Wallsendmag

Nah I didn't go. Few of my mates went and said it was a shit hole and from what I can gather the Juventus and Torino fans hated it as well. For a club of Juventus stature their new stadium was so underwhelming. Nothing special to look at from the outside and very basic inside. Only holds 41k as well and tbh it wasn't even completely full either. A few empty seats dotted about. Atmosphere fairly average too. You look at both Milan clubs pulling in 75k every week, Roma 60k, Napoli 50k and you wonder how Juventus don't have a bigger fanbase.

Was at Juventus v PSV on Tuesday. PIF should take a look at that stadium and make sure ours is absolutely nothing like it whatsoever. A very underwhelming arena, inside and out and as for the facilities, fair enough I was in the away section but they had one small serving hatch, which you had to leave the stadium to access, for the entire away end.

Aye think 10k is a very conservative estimate as well BTW. Seen something last week where they were complaining about how shit their atmosphere is and were putting the blame on most of their fans being over 70 so maybe something in it though

Aye I think they'll be more than happy with a quick cash grab then back down where they belong. We seen how they went on when they drew us in the Cup, money signs lit up and they basically prostituted themselves out to us. Tripled their ticket prices compared to the last FA Cup game they'd played before us, and handed us their home end, plus accompanying Hospitality areas. Even decorated the place in black and white before the backlash.

Aye if your lifestyle enables you to be sat at a computer screen fir ridiculously long periods pressing F5 I imagine a membership will have its benefits. Unfortunately for the majority of us that's just not possible, which is why I refer to it as a raffle ticket. Throw your hat into the ring and see what comes out. I find resale is also a waste of time unless you are only after 1 ticket. The likes of me wanting to take the bairn has no chance on that score. Never seen anything other than single seats on there when I've tried.

Aye it's basically a raffle ticket as things stand right now. Nowt more than that. I've never used mine for any other reason that entering ballots.

Yeah should have cleared it up. If you are already a ST holder you don't need to go to away games to give you the right to renew. It's aimed at members who are trying to get one.

Basically yes. The members who attend most games, home and away, amass the most loyalty points and your eligibility for a season ticket is purely based on loyalty points. Rewards the people who put the most miles in, and spend the most time and money on supporting the team. Beats our membership system by a mile. I know of people who've bought memberships for this season and last and haven't had a sniff of a ticket in the ballot. I think in this day and age especially, when the bigger clubs are turning away from the ST culture and prioritising selling memberships as, let's face it, it's a massive money spinner for them, that should be reflected in what they are offering their members in return. At Newcastle it's very little compared to most other top clubs.

I've said it before but Chelseas way is so much better than ours. They split their away allocations 60/40 between ST holders and members and both collect loyalty points in the same way. Loyalty point are given out slightly different to how we do it, for example Brentford away they'll award 2 points and Newcastle away 5 points. For the most popular away games (and home games) ie London derbies, Man Utd, Liverpool etc they sell tickets using loyalty points but for games like Wolves, Leicester and the like it's a free for all, which obviously helps people get tickets and build points, so basically you're being rewarded for doing the harder Miles, plus there's more loyalty points awarded for these games. At the end of the season they'll announce how many points you'll need to have amassed as a member the previous season to be able to buy a season ticket, so if you've been to the vast majority of home and away games they'll offer you the chance to turn your membership into a season ticket. Much more fair than the closed shop at our place. The membership is basically worthless for a lot of people.

Anyone know why hardly anyone turns up for their midweek games? I know we take the piss about Nissan etc but, whilst far from full on a Saturday there's still probably best part of 35k there but midweek the place is like a ghost town. Just find it totally bizarre and I don't know of any other clubs in the country that suffer such huge discrepancies in attendance between weekend amd midweek games.

Keith is back going to all home and away games again, and had been since more or less the takeover happened.

Think he's just their for sporting reasons. Dutch league is still a decent level (think it's ranked 6th in Europe) and he's going for League titles, domestic cups and crucially still gets to play CL football. I agree that he'll also still have an eye on his International career as well. Tbh he's still fit as a fiddle. Could go over and play in Saudi or MLS when he's 38 in a couple of years.

I was at the match. We're still in Turin now. Fly back home this afternoon. Thought he done ok overall. Obviously he should have done better for the goal but his all round performance was a solid 7/10 I'd say.

I'd wrap it all in if we did. Being deadly serious as well. No chance I could sit amongst that lot.

It was shite mate. I was right behind the goal in the lower tier and whilst everyone stood, very few were singing.

If we think we've got an atmosphere problem I'm not sure how to describe what they've got at their place, but when you've got 22 players making more noise than the crowd there's a problem.

Nah not me. Very early 90s I'd go in the car with my dad and brother, then Armstrong Galley supporters bus in 92/93 and in 1994 I came across Keith Barrett and the rest is (a drunken) history

Liverpool are probably the last team you want to be playing in a final. Yes they're arguably the best team in Europe, but as a club they just a knack of knowing how to win these games. They'll also likely get favourable refereeing decisions and possibly some help from VAR if needed. I'm not confident.

Atmosphere absolutely dead compared to us last night.

Was in Gallowgate Upper block S tonight. That was loud. Very loud. Arsenal had 5k there and never heard them once. We just seemed to totally drown them out.

Surely that would all just go through that massive access area in the NW corner then?

Point me to where please as I missed it as it's a fast moving thread (please accept me apologies) and stop getting your knockers in a twist all the time ffs Honestly I'm wondering if you have issues!

I'm calling bollocks on this like. SJP should be one of the easiest places to access, Straight off the A1, over the Redheugh, along SJ Boulevard and you're there. I doubt there's many, if any easier venues to access. Certainly Sky/TNT have never had any issues getting there trucks and equipment in that I'm aware of.

I was in the 2nd tier but the overhang of the top tier ended basically on my eyeline. No exaggerating here it was moving up and down by about a foot either way. I'd never seen owt like it and it put me off watching the match at times, especially when you could see the stewards keep nervously looking up at it! I had a similar seat v Sheff Utd the season before but we mustn't have been as boisterous on that occasion because I don't recall the stand moving in the same way it did v Spurs.

Of all the neutral venues we've played at I thought our support at Cardiff was just different level again. Absolute wall of noise from the off. Man Utd fans might not have bothered turning up. That was the day the "your support is fucking shit" chant that's been adopted by fans of just about every other team to the point it's generic was born, and was started by us. When people go on about stadium acoustics, the Millenium Stadium is your blueprint. Absolutely superb and different level altogether to both the old and new Wembley.