Wallsendmag

Still think they've could cause havoc if they played together.

It woud have been October or November and all the bother of last seasons game would have been in the previous April or May so tensions would still have been a bit high. I was a cocky little 14 year old shit at the time and more than happy to scrap with other kids my age but got to say when those Leicester lads who would have been 20 years older started with us my arse dropped a bit

Aye I think it was a record attendance for York at their new ground. Fantastic stuff! Well over 3,000 combined up here at Whitley Bay and Ashington as well. I do think there's a groundswell of support out there for watching football further down the pyramid. Just speaking for myself it's definitely becoming my preferred choice of watching live football. Having to apply in a ballot for a £60 ticket to sit in a sterile stadium, watching a match that may or may not be much good, have a daft KO time, that may be spoilt by awful refereeing (and don't get me started on VAR) is definitely starting to wear a bit thin for me now and I do think there's more and more people of the same way of thinking. Looking back I think the ballot decision definitely changed how I view myself as a supporter. That meant that for the first time in my life I didn't have control of when I wanted to go to the match. The huge ticket pirce increases this season probably just the final nail in the coffin when I can go to another match for a small fraction of what I'd have paid had I been successful in the ballot and have just as good, if not a better time. Hopefully the Non League scene can continue to grow. If it does I just hope these clubs remember who they are and don't get greedy themselves and ruin it!

Some of the Non League attendances were incredible on Boxing Day/Saturday. The game at that level has definitely increased massively in popularity these past few seasons.

We were in the seats behind the goal he scored the free kick in amongst the home fans which was interesting to say the least. Had 4 lunatic Leicester fans behind us who quickly sussed out we were Geordies. They all ended up getting kicked out. Then O'Brien scored and half the stand jumped up celebrating We lost 2-1. We'd lost 1-0 to Grimsby the week before to end our 11/11 winning start to the season. I actually just started reading Liam O'Brien's autobiography today. It's canny.

Surprised at all the empty seats there today. Looked like a few thousand. Usually this time of year is where clubs get their biggest gates. Officially it was only 500 less than what they had against us, in reality nowhere near. Atmosphere made our place sound like La Bombanera as well (they're complaining about that on RTG, excuses ranging from being on a Sunday, being Christmas and Dan Ballard not playing).

It's been partially lifted. I know Aberdeen were allowed to sell alcohol in the concourse of the Richard Donald stand earlier this season.

And over 20 assists iirc.

Usually it's me, wor lass and the bairn (12). The 3 of us have all got the season tickets at PSV. Me and her have had them for 21 years and they kindly done us a massive favour to allow him to jump to the front of the waiting list a few years ago and also move our seats so the 3 of us could sit together. He's always had a massive soft spot for Dundee Utd as it happens for some reason hence the reason for our trip up there on Saturday.

Probably is now. We're off to watch Dundee Utd v Dundee on Saturday. 2nd time we've done this derby. Was excellent last time.

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That's probably because Sunderland had a big 40 year Anniversary celebration earlier this year for finishing Runners Up.

We won a cup that they've never won before and qualified for the Champions League which they've never done before. They got promoted.

Agreed. But we aren't playing to his strengths.

Honestly mate had pretty much this exact conversation on our WhatsApp group after the Man Utd game. Most of us saying just that. We need to be looking at more technical players rather than out and out athletes. Athletes will take you so far, and arguably our best athlete over the last few seasons, Joelinton, appears to have his best years behind him. Our athletes aren't all that athletic right now and we simply don't have the technical players there to make that difference and do something a bit different when a game is tight, ie mackems away.

A decent team with any sort of offensive fluidity and attacking threat would have beaten them with room to spare on Boxing Day. I thought they were dreadful.

We're just suffering from a really poor summer transfer window. Simple as that. £100m wasted on Elanga and Ramsey and the jury still out on £55m Wissa. A club like ours simply can't afford to make mistakes like that. The goalkeeper we brought in is poor and we lost our striker who was pretty much averaging 20 goals a season. Yes Thiaw has been a success but then there's the likes of Pope, Joelinton, Burn, Trippier and Schar who are clearly on the decline now. Less said about Gordon the better. In short our team is worse than last season. In fact it's the worst team we've had in the past few seasons. Not sure how or if we can correct it. If Wissa turns out to be a flop that's £150m wasted on those 3, plus agents fees, plus wages. I'd imagine that would leave us hamstrung for quite a while.

We watched it in a pub in Galashiels yesterday. Both Hearts and Hibs fans in there, more Hibs than Hearts, and they are a passionate bunch I'll say that much!

And Brentford and Forest both of whom finished top 10 in the PL last season. It was a brutal run to the final.

We sat in it. Must admit I liked it! It's certainly something like I've never seen before and it offers a great view of the match as well. Berwick ended up winning 2-1. Quite a good match. Could probably have gone either way. Didn't announce a crowd. I'd guess at around 350/400 with around half of them, if nor more supporting Berwick. Canny little town is Galashiels. Very friendly place. We had time for some bait and a couple of pints in the Salmon Inn which is a cracking little pub.

Aye they've got that Blyth Spartans look about them sadly. On another note I'm in Galashiels now. Going to watch Gala Fairydean v Berwick Rangers in a bit.

There's literally no point in making a change now, or anytime soon unless something catastrophic happened and our home form collapsed like our away form has and we found ourselves in a relegation scrap. As things stand we are 10 points above the relegation zone and I don't foresee our home form dropping off a cliff so I'd just leave things are until the end of the season. If by then he still hasn't found answers to our problems as soon as we play anywhere but SJP, I'd let him go in the summer.

Sad thing is that because of how bad we are on the road, Burnley will be looking at this game as of of the games they expect to get points from. They'll score, especially if Ramsdale is in goal. I'm not sure we will.

I can accept losing to a good team but they weren't good tonight. Neither were Sunderland, Brentford, Brighton, West Ham...... Teams don't have to turn up and put in a performance when we visit. We are far too easy to play against. Too passive and toothless.

Aye subs were poor today. And surely if you're 1-0 down and seeing plenty of the ball you bring Wissa on to play with Woltemade and also leave your best crosser of the ball on the pitch.