SteV

So those instances sound similar to the last 15 mins at Brighton this season, no? There seems to be some rewriting of history going on here. We’ve all been in away ends where it’s been piss poor atmosphere-wise. There’s often mitigating factors, but the overriding one is what happens on the pitch. Thinking back through the Ashley years (not a pleasant experience on the whole…) and there were some absolutely shite experiences, often in the North West, when I’m sure plenty of the ‘hardcore’ turned out. And I’d disagree with your mates about Sheff Utd. I’d say loud, if maybe not absolutely bouncing, but it was so ridiculously easy, people were almost laughing.

Feels like we’re serving a never ending penance in it as a result of seeing Mike Williamson score in a 3-3 draw.

Fair enough. But as I say I think there’s mitigating factors in every game bar Sheff Utd, although maybe I’m being overly generous.

Is it becoming like that though? Or have people that were previously able been able to go, or people that can’t now bring mates along with them, pre-decided it’s getting like that? Now, I haven’t been to all of these, so I’m judging from afar a bit on some of them, but let’s look at the away games so far these season: Man City - quiet, much like nearly every PL game there in recent memory, mainly caused by the team barely having the ball. Brighton - very poor (save towards the end when everyone had given up on the match itself). Really poor performance on the pitch and horrendous travel issues, made it kind of understandable. Milan - hard to judge not being there, as have heard conflicting reports, and obviously some police shenanigans probably didn’t help. Sheff Utd - very good, as you would expect given the local proximity and result. West Ham - indifferent (?), another hard one to judge I would say, and have already mentioned what I think some of issues were. So, maybe I’m making too many excuses here, but I feel it’s definitely too early to have decided the away support has been ruined by all the ticketing changes they brought in.

It does though, to some extent anyway. We’re not like Ultras who turn up with a big fuck off drum and sing the same songs regardless. If the performance on the pitch is poor/uninspiring, it gets reflected in the support. Agreed, not to the extent of our home support, but it still does have an effect. *probably the exception to this is when people have given up on the game itself, but at the same time aren’t overly angry, like you saw in the last 15 mins or so at Brighton.

Early Sunday ko in London, worst away in the league for atmosphere, completely devoid of anything to shout about on the pitch until after half time. This isn’t the game to use as any yardstick to bang whatever drum people want to bang.

Tbf it’s absolutely the worst away end in the league for trying to generate any kind of atmosphere.

Giving a 26yo a 7 year contract is absolutely mental.

Nah, cup yellow cards don’t count. So he’s on four.

He does seem to have the ball glued to his feet at times. Albeit in a rather untidy fashion. But the fact he seems to be able to ‘stumble’ past tackles so repeatedly, suggests it’s an ability he has, rather than just luck.

I have - because the place they are currently parking will become a massive pain in the arse to get to and from, compared to what it is now, so they’ll not want to. That’s if they would even be allowed to if a stadium was ever constructed there. I probably share your conclusion that expansion is far more likely than relocation though.

Some bloke’s just scored a free kick from inside his own half for Bahia cos the opposition were standing round not paying attention after a head clash. https://x.com/luizheytor2/status/1710737589995536738?s=46&t=OQLMckSuatbpqWF13Al4mQ

Because it that would be either almost on top of the stadium, i.e Newcastle College, so would be become significantly more difficult to get in to and out of, or would become on the ‘other’ side of the stadium so, again would take a lot longer to get away from.

The arena site feels like there would be an awful lot to sort with transportation logistics. An awful lot of Matchday traffic comes in via the Redheugh Bridge and Scotswood Rd. If they were both near enough on top of any new stadium, people coming that way would have to stop and park up a fair way earlier, and a fair bit out of the city centre. Maybe they could go past the stadium and into town, but it feels counterintuitive as it puts loads of time on your trip home. Sure something could be come with, but I personally find Matchday park and ride type stuff pretty depressing.

You would think they will desperate to include some additional corporate in whatever they are able to do. Generally, I’d agree with your point though. We’d be sacrificing the ‘quality’ of stadium for location and heritage.

I’d say a 25% increase on a stadium already above 50k, is a bit more than modest. But it’s a valid point on whether that really allows us to compete (on a stadium level) with the likes of Spurs. The never ending modernisation v history debate I suppose.

He’s done well to knock something up with literally zero new information (apart from - if you’re being very generous - the estimated potential new capacity number).

Has Luke blessed us with an actual article here?

DJ Otzi

Nah, everything post-Bournemouth on Nov 11th is still tbc (except the CL games obviously)

Various videos doing the rounds on SM of Brighton fans getting treated like shit from police in Marseille last night. Doubt anyone going to PSG should expect anything different.

Sounds like Ramsey’s knackered again for Villa. Blow for them.

18 months left come January, so probably the last chance to get full whack for him.

Interestingly (or possibly not…) I was reading something a while ago that said if you wanted to equate transfer fees from the 90’s to modern day prices you should multiply by 8. Obviously that’s an incredibly arbitrary calculation, and no idea how they came up with it, but if we go with it, and we use it for Lee, I think it works out at (£700k*8) £5.6m. Still sensational value clearly, but possibly makes it a bit easier to compare with someone like Schar.

I thought he looked a class act tbh. Fair enough giving Zairean-Emery their MotM, but outside of that I would say only Hernandez and Hakimi looked better than poor. But that’s what Eddie’s press does to teams…