Wallsendmag

He spat the dummy out when he realised that there was over £100m of hidden debt which if he'd done his due diligence checks he would have known about. He spent the next 14 years making sure he got every penny of that £100m+ back by bleeding us dry. He was lucky that even though we made very little revenue from advertising/sponsorship due to him plastering SD everywhere the club was still generating big money through other means, PL money, gate receipts etc which he could siphon off. He won't have that luxury at Reading with their 9k crowds.

Cat2 was £41 v Arsenal and is £47 v Chelsea. It's all getting a bit silly now. Glad I've taken the decision to sit the rest of this season out, although tbf they were sort of taking that out of my hands anyway with my luck in the ballots

Hated it. First time I've sat in the Leazes End since I moved my season ticket over from there to the Gallowgate. Full of people who either sit in silence or jump on tbe players backs. Just a miserable experience. Felt like a home game for Man City in the 1st half. Haven't applied for any tickets since then because ideally I want to be in the Gallowgate so I've got to apply for Cat2 but that's also the Leazes and as there's fewer ST holders in the Leazes the chances are bigger that I'd end up there. As I said a few pages back I'd genuinely either watch it in the pub or on the TV at home than have to go back in the Leazes End. It was turning bad 17 years ago when I decided to relocate to the Gallowgate but that night was a real eye opener. Ended up arguing with the bloke behind cos I stood up in excitement when Murphy ran clear and shot wide just before half time and thought I just can't really be arsed with this anymore.

Aye we were sat underneath them for the Cup match last month. Thought they were excellent.

Since he's left Arsenal they've gone for having the quietest ground in the league to one of the most atmospheric, which now includes a singing/standing section next to to the away fans. On the subject of atmosphere I'm currently sat on a train bound for Schiphol Airport having been to watch Borussia Monchengladbach yesterday and PSV Eindhoven today. Both stadiums absolutely piss on SJP for atmosphere. Fair enough PSV have just beaten Ajax 5-2 so you'd expect it to be bouncing, but Gladbach were playing Heidenheim and scraped past them 2-1. They've got a terrace behind one of the goals that holds around 16k and they never let up the full match. Just a barrage of noise and colour. Hits home how far we are behind on this Country

There are now 5,000 rail seats inside SJP and 3,200 of those are reserved for the away fans. Says it all really.

Sitting surrounded by loads of greeting, miserable old arseholes can be draining after a while and tbh I'd rather watch in a pub or in the house than surrounded by that, which was the case last time I was unlucky to end up in the Leazes End. To add insult to injury the only positive support you hear from in there comes from.the away fans directly above you. Paying £41 for that "experience" just isn't my idea of money well spent, nor is it particularly enjoyable but each to their own I guess. Regarding approaching the club over this. Clearly it's a topic that has gained a lot of traction on here which is good as I'd assume this is the busiest fans forum, but I'd be looking at the Supporters Club and to also take advantage of Wor Flags good relationship with the club to approach the relevant people at NUFC. I wouldn't bother NUST with this one as I don't think it's something they'd be interested in or push for the supporters.

Same. There's parts of the ground I'd prefer to watch on TV than sit in, and the Leazes End is one. Factoring in the ticket prices now and it wouldn't be a hard decision either. It's the main reason I've just sacked off the ballots altogether now and have become an armchair fan. Fuck paying best part of 70 quid for me and the bairn to end up in an area I don't want to he in.

Gallowgate needs to be safe standing. The whole lot of it. All 12,000 spaces. Then you'll see a big difference. 1,800 spaces in the SE Corner in a 52k stadium is a drop in the ocean. A token gesture at best.

Just think back to those Steve Brice years. Literally zero atmosphere. You could go the full 90 mins without a song breaking out. Just a completely dead ground where the only noise of any description came from the away end.

Was the Sheff Utd game the one where the East Stand lost their shit with Scott Parker? Probably the most animated they've ever been.

I sat in the same seat in the Leazes in L4U from 1993-2006 and would have to agree with you. Even my very first game in my new seat I remember it being very loud then Spurs gradually took control of the game, Sheringham scored and it went deathly silent for long periods after. It was a million times better than it is today but it could be hitty missy. The NE corner was very loud back in that 93/94 season so typically they decided to relocate the away supporters to there for the 94/95 season which had a massive negative effect on the atmosphere. Level 7 being built completely killed what atmosphere was left in there. I put up with it for 6 years before switching to the Gallowgate.

Up until this season I'd been to every single home European match we've played since 1992, whether that be Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, Cup Winners Cup, Intertoto Cup and even Anglo Italian Cup and the only memorable atmosphere was Barcelona 1997. None of our other Champions League games have had good atmospheres and even Marseille in the UEFA Cup Semi was fairly muted. Loudest noise the crowd made that night was booing Robert for giving the ball away which nearly cost a goal. Benfica and Anzhi Makakaka or whatever they were called were pretty good tbf for a bit of balance but that's it, from about 60 or so games.

European atmospheres are generally poor. Everyone harks back to Barcelona 3-2 which was the exception. No other really good atmospheres. Juventus wasn't great despite us winning, Inter was poor after Bellamy got sent off after 5 mins which knocked the stuffing out of everyone, the 2nd time we played Barca it was dead as well. Even going back to 1994 we were 3-0 up v Bilbao and instead of singing, people started doing Mexican waves ffs

Late 80s/1990 I was going in the Scoreboard with my school mates before getting a season ticket with my dad in 1991, but even as a 10/11/12 year old I always wanted to be in that part of the Milburn Stand. As a compromise we started going in the Milburn E Paddock directly underneath it so we could join in with the songs without having the extortionate costs (to us) of going in the seats. Saved up my pocket money and managed to get in there for a couple of FA Cup games v Port Vale and Rotherham and it was everything I hoped it would be, and more. Was a shame when they all got booted out to make way for the Platinum Club/bond scheme.

Bottom line is that when people can't choose to sit/stand where they want it's always going to have a detrimental effect on the atmosphere. The random ballot has just made this a far bigger problem. Believe it or not, the moaners has always had an acceptable place in the ground. Back in the 80s when I first started going I remember if you wanted to stand and have a good whinge at everyone the Gallowgate M section, aka "old mans corner" was the place for you. No doubt there was seating areas for them.as well. If you went on like that in the other corner or the scoreboard you'd likely be booted all over! The Leazes F Centre section was where you'd find our more studenty type of fans. They would stand over there, pushed up to the fence near the away fans and bait them for 90 mins. In the case of a big away following they'd be shifted to one of the corner Paddocks in the Leazes. When the Milburn Stand was built, the crackerjack with a bit more money in their pockets would congregate in the Leazes section of the new stand and would make a hell of a racket. Basically there was a place for everyone and you could as good as guarantee that you would be stood/sat with likeminded people. Season ticket culture mid 90s onwards party ruined that but the last few couple of seasons I felt we were getting back to the old times as much as is possible in this day and age. With best part of 50k seats up for grabs and around 32k season ticket holders there was the option to get yourself a decent spot around the people you have more in common with. Gallowgate Upper was my go to area and it was good the see the NE Corner in the Leazes become so vocal as well as the obvious Strawberry Corner. We've completely lost all that again. You pick your category and if you are lucky enough to get your name picked out the hat you get a random seat somewhere. It's not conducive to a good atmosphere unfortunately.

We're going to watch Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday and our seats are in the upper tier of the Nordkurve directly above the 16,000 capacity standing terrace they have. No doubt that'll be similar to the constant drone of the Dortmund fans last night and no doubt they'll also have a drum.

I work with a ST who openly admits he's not bothered about going. He goes because it gets him out the house and is the only chance he gets to meet up with the one mate he's got in the Labour Club. He didn't bother getting the Cup package so wasn't there tonight so can't apportion any of the blame on him for the atmosphere tonight. We first got our season tickets at the start of the 91/92 season and I remember that at the time we had around 4,000 season ticket holders.

A ridiculously high % of our ST holders are right miserable, moaning old bastards. That's the reason our atmosphere down at Wembley was so pathetic as it was 95% ST holders in our end.

Was very noticeable on TV tonight. Not sure what the purpose of it is. Sounds pathetic and hardly encourages the players to try different things.

That's the problem with randomly allocated seating. A friend of ours was put in the Strawberry Corner for tonight with her 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter. It was literally the last place she wanted to be!

Sounded absolutely shite on TV. Even the commentators were saying they were surprised at how quiet it was. Could only really here the Dortmund fans, except for in odd spells. Moans and groans seemed louder than any actual positive support inside the ground.

2-0 Dortmund now. We look awful

Well to give you an idea of how much interest they have in our match tonight, the NUFC v PSG match thread on there was 92 pages strong until it was hidden away in the parsnip section. They'll all be glued to our game tonight, however much they protest otherwise.

Still find it hard to believe that this time 2 years ago we were nailed on to be relegated to the Championship and here we are now, sat top of a Champions League group containing AC Milan, PSG, and Borussia Dortmund. I still struggle to take it all in if I'm being totally honest.