TwoForJoy

What an end to the week that was. Lost 3-0 at home to Villa finishing the game with 8 men. Then threw away a 2-0 lead in the UEFA Cup Quarter final in Lisbon midweek.

Stick the Charity Shield in and you're back up to four.

I did my first away of the season on Wednesday night. I was genuinely shocked by how bad the support was. The lads in front of us kept turning round in bewilderment when we were starting songs off. Not a peep out of them for 90 mins. As soon as the team came over at full time they came alive and it was all scarf waving and "who's that team we call United" Bizarre.

I'll miss not calling it St James' Park more than I'll miss St James' Park.

Tino looks soft to me, he's almost as bad in duels as Murphy, and Murphy loses more duels than any footballer I've ever seen.

We really need our owners to put a block on Saudi clubs helping the Cartel 6 get rid of their burdens for big money

Agreed. Its has to be bigger than 75,118 the Mackem record attendance.

A new stadium is going to take up far more of Leazes Park than they've intimated there. 20,000 more seats, yet it's the same size as the current SJP. I'd say the new build will be double the size of the one shown there. The concourses and bogs, not to mention bars and food outlets need to be able to cope with 70,000 people. It'll be huge.

He's good with both feet.

"We once had him on loan, you'll never sing that"

Swansea too

We're currently victim to the reason FFP was brought in and also feeling the after effects of Ashley's lack of ambition. How long has Rafa been gone now, 6 years? We've still got half of his team on the books, Dubravka, Shaar, Lascelles, Longstaff, Almiron & Murphy Then there's Bruce's players, Krafth, Joelinton, Wilson, WIllock & Lewis. Given the binary choice of selling all of the above or keeping all of the above, I'd wager most would sell.

I think the club's allocation of tickets for the final was questionable. I think they gave far too many to corporate.

A new stadium fixes this and possibly the atmosphere problem. Safe standing behind both goals, call it the singing sections and make them the cheapest in the ground. Sell more season tickets, so people are familiar with who they sit next to. You're far more likely to make noise if you're next to people you know rather than winning a ballot and sitting on your todd next to strangers. If there HAS to be a ballot, make it a single section out of the way somewhere the TV camera's don't pick up.

The first Barcelona Champions League game was better. Only 36,000 there too.