's been going on for 70 years yet apparently we only did it cos the mackems did it 2 years ago Cracking photo BTW.

That wasn't your point though. You said people went to Trafalgar Square because the mackems did which is completely incorrect. It's been something that's been happening for decades. In fact there's photos doing the rounds of NUFC fans at Trafalgar Square for the 1970s Cup Finals.

I was in Trafalgar Square along with 1000s of others the night before the Finals in 98 and 99 so you're talkng absolute shite there like.

We were in the lower tier right behind the goal, where I assumed mist the atmosphere would be, which is why I picked there as we were in phase one so had the pick of seats. The whole day just felt off. Nobody singing in the pubs beforehand, Man Utd fans outsinging us down Wembley way (mainly with their Shearer song), got into the ground and at tbe age of 45 I felt like a young man! Knew it was going to be shite before we got to out seats. My abiding memory of being at the match was some wifey going absolutely ape shit with everyone at half time for standing in complete silence for the 1st half. Needless to say it got no better at half time. Just a miserable day all round.

We were flat before the match. In the pubs, walking to the ground and In the concourse beforehand. I remember saying to my nephew the fans weren't up for it. Looked around and most people were in their 50s and 60s. It was like going to a home match in the Leazes End. Hated every minute of it.