Chicken Dancer

I always wanted to stay mainly because I found it quite fascinating that we had played on the same site for the entire history of the club, as well as all of my memories with friends and family - some who are no longer with me. The past 2 years have made me realise that we have to move. It's as simple as that. The next generation of fans won't give two shites about St James' as their memories will be made in the new place. For those of us who have been going our entire lives it's not a nice thing to think about, but as others have said - the current stadium is completely different to the one my Dad grew up with. And his would have (likely) been different to the one me Grandad used to go to. Times change. We need to maximise every penny of revenue that we can, and it's clear as day that moving stadium is the only option. In an ideal world we could extend St James' to 70-75k, I don't think there's anybody that wouldn't have that as their #1 option. But it's just not possible, so we have to move. As for worrying about the atmosphere in a new stadium...well what about the atmosphere in the current one? Too many of us, including myself, look back at past days of going on like lunatics at the match win, lose or draw. Football has changed. My Dad used to (and still does) go on about home & aways in the 70s/80s and how it was much better than now (talking about when I first started going away from home in the 00s). Now I look back and think 'God, it was so much better in the 00s than now'. As long as you get like-minded people together I'm confident there won't be too much of a detrimental effect on atmosphere. We might even be surprised.

Been there 8 times and seen us score one. Sure Fat Sam was manager. Must have conceded about 68 in them games. Thankfully I’m not going tomorrow.

I knew a lad who supported Liverpool from ashington. His brother supported Everton or Villa or something too. Weird set up.

Honest to God I'm more confident of beating Liverpool than Spurs I'm not saying I think we're going to win, but I'd sooner go into the final as an underdog rather than favourites - which we would have been against Spurs. A bit defeatist to say this but losing to Liverpool would feel slightly better than losing to Spurs, no? But we absolutely can win. We're due a win against them, there's no way their players will be as 'up for it' as ours will and I truly believe we can hurt them. At the start of December we caused them all sorts of problems, though granted I'm 99% sure we will (comfortably) lose at Anfield later this month. I'd sooner be playing this version of Liverpool rather than the 18-22 Liverpool, which I know sounds ridiculous given their record this season. They're clearly a belter team and very efficient in what they do, led by 2 of the best players in the world in their positions. But Isak can cause Van Dijk lots of problems, as he has a couple of times. Get Gordon running at Trent all day. Make sure from minute one they know they're in a game. 2023 was a huge deal to the club - players, staff, ownership & especially fans. This is obviously a huge deal too, but this time stay focussed on the task at hand. None of this hanging outside the players hotel before the game as if we'd already won it. Get into them, play a fast game and we've got every chance. If an absolute piss-poor Man United could deservedly beat Man City in the FA Cup final last year, why not us now?

It'll be St holders with (a certain amount of points) with cup scheme then just lower from there I'd gather.

Period 1 was 25pts + 1 cup game that season, I think. Not sure the cup scheme was a thing back then? In fact I'm convinced it came in for this reason.

I'll be giving my ticket to my Dad. Already decided in my head I'd do that if we got there again any time soon. Logic being I hopefully will get there many times. He's no spring chicken! Will travel down though and soak it in. Half tempted to get an early train back Sunday morning to enjoy it in Newcastle, but will depend on price.

I'd be going with a strong team mind. Maybe Wilson in for Isak and going back to a back 4. Willock, Miley or Longstaff in for one of the CBs.

Credit to Howe though. I’ve been going almost 30 years and some of the best atmospheres I’ve experienced - home or away - have been at St James’ under him. He really knows when to use the crowd to the teams advantage. I also think we always raise it for Arsenal. Even in the Robson days when I first got my ticket. I remember a game under Souness (I think) when Nobby scored and it was class then too. Howe’s first year there was fuck all riding on it for us and atmosphere was cracking. Feel like I’ve seen many an Arsenal team crumble here over the years, obviously the anniversary of the most famous of all.

Was class tonight. Not quite PSG (for me) but it was close.

Booed off the day apparently

I quite agree and actually thought it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to sell someone for £100m+ to allow us to push on, but as this season has went on I’ve came to the conclusion that I’d sooner build the team with ‘cheap’, younger players from at home & abroad whilst keeping the core of the squad together. Having Isak, Bruno, Tonali & Botman as your spine means you always have a chance of competing. I’m not daft enough to think you could stick 7 kids with them, but this is where I hope Mitchell earns his keep. I know at some point we will probably have to sell somebody, but I’d sooner we explored every other possible means first. As our academy improves we should start making some ££ there, as well as hopefully a few like Minteh. In my opinion, Isak is the best forward we have ever had - including Shearer. He’s got absolutely everything. I truly believe right this second we have one of the top 2 strikers on the planet. Probably #1. Keeping him also will send a message that we mean serious business. Hopefully a new 6 year deal is announced in the summer.

Fuck sake. That’s him away then. But aye, hoy any savings on Almiron/Trippier/Wilson to him. He’s going to (rightly) want mega money. If you want to be a mega club you have to pay it.

Aye sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and acknowledge you were outplayed and out coached for 90 minutes. Very impressed by them, whilst we had a very off day. It happens. Just need to make sure it doesn’t become a dip.

McMillian for Tampa? I think a lot of them seem harsh over there purely down to the fact they look like they’re just signalling a first down. But aye, much greater significance.

Aye, I’ve a feeling they’ll go up like. Automatically too. They’ll probably be at least 2nd by the time Leeds play Burnley next Monday. The novelty will sharp wear off when they’re getting twatted every week like. That game alone just shows the sheer gulf between the Premier League & Championship now.

Yeah stack fair enough but I think they’d have to offer something special to take the masses away from their normal routine on a Saturday. A fancy restaurant would be decent, open all week. They should have made Wings like that imo, it’s lush in there.

I don't think they'll ever consider moving out of the city. The council would absolutely shit a brick due to the loss in ££ for the city. Also the likes of Spurs can maximise matchday revenue is because there's only a handful of bars within the proximity of their stadium, so people will likely have a good drink/feed in the ground pre-match. I must say having been there I was impressed at how quickly you can get served and get a piss. It's ingrained in our fans - and I hope that would never change - to drink in the town pre and post match. We all have our favourite watering holes. So even making a shiny new stadium on Leazes Park/Castle Leazes probably wouldn't generate as much ££ from food & drink as other new stadiums probably do.

The 'toon' is rank like and I won't hear otherwise . We will be having this conversation in 10 years even if we move stadium. The match going fan has just changed and sadly nothing we can do about it. You can try to combat it by having more than 1 designating 'singing' section but overall it's just the way football is now. Most fans can't be arsed unless it's a big game. Look at the amount who fuck off at 35/85 minutes. Getting a pissy pint is more important to most now. Sad but true.

Getting Wilson, Targett, Almiron, Trippier off the books will free up some cash we can hopefully earmark for Isak, however the problem is replacing those players too. This is where Mitchell hopefully earns his dollar.

On the subject of Shearer, assuming Haaland stays for 75% of that contract, he will almost certainly break the record.

As with other elite strikers, he will just adapt and change his game. If Shearer done it I’m sure Haaland can.

Hey Jude used to be better when it was organic - especially away from home. We don't have an anthem as such, though I do wish we did. Blaydon Races isn't slow enough. (Off topic slightly but I've always found it mad we don't sing more of the typical 'Geordie' folk songs - Coming Home Newcastle etc). Everything that people have correctly put in this thread will likely be echoed on the forums of Liverpool, Man United, Villa, West Ham etc. It's not exclusive to Newcastle but more of a reflection of how the game has changed. The Premier League is the shining jewel of domestic football across the globe, so therefore you have an influx of these YouTube types as well as overseas fans getting tickets for games. I can't say I have any problem with anybody getting a ticket as long as the money goes into the club. As someone who packed in when Benitez and then has (very luckily) been able to access a season ticket again, I do feel we lost a huge chunk of our vocal fans in 2019. I'm also not going to pretend it was absolutely bouncing every game back then either, because it just wasn't. I'm not old enough to remember the Keegan days but from what me Dad tells me it was special - but English football was nowhere near as global then as it is now. When St James' gets going I firmly believe there's no better place in England - those of us who were lucky to be at the PSG game will be talking about that with our grandchildren. Just getting it going is the difficult part now. As someone with a season ticket I tread carefully here without wanting to upset those who miss out - but I believe the ballots are the fairest way to distribute tickets. I also believe ballots have a detrimental effect on atmosphere due to being plonked anywhere in the stadium. Loads of my mates who I'd class as vocal fans are often seated in areas that have no intention to sing. I was sat in Milburn L7 for Dortmund in the Champions League and though that atmosphere in general was nowt like PSG, that part of the stadium felt like a completely different ground. You felt almost detached from the lower bowl. But post-takeover 21/22 and the entire of 22/23 was 100% better than it was last season and this. Is it the ballot system? Is it expectation? Probably a combination of both. I never thought I'd say this but I think I am starting to sway more towards moving, but the design has to be right. You can then get like-minded people sitting in designated areas without having to ask people to move seats - which frankly will never happen, as is their right - at St James'. It may be rose-tinted specs from me, but as a late teen I absolutely loved the L7 singing section back in the day. Atmosphere seemed so much better even when we weren't consistently getting full houses.

Was class. Nostalgic of the Rafa years and the Gallowgate (maybe other parts of the ground too) started to actually belt out the MOVIN ON UP NOW part. Personally not a fan of playing Local Hero at the end either, but aye - Hey Jude before the game is horrible, like. What happened to that opera sort of song we had before Local Hero back in the day? Everyone got on the feet when that started as you knew the teams were in the tunnel.

Dodgy game this. They're a really good side and play some decent stuff. Should win. Would fancy us a lot more comfortably if it was 17:30.