Wallsendmag

Got to think Nashy will be favourite for that. Already involved in their junior set up and just left Blue Star.

They all stormed out at FT of their last home game of last season and they had to do their lap of honour to a deserted stadium as well let's not forget.

Who exactly should I report PSV Eindhoven to for selling me a ticket?

Managed to get tickets for Liverpool v PSV next month so I'll be giving this rat some grief, if he plays that is.

Appreciate I'll be massively in the minority here but I've never really taken much interest in pre match music and I've certainly never needed it to get me "up" for a match. Suppose when I first started going the ground was a crumbling wreck and the PA system wasn't really all that audible anyway but genuinely the first time I even noticed any pre match music must have been when they started playing Simply The Best as the teams came out the tunnel in the very early 90s. Regardless of what they play my complaint would be that it's too loud. Other than important announcements I'd rather the PA system was more like background noise.

Probably just the push back and hassle from the "I've had this seat since 1994 and I'm not moving" lot. I mean the easiest answer to that is that the seat remains the property of the club at all times and the supporters merely rents it off them on a seasonal basis but generally the only reason I can think why the club won't persue it is the flak they'd inevitably get from long time ST holders who won't want to shift.

Another one in the eye for the "i want them back up for the derbies" perverts I suppose.

Consett man!

Sounding more like Slot feels he's been sold a pup here and is getting extremely agitated by the vendor. Remember buying a 2nd hand Fiat Tipo off some bloke in Consett back in the mid 90s and the engine blew 3 days after I bought it. I was calling him worse than shite for weeks on end as well.

I actually had a pint with him in the Black Bull one Friday afternoon. Was in there with a mate and he came walking in, assume straight after training and we ended up having a good bit crack standing at the bar. It was only a month or so before he left for Palace so he'd already taken an absolute shit load of flak from the fans but I'll tell you what, he had not a single bit of resentment against us and he was a canny bloke to have a pint with. Really went up in my estimation after that and I'm not surprised that he always speaks so positively about us on the TV/radio because he seemed genuine at the time. Steve Bruce on the other hand. I don't like using the word "hate" but I genuinely hate that cunt.

Shouldn't even be spoken about in the same breath as Pardew tbh.

Hooked at HT

Aye they've had more seasons in Division 3 than they've had top half top flight finishes in the last 70 years. Played 2 European ties in their entire history and haven't won a trophy other than a Pizza Cup for over half a Century. Aren't even in the top 10 in the all time attendance table and their crowds are typically what they'd try to use as their comeback. It's easy for them to crow about being able to beat PSG like they were saying 2 years ago, or being able to beat Benfica like they're saying now in the Champions League, safe in the knowledge that ridiculous theory will never, ever be put to the test, because they'll never, ever be good enough to go up against those teams. Yeah you're right. They're actually the very definition of tinpot.

Tbf after having had to sit up there many times before you are so far away from the action it's so easy to get distracted! Get the younger fans down nearer the pitch where you get a more authentic experience and they'll get more involved I'm sure. When I'm up in L7 I find myself looking around the ground, or around the city, or at all the lights on a night game. When you're up there watching a load of dots dashing about I just find it hard to get fully emerged in it all.

Apparently he used to run a sailing club years ago and allegedly he was skimming money from it. Remember being at a talk in with him about 30 years ago and my mate quizzed him about it. To say he got very defensive, and then aggressive over it would be an understatement

They never fail

I'd make the entire Gallowgate safe standing. Work with the 3/4k oldies in the middle tier who wouldn't be up for it about relocating to the Leazes (identical view) and offer their space to the younger fans up in Level 7 who are getting past 18 years of age and have outgrown the family enclosure. Noticed last night most of the front and upper tier spend plenty of time up off their seats anyway so no great upheaval for them, but of course offer anyone not up for it an alternative seat at the same price. I'm not saying it's an instant fix but it would improve things dramatically I'd like to think.

I thought it was poor v Barcelona tbh (outside the first 10 mins) but then again I was in Level 7 for that one so it's almost impossible to judge as you're so detached from the rest of the ground.

Absolutely valid point this. Cost me £65 yesterday and £35 for the bairn so £100 for us to go. At that price point you've priced most the local radgies out straight away. Spurs have found this out as well with their new stadium. They built a huge safe standing 1 tiered Kop stand behind one goal then went and charged £1,300 for a season ticket in there. Problem is the sort of person who can pay £1,300 for a ST isn't typically the sort of person who'll sing and shout and go daft at the match so it's fallen flat on its arse.

Depends what you class as "fine". As Mourinho said. It was quiet. He was probably in the best position to judge being stood pitchside. Maybe your expectations have just been dumbed down over the years but for a Champions League night I thought it was pretty flat. Also "fine" can depend on whereabouts in the ground you are. As an example I reckon anyone up at the back of the Gallowgate probably thinks that it was good last night because you could see them singing up there from the West Corner. But away from their little bubble their noise barely even reaches the front of the Gallowgate, let alone anywhere else. For that to happen the middle tier would need to join in but they never do. Also noticed the block nearest to the Benfica fans was part of the safe standing area yet only around 50% of our fans (the back half) up there actually stood. Again it's about getting like minded people together so those lucky enough to be in a standing area will actually stand up.

Mourinho was stood pretty much on the halfway line so in a good place to judge. Tbf he's always been highly complementary of the SJP atmosphere but his comments were that "it was a quiet St James' Park". I was very disappointed that a 3-0 win in the CL could only generate that kind of noise. From the Gallowgate West Corner you can look across the rest of the Gallowgate and see what the problem is. The other corner is excellent, and the fans nearest to them feed off them and join in but it just dies off as it gets towards the middle of the stand. Looked like the fans towards the back of the Upper tier were having a good go but even from where I was sat you couldn't really hear them and the middle tier is quiet frankly pathetic. The majority of them have sat there since 1994 when they were fairly young lads and up for a sing song. They're now old men and can't be arsed. Actually the 2 occasions the Leazes End actually broke into proper song in the 2nd half was louder than anything the Gallowgate produced. Anyone not wanting to move to a new stadium because we'll lose the atmosphere shouldn't be taken seriously, I know that much.

Could hear the Benfica fans loud and clear from the Gallowgate. Can't usually hear the away fans much from there. Great numbers as well. Probably just shy of 3,000 of them. Put Barcelonas following to shame.

Totally agree. You can't have your "home" end, the end famous for creating the bulk of the noise, the end the team prefers to kick towards 2nd half being full of 60 and 70 year olds who don't like standing up unless it's to go to the toilet.

Was absolutely tragic. I'm 47. I was one of the younger people in there. Too many old bastards sucking the life out the place these days. Years ago the OAPs would have been banished to the East and old West Stands to make room for the new blood coming in but now they just sit there groaning on like an atmosphere vacuum.