Wallsendmag

Murphy has the numbers to back himself up. I'd rather him than Elanga any day.

I'm still not a fan as of yet. Don't think he's close to the quality of Bruno, Tonali or Joelinton. Not even sure he's up there with Miley or Willock yet. Might be a decent squad rotation option.

Bit better but as depressing as it is to say he's absolutely miles behind Murphy and should be benched for the next 2 games at least.

Ideal time to introduce him here.

Poor starting XI. Hope Howe hasn't underestimated them. Dropping 2 firing wingers for 2 wasters is a strange one.

No chance! If they're happy to spunk £130m on the rat they'll need to cough up more than that to buy the one bloke who's capable of making him look like a useful striker.

Only 4 tickets showing up for me @8am there but only 1 of them that I'm eligible to buy as the other 3 are 14-17 year olds. The 1 ticket I can buy is £82. For Burnley!

Ramsdale?

20.15 games are a pain in the arse for getting home. 8pm is bad enough but that extra 15 minutes makes all the difference. I preferred it years ago when all midweek games kicked off at 19.30.

Brilliant night. My old mate from work brought Gazza into the Three Bulls to meet us for a pint but he got absolutely mobbed in there so we ended up going to Pacific for a game of pool as it was much quieter. Gazza was off his tits and didn't go to the match so we just left him in there. Woke up the next day to find out he was arrested outside The Gate that night

That's a great idea especially for the 20.15 kick offs!

Was shocked to read he's played 92 times for us. Certainly doesn't seem like that many!

It's pretty much there now tbh. Usually 17/18mins between the whistle blowing to end the 1st half and again to start the 2nd half.

We could easily sell 60k STs if we had a 70k capacity if that was the route the club wanted to go down (I know they won't) which would guarantee a sell out every match, or they could cap it at 40/45k and make more money game by game but with the knowledge that some midweek games might not be 100% filled to capacity.

When the crowds died off a bit during Ashley's time here Level 7 took the hardest hit as it was the least popular part of the ground. Incredibly it was priced exactly the same as the East Stand and Milburn Paddocks back then. When crowds started to drop to the low/mid 40,000s, Level 7 was pretty empty so to fill it back up he turned it into a family enclosure and sold off the tickets dirt cheap. Before then the Family enclosure was directly underneath where the away fans are now, in which I think is the Park Grill section. He extended it around to the corner to disband the singing section as we used to sing about him being a fat cockney rapist amongst various other insults and he spat the dummy out.

I was also up there for the Barca game so totally get where you're coming from there but obviously on Saturday v Burnley that one big positive that you mentioned will disappear as they'll basically be the polar opposite of what Barcelona were and it won't be such a good watch. Again though even against Barcelona in the Champions League the atmosphere up there was very poor and you just feel totally detached from the rest of the ground, especially the further back you go. For me the one main reason to actually attend a match rather than watch on TV is for the atmosphere. If there's no atmosphere I'd rather keep the 60 quid in my pocket and watch on the telly.

Agree with the general sentiment on here. Whatever tickets do go on sale, release to members under the age of 25. Freshen the place up a bit. Us older ones have had our chances of a ST. I had one from the Ardiles era up until Bruce but I'm happy to be pushed down the queue now to make way for a younger person who's desperate to get their first season ticket.

Don't think I'll be far off that. Plus I'm doing Leverkusen next week which is going to see me for the best part of a grand I reckon £420 for the flights £200 for a hotel, £40 for the ticket then I'll spend £200/£300 over there. Actually think it'll be my last match for quite a long time.

I'm cutting back. Didn't apply for Saturday, did apply for Palace (knocked back), didn't apply for Leeds (got offered one anyway which I've knocked back). Don't see me renewing my membership next season either. By the time you pay your membership fee and then the extortionate ticket costs it amounts to a small fortune. Now way should it be costing £58-£97 for a ticket to watch a football match in the North East of England.

Each to their own. I hate it. Just feel detached from the rest of the stadium. If you can get near the front and in the middle it's not too bad but anywhere else, well I'd rather watch on TV.

New grounds are better to watch a game in though. The back of the Gallowgate is shit, Level 7 is shit, the East Stand is shit if you're over 5'10". Personally I'm not a fan of Wembley. However I've seen us play at the Millennium Stadium and it was superb. Great sight lines, steep stands. It made for an incredible atmosphere. Something not too dissimilar to that would suit me down to the ground, capacity and design wise.

Well PIF have been here for over 4 years now and now we're being told we're at St James' Park for "years to come". I'm 47 and starting to doubt if I'll ever see it

The reality though.....

Spurs and Arsenal or even the likes of Wembley are completely different to SJP. The Upper sections continue around the entire stadium meaning that you don't get that detached, cut off feeling from the rest of the fans, and even the match, as you do when you're stuck up in L7. Also the vast majority of the Gallowgate, the entire East Stand and parts of the Leazes can't even see the scoreboard at SJP because of the design of the place. It's massively outdated these days sadly. Even the newest bits are 25 years old.

Or 25 days out of 365 depending on your point of view. As I said earlier the vast majority of fans would still be accessing from the city centre, not Jesmond.