Wallsendmag

The Semis in the 1990s were at neutral venues so the SJP malaise didn't really come into play there.

Was hilarious. Used to annoy the hell out of the people in the boxes everyone peering in to watch the replays

Pretty sad that the club, Wor Flags, the supporters club, and now even Bruno have felt the need to take to social media to try to get the fans going for tomorrow. Nothing should need to be said, no encouragement to turn up and shout yourself hoarse should be needed for a game of this magnitude. But it is.

East Stand still having the benches in dates that photo at between 1988-1991.

Same. Don't like Liverpool but absolutely detest everything about these.

I'd rather have the Dortmund design to the Bayern design tbh. 4 steep sided towering stands just looks much more imposing and does wonders for the noise levels.

Tell me of an old ground that generates a decent atmosphere then? Please don't say SJP

That's another PSR flaw. Clubs literally having to squeeze every penny out of every revenue source, and unfortunately the supporters are one of the biggest revenue sources.

Been a trend for a while now. Other than those 1,000 we haven't sold any new season tickets for over 3 years and pretty much all the biggest supported teams cap their ST numbers at very low levels. Liverpool only sell 27k season tickets and Anfield has a capacity of 61k. Think ours is now capped at 31k or thereabouts. They'd rather sell memberships and have different people sat in the seats each week (paying a lot more than the cost per match of a ST holder) rather than the same old faces who'll be stuck in a routine and won't spend the same amount of money in the club shop, bars etc.

It's a tenner for adults and U16s are free so not bad at all really. They seem to do pretty well with things like sponsorships etc. Reading through the programme I think just about every player has a sponsors and they seem to do really well with their corporate hospitality as it's always packed in there and must bring in a few quid. I think a bigger problem for them is Geography. There's quite a small pool of players to choose from. Just a bit too far north to attract Northern League players without having to pay well over the odds to compensate for the extra travelling. I'm told they have quite a few players from Edinburgh and that they actually train up that way as well.

Went to Berwick Rangers v East Stirling yesterday. 2 former football league teams who've sadly hit hard times. Berwick were diabolical, which has been the case every time I've seen them, and that's 2 loses from 2 with 0 goals scored and 7 conceded since the new manager took over, but as usual the hospitality was spot on and we had another very enjoyable day. FT Berwick 0-4 East Stirling Attendance 412

Yes that's possible. I know ow a few lads in the SE Corner and they reckon that's becoming a problem in there, people wanting to be amongst it but not contributing to it. Even so, though a 25k stand behind a goal with 15k or so of them chanting and really getting behind the team has to be much better than the current set up in the Gallowgate where hardly anyone contributes. The middle tier especially, sucks the life out of the stand.

A new ground does allow for like minded folk who want to make some (positive) noise to be all sat together though. Foolish to think that it wouldn't improve the atmosphere if we had a designated end behind one of the goals for the more vocal fans instead of them all being dotted around in small groups as they currently are.

Fair enough. The atmosphere was once again dead today and in parts of L7 your 1/4 mile from the centre circle. Sometimes when you're that far away from the action your concentration can wither somewhat I find and I speak from plenty of experience. I just find that I feel detached from it all when I sit up there. Agree the Leazes End is dreadful as well. In fact I'm struggling to think of any positives for the argument to remain at SJP.

I'm not irate at all When I look straight ahead inside a football ground I prefer to look at like minded football fans rather than the Byker Wall, that's all.

Because when go to a football match I'd rather look at said football match rather than admire the views of Walker or Gateshead? If that's the case then aye I'm weird

You're not there to look at the scenery, you're there to watch a football match. People whinge on about a new stadium being soulless yet there's no more soulless experience than being stuck up in Level 7 with a better view of the city than the match, and believe me I've had plenty of experience. And please nobody even embarrass themselves by mentioning that we'll lose the atmosphere after today. Place needs a bloody good shake up and a new ground is the easiest way to do it. Hopefully some of the dead wood take a huff and piss off.

Their Cup games show them up for what they are when they actually have to declare the true attendance with the receipts being shared between the opposition club and the FA, or Football League depending on the competition. They can pull figures out of thin air for league games without being challenged. If they'd have declared 40k v Stoke in the Cup the other week and then handed them their £30,000 share of the gate, eyebrows would have been raised.

Not sure it would. Here we are just 5 days away from one of our biggest home games in years v Arsenal and you can go on the site now and buy a corporate seat if you like. Still 47 seats available in Wings when I checked before. For general seating our demand will be up there with any club. For corporate seating we're miles away. Put simply people up here just don't have the money.

Somewhere like Gosforth Park shouldn't even be entering in the equation tbh. If we can't have a new build in either Leazes Park, Castle Leazes, or the Arena site (that is my order of preference) then I'd rather just stay where we are.

The 2-2 game was off the scale noise wise and the pure vitriol had to be seen to be believed I don't mind admitting, but every year we played there the noise and intensity got less and less to the point where our "welcoming commitee" consisted of a few yokels giving us 2-1 signs and the atmosphere was average at best.

That's because crowds have changed dramatically in the last 20 years or so. Up here the Riverside Stadium atmosphere for the first few years pissed all over Ayresome Parks last few years with 12k rattling around in it and down the road at Sunderland, their atmosphere improved massively on Roker Parks last few years when they'd struggle to get 15k in some weeks. Fair enough they both have shite atmospheres now but that's 100% do to with those who occupy football grounds these days. Like it or not but the design of SJP with the high roofs in 2 stands, low roofs in the other 2 and a lopsided look, does nothing to amplify any sound. The majority of sound coming out of Level 7 escapes straight over the top of the smaller stands and into ten Tyneside air amd the Gallowgate design means that most of the sound made in there, stays in there, which is why you can't hear them from the Leazes and people in the Gallowgate can't really hear the away fans.

Who knows, but one thing I do know is that it's the only ground I've been to since the Premier League era began where I've personally witnessed widespread racism from a large section of the crowd. Olivier Bernard would testify for me.

They'll put them up and PSR requirements will be put forward as the main reason, same as what Man Utd have done. Season ticket holders on 10 year deals are in for the fright of their lives. Lad I work with who's deal expires at the end of the season expects them to go up by "about 70 quid" which he's quite happy with. Told him loads of times it's going to be far more but he reckons I'm worrying him unnecessarily.

For the majority, going to the match is a social occasion. An opportunity to meet up with their mates beforehand, and a lot of the time afterwards, and the natural meeting place for groups of lads is always going to be the pub. Obviously different people will drink different amounts from there on in!