TomYam

Interesting point about the Freemen's potential loss of income - not thought about that or any consequences. I seem to remember there were some 'issues' between the council and NUFC in the '60s, '70s and '80s. Would need to delve into the history books to recall...

Pandon Burn ran along the route of Claremont Road to south of St Thomas Church and then shifted due east along Vine Lane (then regarded as beautiful but now rather less so) until it reached where the central motorway is now and then followed that path to the mouth of the Tyne at Pandon (just beyond the old city wall and near the Law Courts and Broad Chare). Pandon Dene - as shown in your photo - was the name given to the strech from Vine Lane to The Tyne. It was regarded as the most beautiful spot in the Tyneside area, a winding lane through gentle hills with orchards, pastures, watermills and a lovely bucolic air. Unfortunately, industrialisation, freight trains and back-to-back housing silenced the birdsong. The destruction of Pandon Dene began in the 1850s (by the quayside) and by the 1890s there was essentially nothing left. All done in the name of progress. The Town Moor has neither the beauty or diversity that Pandon Dene had, but it is still a hugely important green space in our city. Make it more environmentally friendly, bring life to it - but it should never be built on. Castle Leazes is different as it's somewhat detached and lends itself as an obvious park entrance for Spital Tongues and as an extension of Leazes Park. A new stadium in the south west corner of Castle Leazes would be a short move northward of a few hundred yards and the park could be massively extended and enhanced. Win Win!

Uniqueness is the very best reason for keeping it. It makes Newcastle quite distinct from other places. What next - do you want the local accent Thames Valleyfied or Grey Street straightened or The historic Guildhall turned into an American restaurant chain?

The Town Moor is, by and large, an empty if unique space. Nowhere else quite like it, for better or worse. If a new stadium is built on Castle Leazes, I'd like to see the remaining moorland there converted into parkland as a northwesterly extension of Leazes Park. A Leazes Park extending from Strawberry Place to Belle Grove Terrace in Spital Tongues (developed and maintained by NUFC) would be a massive civic enhancement. The remainder of The Town Moor can be left as is.

The club needs to massively build revenue streams in order to bridge the chasmic gap that has developed between us and the Cartel 5 (+ ManC). We have started the process but need to do so much more and an upgraded St.James's won't achieve that.

Funny how at the end of the clip he berates Luke Edwards for messing up details in an article which he then messes up himself.

Remarkable that some thinknyhere would be no other development around the site. The land between Skinnerburn and Scotswood Roads is ideal because, if developed holistically, could not only supercharge the football club but transform that area. It's a peripheral no-go area at the moment, but could be quite the opposite once developed.

Top 5 all London clubs. How times have changed.

He's having to move quickly before his grifting brexity pals are voted out of office.

Or we could buy the Spurs stadium, build a supersonic HS9 rail line, leave Central Station at 2.15pm and rock up at Seven Sisters Road well in time for kick-off at 3.

The discussion is now moving away from 'what is the city centre?' to 'what makes a city a city?' ? I've stated several times on this forum that I've long believed the arena site is ideal for a new stadium. Location, setting, rail and metro connectivity, plenty of additional land surely available for training pitches, hospitality, residential - tick tick tick tick. One or two people have made reference that no one goes to that end of town and there are only industrial units there? So? Canary Wharf was a swamp 30 years ago. An A-grade 70,000 stadium would attract other businesses like Boris Johnson to a fridge. That part of town would be transformed - and that would easily outweigh any drop off in business around the Haymarket area imo. It's all just pontification for now but, as a couple of members have stated, the club does need a new stadium (in the city centre) in order to transform into one of the elite.

Cum omni verbo assentior.

? I was thinking of a westward line to somewhere like Westerhope (as an alternative to a westerly metro extension from St.James's). Not a cat in hell's chance, of course, which is why I said 'in an ideal world'.

Yes. In an ideal world it could be a light rail extension to the transport infrastructure. It could also be a pedestrian and cycle route.

Cox didn't hang around long after promotion when he realised investment would be limited and difficult. The board had a number of directors who refused to put a single penny into the club - like McKenzie and Dixon. Dixon, the largest (inherited) shareholder, didn't even like football. Chris Waddle handing in a transfer request before season end was a hammer blow and was far less likely to have occurred had Cox remained manager.

A big one for sure, but surely the biggest 'what ifs'? would surely relate to disasters like the outbreak of two world wars (eg. would Charlton Athletic have become a dominant force of not for WWII ?) and, particularly, how different would the story of ManU have played if they had decided to book themselves into a hotel in Munich instead of trying to take off for a third time? The likelihood is they'd have won many more trophies over the next 10 years but would not have become the monolithic club that they became subsequently. The club - quite understandably - gained enormous numbers of new supporters after that hideous event and Busby and players like Charlton and Foulkes had an almost superhuman drive to succeed afterward.

30th January, 1977, NUFC were in the chasing pack behind Liverpool, but our manager resigned and joined Everton. Before leaving he told the players his 'coach' (ball collector and pair of ears), Richard Dinnis, would make a good replacement. 18 months earlier Gordon Lee had replaced Joe Harvey as manager. Lee had strong political opinions that permeated into his football pholosophy and believed the team should operate as a singular unit without stardust and theatrical footwork. Out went Supermac and Terry Hibbitt. In came Alan Gowling, Geoff Nulty and pragmatic football. Led by Nulty, seconded by Tommy Craig and Gowling, while also seemingly supported by Tommy Burns, Irving Nattrass and Alan Kennedy, the players threatened to go on strike if Richard Dinnis was not appointed permanent manager. The weak and embattled board of directors caved in to player power! All went well enough for the remaing 3 months of the season, but the team lost 4 of their last 5 games and close season quickly showed the ineptitude of our novice and meek manager. Season 1977-78 started with a win but we then lost 12 consecutive domestic games. The kindly (if hopeless) Dinnis was sacked and, true to form, he was replaced by the sergeant-majorly disciplinarian, Bill McGarry. SBR to Sourness or Ossie Ardiles to Jim Smith, anyone? Sliding doors: what would have happened if the board had stood firm? We may well have struggled in February as we appointed a new manager (Ian Greaves and Graham Taylor were top of the list), but we surely wouldn't have had the calamatous season and ignominious relegation which followed. A dark cloud hovered over the club from 1977 to 1982 - could it all have been avoided?

Yes. Dalglish failed as manager for us. In one year we changed from a wildly exciting team that had finished second in consecutive seasons into a lower midtable team of dullards. He got a few transfers right but more wrong. However..... Keegan's great forte was his unbridled positivity and charisma. Hall had spent a lot of money that had been promised to KK. Now he wanted to that money back as he was no benefactor. After KK walked away after one too many broken promises from Hall, Dalglish came in under financial strictures. Also, as pointed out elsewhere, a club restructure had to be undertaken after KK had - peculiarly and short-sightedly - disolved the reserve team.

I'm delving back further in our history and the career-ending (essentially) injuries to two of our greatest players. Len White's ankle ligaments were torn asunder after a violent tackle from specialist leg-breaker, Dave Mackay of Spurs. Len was by far our best player and, without him, we were relegated. He never really recovered. Tony Green suffered unfortunate knee ligament damage during a match early in season 1972-73 that ended his career aged 25. United had some seriously talented players - with the brilliant and consistent TG seemingly being the final piece of the puzzle to help make us likely challengers at the top of the table; without TG that team became hopelessly inconsistent and mid-table.

Based on 1) geographical spread, 2) clubs I feel more affinity with and 3) some real history: 1. Newcastle United 2. Ipswich Town 3. Plymouth Argyle 4. Sheffield United 5. Sunderland 6. Norwich City 7. Swansea City 8. WBA 9. Wolves 10. Coventry City 11. Charlton Athletic 12. Manchester City 13. Hull City 14. Portsmouth 15. Preston North End 16. Burnley 17. Leicester City 18. Peterborough 19. Nottingham Forest 20. Derby County

This rsole was one of brexit's leading advocates/impostors; he went into tax exile in Monaco just in time for out formal departure. A supporter of Chelsea and ManU, he certainly has a track record of split loyalties. Sadly this multi billionaire grifter - in the way they usually do - has massive influence over this shitstain government and a few handy friends in the Labour ranks too. Flying the flag for Manchester, London from Monaco.

It was a league game. Our ladies are in pole position but it's now a three horse/car/team race.

Perhaps I exaggerated slightly. However, Maidstone beating Ipswich changes the destination of the Cup not one iota while Ipswich defeating Liverpool very much could.

Hereford were elected to the 4th division at the end of the season (having finished 2nd in the 5th tier Southerm League), replacing an unfortunate Barrow who had finished several points ahead of Crewe and Stockport. There had been about 3 postponements leading up to the game at Hereford. It had been a one-sided game on a hideously muddy pitch until Radford equalised a couple of minutes from the end of the game. They scored a second in extra time.