Wallsendmag

Newcastle were a complete irrelevance to most of us during most the Ashley years. Don't kid yourself in thinking fans got up for games more v us than against Southampton etc for example. That hasn't been the case since the Keegan/SBR days.

I'm a bit of a groundhopper. Last Saturday I was at Carlisle v Grimsby. Tuesday Chelsea v Dortmund and Sunday NUFC v Wolves. I've done loads of Bundesliga grounds over the years (already 3 this season) and can confirm Dortmund was incredible although I actually thought Schalke was even better but maybe that was because I was part of the huge standing section they have there.

Whereabouts do you sit out of curiosity?

Take a trip to Dortmund. It holds 81k. Then tell me that bigger stadiums = worse atmospheres. Acoustics obviously make a difference but it's who is inside the stadium that really matters.

That's all it is though. Reputation. As anyone knows a reputation, whether good or bad, is difficult to shake off. Anyone thinking our current atmosphere is good like these YouTuber's and Tiktok'ers do (although I doubt they're at SJP every other week like we are) is basing it on reputation. Any regular matchgoer knows that isn't the reality.

It's such a shame because the Leazes used to be really good. I moved my season ticket to there when it was built in 1993 and for the first few years was better than anything the Gallowgate offered. The West Side of it used to feed of the Milburn (The Milburn used to chant "Sing in the cheap seats!" and the East corner was brilliant as well. Was a really vibrant end. Then the lads from the Milburn Stand were shifted to make way for the Platinum Club which killed it a bit and to compound matters the noisy fans in the East corner were shifted to make way for the away fans once the Gallowgate was built up and the decline started. I stuck it out until 2006 when I applied for a move to the Gallowgate whuch was better but never hit the heights of the Leazes back when it was first built and never really has tbh.

That's your opinion. My experience is something different. Not sure if you are at the match on Sunday but if you are just take a minute to look around you when you are in your seat (unless you are in the corner) and you will see why our atmosphere is shite as you'll be mainly surrounded by miserable middle/age folk who have no interest whatsoever in creating an atmosphere.

It was me who was at Stamford Bridge this week and the atmosphere did really surprise me. It was absolutely jumping! Yes it was a big game although I'd argue that Southampton in the League Cup Semi Final was an even bigger game for us and let's be honest it was flat as a fart apart from the last 5 mins. If you can't get up for a game like that (and most of the crowd couldn't) I suggest there's a problem there and the lack of any noise at Wembley really hit home. I hated being outsung by those bastards! I've been to Anfield when it's been very loud and also pretty quiet. The extremes probably less so at Old Trafford. The atmosphere has been poor at SJP for a very long time now except for October onwards of last season but If people can't get up for it when we are challenging for a Champions League place and getting to a Cup Final I reckon we have real a problem there.

As I say it's a lazy narrative but it probably goes with the majority consensus on Social media (it's not trendy to say Man Utd or Arsenal have a good atmosphere) but speaking as someone who has visited 18/20 PL stadiums (most on numerous occasions) it's just plain wrong. Leeds is noisy fair enough, we aren't, and Palace is about 400 blokes calling themselves Ultras stuck out the way in a corner whilst the rest of the ground rarely contributes.

Wolves very underrated mate and totally agree with you. They turned that entire stand to the left of the away end into standing and it's very noisy there now. Definitely one of the most hostile grounds in the league but a terrible experience as an away fan, both the away end itself and not being allowed in any pubs!

It's just how it is. Man Utd = tourists Liverpool = sing YNWA then sit in silence Arsenal = library Argue differently and people will try to pull you apart. Leeds is very loud. We look good pre match with the flags, and Palace the only team to have an ultras group attached to them. It's an easy narrative to go along with.

They'd be pulled apart of that because the consensus around the country is that Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal have a shit atmosphere. In reality none of them are any worse than ours. Even Arsenal have started to get their act together.

Disagree. Most TicTok'ers, YouTuber's put stuff in their content for "likes", in other words what people want to hear and praising the likes of Newcastle and Leeds is always a guaranteed "win" for them. Speaking as someone who has visited every PL ground (other than Bournemouth and Brentford) I'd say our atmosphere ranks somewhere in the middle these days. In times gone by we were right up at the top. We are nowhere near Leeds who have both ends behind the goals stood and singing more or less non stop. Even Man Utd who get a lot of stick for atmosphere have fans to the right of the away end who are very vocal plus a sort of unofficial singing area of around 6k in the Upper tier of the Streford End who stand/sing. They also have around 20k people who stand every match currently. As a comparison I'd say we have maybe 500 max. We don't have a "home end" like a lot of clubs do where likeminded fans can congregate together. Everyone is just mixed in. I was at the Liverpool match the other week and ended up in L7 right next to the away fans as they were the only seats we could get and our support is completely inaudible from up there. Unfortunately a lot of our fans were unable to access SJP throughout most of the 1990s and we are paying for that now. Most of the people who watch NUFC these days are either 50+ or are kids. There isn't a great deal in between and it's that age group who traditionally make the noise. It's another reason why I think safe standing will be less well supported here than anywhere else. Unless we get a new 70k stadium amd ultimately a blank canvas to work with or at least get another 8/10k seats at SJP which will give them some room to play about with things I don't really see things getting much better. Certainly a small token gesture of 2k or so standing places makes no difference. I'm pleased that the 2 lads off here who went along to the meeting represented us very well and that they are on the same page as me when it comes to this, but they said themselves that the room was largely filled with older people and the facts are that it's those older people who represent the majority of the crowd at SJP these days. Not meaning to generalise here, and of course there are exceptions, but, in the main, older people prefer to sit down than stand and are less inclined to sing and get all radged up! That's just how it is and that is where our problem lies amd unfortunately you can't just fix the demographic of the crowd. That's just the way it is. It's more elderly than others, and more grumpy as well!

That was the year we got our season tickets. 1991/92 season, also East Stand (family enclosure). Crowds dipped below 15k a couple of times but even back then you had the Corner and the Scoreboard singing, the Leazes next to the away fans and also the Milburn Stand Leazes wing which always sounded the loudest because of the roof. Looking back we had a totally different type of fanbase than we do now.

Keep up the great work @TheGuv Such an important topic which could shape the atmosphere at SJP for generations to come.

Seen this on Twitter earlier. The perfect example of both a visual and vocal display of support and take note of how slowly and all in time with each other they sing. I actually watched this game on BT and the atmosphere was incredible from start to finish and certainly influenced the result.

Their cover has been blown on a multitude of occasions about this.

And people wonder why the Leazes End is an absolute embarrassment these days. It's because the majority of those who inhabit it these days are exactly the same as that prick.

Think this is the way to go about it. Pick a section (ideally the Gallowgate which been the traditional home end for best part of 50 years now) and say this is going to be the safe standing area. Anyone already there is welcome to stay there but you'll have to be happy to stand for 90 minutes. If they want to leave for another area the club should help them do this or maybe even offer a little sweetener by letting them move to the East Stand or another more expensive area and freeze their ticket price for 3 seasons or something along those lines. No point in putting 2k or whatever in a little corner because that's a drop in the ocean in a 52k stadium. It doesn't need trialled, other clubs have already done that for us so they need to go all in and do it properly.

This. 1.5-3k probably not worth doing as it's not enough to make a marked difference. As I said further up I was at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night. They have a capacity of 40,000 and around 12k of that is safe standing. Wolves and Spurs also have full ends behind the goals as safe standing. If they're not going to do it properly they might as well just leave it as it is, rather than going through all the upheaval of moving season ticket holders for the sake of a couple of thousand standing places.

Just don't see the point. Invisible and inaudible to huge parts of the rest of the ground. Just do the full stand. Token gestures are pointless.

If you're in the first few rows it's brilliant. I hate it at the back though. You just feel detached from the whole thing.

You can't compare football attendances from best part of quarter of a century ago to now though. The popularity of football is at an all time high. We're selling oit for early round League Cup games these days. There's only Southampton in the PL that don't sell out every week. That was unheard of till not all that long ago. I think 65k is the perfect number for Newcastle United.

Entire Gallowgate, absolutely perfect. Gallowgate Upper only, absolutely pointless.

Screenshots of tickets, whether its standard barcode or a QR code don't necessarily work like the original as I've found out before!