Wallsendmag

You mean the bit where it goes, "full of shit, full of puffs, full of wankers? Tbf I can see where you're coming from there. Don't think it would go down at all well these days.

If you mean L7 it's too far away from the pitch to have a decent impact. I used to have a season ticket up there when it was the old singing corner. I loved it and the atmosphere up there was brilliant! However when you spoke to people in other parts of the ground they would all say they couldn't really hear us and there was over 3k of us in that section. Same applies with the current away section. If you are in the Gallowgate Upper for example you wouldn't really know there's any away fans in the ground for the most part.

Another couple of points regarding the design of SJP and the demographic of the fanbase. Firstly nobody can deny that we have a far older crowd than we had 30 years ago. Average age in the East Stand must be about 60 and it must be in the 40s for the 3 other stands, other than Level 7. It's just human nature that as people get older they become less excitable. All ticket crowds and ticket prices have meant that groups of young lads (those who traditionally made the most noise) no longer go along in the same numbers as they once did as they either can't afford it of can't sit together. A large safe standing area would solve one of those problems however which is the ultimate goal. Secondly the design of our stadium, I'm sorry to say is shite. The Gallowgate sounds loud when it's in full flow, as long as you are in it, as the low roof amplifies and concentrates the noise into that Stand. However if you are in the Leazes they aren't really audible. The Leazes End has 3k away fans above them who can easily drown them out and the high stands of there and the Milburn means a lot of sound just escapes out of the ground. Extending the Gallowgate to the same height as the Leazes/Milburn should in theory solve some part of the acoustics problem. It would give us an almost identical design and capacity as Celtic Park and that place can make a racket when need be.

Never stopped them at the other 4 Wembley appearances I've seen us at, or Cardiff for that matter. Cardiff was absolutely deafening, clearly helped by the design of the stadium which pisses all over Wembley.

Visually we were fantastic, nobody can argue otherwise, but vocally it was terrible. I shared the story about the young lass kicking off at HT because nobody would sing and she had a point. We were in block 136 which was in the lower level just to the left of the goal as you looked at the pitch. I'd heard 133-136 were where most the usual away travellers were going (obviously they were in group 1 so could pick their seats) which is why we went there but it really was awful. Most my mates ended up in Level 5 and their experience was the same as mine. Just small pockets of people singing, which is never any good in a stadium that size, but with the added bonus of loads of people arguing about sitting down/standing up. At least everyone in the lower level stood for 90 mins so we didn't have all that hassle cos that would have been the icing on the cake for me!

They didn't do it first though. We did exactly the same in 98 and 99. I was there both times.

Hard to judge simply by watching on TV. Many a time I've been at the match and thought the atmosphere was canny only to watch it back over on TV and for it to come over flat as a fart.

Aye it's wrong. It was 52,271.

That's what used to happen before the days of all seater stadia and all ticket sell out crowds. You always had sections at SJP where the young daft lads would go and areas where the older fans would go. The Gallowgate M section was always known as "the old man's corner" for example. Disagree with everything else in your post as well but you're entitled to your opinion.

Very good post and on a subject that is so important. I think most of us would agree that the atmosphere has been pretty poor this season after the initial takeover hype died down and to carry the flat SJP atmosphere all the way down to Wembley was something that really disappointed/shocked me. For me safe standing is a must and on a large scale similar to Chelsea, Spurs, Wolves and a couple of others. When I say a large scale I mean a full end and the ideal end is of course the Gallowgate End. It already has the highest number of "standers" in the corner and also towards the back of the Upper tier. Also noticed that those in the front tier are also more inclined to stand when we are attacking or winning a corner which isn't the case as much down at the Leazes. Your problem is the middle tier. It is seen as the best view from the Gallowgate and as such is mainly long standing season ticket holders (my 71 year old dad has sat in the same seat there since it was built). Most of them would need relocated as they'd have no interest in standing which I'd expect to cause a bit of a fuss. Tbf to my dad he wouldn't be interested in standing but he'd be happy to relocate to allow it to happen but I'm not sure if he'd be in the minority there. Maybe the club could offer some sort of sweetener (free cup tickets or something like that). There's no point in doing it on a small scale like a corner as it would have minimal effect. It needs to be a full end and it's something that they need to start planning for ASAP to get it in place for next season because as things stand the atmosphere is only going one way.

Germany is similar. Been to a few Bundesliga games and at every one there has been a home end behind one of the goals who are just going at it for 90 mins and it's pretty much none stop noise. The rest of the stadium is pretty passive and they'll only join in sporadically but it just seems to work.

I've been going since 1984. Remember the late 80s and very early 90s the crowds weren't great and the atmosphere was pretty rubbish really. The 90/91 season was particularly poor when loads of crowds didn't even hit 15k. You had the lads in the corner and scoreboard trying their best and also those in the Leazes next to the away fans but because there was no roof over either end back then the noise was just lost. Remember when they built the Milburn Stand and the section nearest the Leazes was filled with some absolute lunatics and with them having the advantage of a roof that was definitely the noisiest part of the ground. The back end of the 91/92 season was class as Keegan came in and the fans rallied to cheer us to safety and then the 92/93 season was the best ever for atmosphere. It then started to die off once we got into the Premier League. 93/94 was pretty good but it started to tail off soon after and then it was only really the big games when it would get loud. One thing that was always a constant was that in any neutral venue, and I've seen NUFC play 6 games in Neutral Venues (Wembley x5 plus Millennium Stadium) we were always guaranteed to completely drown out the opposition. Never in my life did I think we'd be outsung by Man Utd with a 50/50 ticket split like we were on Sunday.

I was in block 136 as well. Row 28. It was eerily silent in there almost all the way through. Seen a lass probably in her 20s, at half time going absolutely mental about how bad our support was. A couple of blokes having to calm her down.

We lost 1000s of fans during the Ashley years. We had 2 moments where a lot chucked it at the same time (Keegan leaving and Rafa leaving/Bruce replacing him) plus loads of others who gradually drifted away, yet attendances remained fairly constant as they were replaced by other fans, many of whom I feel don't have quite the same levels of passion for the club as those who they replaced.

We probably lost best part of 10k fans when Refa walked away and Bruce was appointed, and that's in addition to all those who drifted away at various times during the Ashley era. Obviously a load walked away on the back of how Keegan was treated as well. Fortunately for the club they managed to replace most of those fans but in doing so attracted a different type of supporter. I know a lad who started going a few years ago with his son when previously he'd once said "I'd rather watch Coronation Street that a game of football". No doubt there's many more like him. In fact I'm certain there is when you look around on a matchday. There is still a core of what I'd class as genuine, traditional NUFC supporters go and plenty who do want to go and make a racket and get behind the team. Strawberry Corner, NE Corner, Gallowgate Upper and L7 near the away fans all have big pockets of like minded supporters but because they are dotted about it's more difficult to create an atmosphere. If there's a way of bringing all of these together it has to be looked into. As I've said previously I'd rather Wor Flags toon this on, rayher than the Trust as I think they would find a way of cocking it up. Sunday should act as a massive wake up call. I never, ever thought I'd be in a Newcastle crowd that was so flat for a Cup Final. It was like SJP transferred into Wembley.

I'll probably get pelters for this and I hope people don't take it the wrong way as I believe these lads, along with the new ownership are the best thing to happen to the club in a very long time, and their displays are just jaw dropping, but I think they have turned a lot of our fans lazy. Noticed at home games these days everyone seems bang up for it and gets involved in the pre match displays but as soon as the match kicks off they pack their scarf/flag away and it's almost a case of "well I've done my bit" and they proceed to sit there in silence. Unbelievably exactly the same thing happened at Wembley. The display pre match was simply spine tingling and there's not another fans group out there who could have pulled that off (certainly put Man Utds efforts to shame) but then it was the same thing. "That looked spectacular, job done", and most people around me packed their flags away and proceeded to stand there in complete silence. Then 2 mins before the end everyone gets there flags out, sing "Toon Toon black and white army" and there's loads of back slapping and people congratulating themselves on an incredible atmosphere when in fact it was absolutely shite! I think now the focus from Wor Flags needs to be less about the visual and more about the vocal. They'll need the club on board and ultimately it's down to the fans to make a noise, but everything they touch seems to turn to gold so I'm 100% confident if anyone can pull it off, they can. I was at Wembley in 96, 98, 99 and 00, and also Cardiff in 05 and our crowd was on another level. Easily drowned out our opponents on all 3 occasions. Sunday was a pale imitation of that. Undoubtedly we lost a load of the more passionate fans during the Ashley regime and now they can't get back in which is probably the biggest problem, and a lot of these newer fans who have replaced them need to realise that creating a good atmosphere for the players isn't just about the pre match spectacle, it also needs carried into the game. Was talking to a lad afterwards who was in the safe standing section amd he said the atmosphere in there was dire as well so people hanging their hat on that being able to transform the atmosphere may be in for a disappointment. Apologies for the long rant but coming away from there I was as disappointed with our efforts in the stands as I was the result.

They are far more clinical than we are, simple as that.

They have escalators.

https://twitter.com/Bartgeordie/status/1628328671374192641?t=smKzDrWT4BNuxvJYmagQ2Q&s=19

We were up in the old L7 singing corner and I found it very distracting.

Trawling through my football history books here and I can't find 2 worse consecutive results for Barcelona ever than a draw with Bristol City and a loss to Rotherham.

Barcelona must be absolutely fucking shite like.

That's double digit defeats now for the seagull shaggers in the Championship this season.

NE corner has been excellent this season mind. Very good noise in there again yesterday.

Used to but I noticed the crowd at Dortmund v Chelsea was over 81,000 so they must have scrapped that rule now.