TheBrownBottle

About half the population of England is irreligious or atheist, and anywhere between a quarter and a third wants the monarchy abolished - and I’d be willing to bet that there’s a lot of crossover in those stats I wonder how many can add ‘English patriot’ or similar to that Gantt chart? Must be a right pisser to be a nationalist while also thinking the anthem is absolute shite I do want England to win - I’m not nationalistic, but I am also English - I’m fucked if I’d sing that weird dirge that they play before kick off

Not from me - he’s spot on

And that’s what I’m talking about - silly, football-breaking funds. They’d invest and improve, but it wouldn’t be a bottomless pit. I get the impression that some of our support thinks that if PSR disappeared we’d be spending hundreds of millions each windoe

I'd still question the idea that PIF would just pour money into the club for transfers were it not for PSR. They haven't maximised what they can do within the rules, never mind bending or breaking them.

I'd think it would be the opposite - that 'big' clubs have a playing philosophy, implemented from the youth ranks to the first team, and that players, coaches and managers are selected to ensure that they fit into that style. A proper DoF isn't a glorified head scout - they're there to set up the way that the club approaches football from top to bottom.

This is the one where the mackems were convinced we'll get relegated and have to fold I'm sure that others forlorn hopes will be found, though - fear not

For the man who once lost his job in part for asking if Redknapp had ever ‘hung out of the back of it’, it is a terrible irony that the next time he sees Redknapp it is he who has something hanging out of the back of him …

I would add that I suspect that part of the agreement with the PL in the takeover is that we don’t rock the boat re any of the rules

The average age of a ST is older than me - and I'm not a young'un - there is a sizeable proportion of curmudgeonly sods I agree, though; there isn't going to an answer which appeases everyone. I think a new stadium is necessary to compete in the long term - regardless of the more optimistic views re FFP, I can't see a future without some form of it in football; the days of wild west financials are gone, and with it the ability to just chuck money around. Personally, I just want NUFC to be the best it can be - I support them because that's the name of my city on the crest, not because of the bit of land in the city that they play on. I know very, very few would be happy with a move outside the city centre - and happily, I don't think that would be necessary. I'm not particularly sure that PIF will build a ground, but I don't see how they achieve their stated aims without it.

If they're doing those polls again, the question should be framed in terms of 'if staying at SJP means that you lose your ST for a couple of seasons, would you want to remain at SJP'. Everyone always assumes that it will be someone else's problem.

Assuming that the Gallowgate can be extended, when I scratched up a cost plan based on the assumed design I was coming out at around 100m for the extension alone (generally in the UK, new stadiums at PL standard cost 12-14k per seat), allowing for normal ground conditions. But the issue is that the site is complex, has constraints, and sits on top of an underground station - so even if a design solution can be come up with to build across the underground station, then given the extended construction period required you're looking at comfortably more double that - just to extend the Gallowgate by c.8,000 seats (including the Gallowgate / Milburn corner); that part of the ground also sits on a significant slope, which would make even the corner a pain the arse construction-wise. I think you're looking at around 200m before you even touch the East Stand - and that's even if the works are possible. Bearing in mind that the seats at the back of the Gallowgate would be the cheapest in the ground, it isn't exactly optimising the investment cost.

Sorry to hear that fellow Throckley lad Michael Ndiweni didn't make the cut in the end and has been released. Shame, and I know these things happen - but while it is always special seeing a Geordie play for NUFC, it is even more special when you see one who is from the same little bit of Newcastle as yourself. All the best to the lad going forwards.

I actually don't think PIF will move from SJP, ultimately - just my guess. I think they'll be looking to see if extending the Gallowgate and tarting up or replacing the East Stand are possibilities and to maximise the potential footprint. I don't think that they'll sink the c.1bn required to build a state-of-the-art stadium which would be a game changer. Again, just a guess.

Yep - I've seen those daft videos online which make it all seem so simple: just raise the pitch level, move it 10m to the north west, then knockdown and extend the East Stand; rebuild the Gallowgate over Strawberry Place and SJ Metro; then extend the Milburn and Leazes backwards to finish the job. Every one of those is a colossal undertaking, some of which may not even be possible, and would lead to significant disruptions to current ST holders including reduced capacity. Then there is the lack of space for corporate etc. This all boils down to what we want from the club, for me - do we want to fulfil the stated aims of PIF, or are we happy with being a top half side which challenges for Europe? If the latter, then SJP and any possible extension would be sufficient for that. But we cannot reach elite status at a brushed-up SJP - there would be far too much potential income left on the shelf for that. An extension to SJP to 60,000 say would limit matchday revenues to well under 50m even if we were to have multiple cup runs including Europe. For anyone wanting a comparison, matchday revenue for NUFC in 2022-23 (when we finished 4th and had a cup run to a final with multiple home ties including a SF) was 33m; that same season, Man Utd's was 126m, Spurs's was 125m, Liverpool 112m and Arsenal was 94m. Other than Man Utd, their capacity is not that much different from ours - the difference is ticket pricing, corporate, commercial and sponsorship - which we cannot match at SJP. (To show the difficulty, Man City's matchday revenue was 64m - pretty much same capacity, and they don't have the insane pricing of the others, but still double ours due to sponsorship and corporate).

Any discussion re building aesthetics is absolutely subjective. SJP is not an attractive building IMO - very few stadiums are. You disagree - no issues with that, but you're no more factually correct than I am.

Matters of personal taste can't be inaccurate - you can disagree, of course. Personally, I've never liked SJP in its current state.

I doubt too many Leicester, Sunderland, Man City and Arsenal supporters get genuinely teary-eyed about it beyond nostalgia for their own youth. Highbury was a great stadium; Maine Road, Filbert Street and Roker were absolute dives by the end. All of the grounds mentioned are pretty much central (Ashburton Grove is close enough to Highbury).

SJP was a shiny new build 20-odd years ago. It isn't the same ground I attended in my youth other than the East Stand - and if you're my dad's age, it is a completely different ground.

Isak was a gamble regardless - a player who'd scored six in 32 league games the year before didn't scream 63m centre forward. Gordon - this is also applicable. Hall and Livramento - jury is out; but Hall definitely feels like an overpayment at the time. Tonali - agreed, more debatable. It isn't really about the success or otherwise - loads and loads of comments on the Guehi thread were also about overpaying; but what if he'd become the best centre half in the PL under Howe's tutelage in 18 months and was suddenly valued at 100m? Many of those who claimed we were overpaying then would then be on a similar thread to this claiming he was a bargain.

Never understood the obsession with getting NFL to SJP. I doubt they'd consider going to Newcastle in any case. But there are other reasons to support a move

It isn't - it is a lopsided concrete bowl.

Stadium sponsorship and vastly extended corporate is the issue. Extending SJP will barely make a dent in matchday revenues - and assuming that the FFP rules at UEFA don't change anytime soon, we're not competing at the level PIF claim they want us to with an extended SJP - we'd be potentially close to 100m per season behind the big matchday earners.

It isn't that they haven't worked at as signings, it is that we paid more than their presumed value at that point. A player being worth more two years later doesn't mean that you didn't pay more than the going rate at the time.

The Brown Bottle read Paul Mitchell's comments, and The Brown Bottle is of the opinion that constantly referring to yourself in the third person is totally and utterly normal.

Allen Nielsen - who you can see closing their keeper before he miss-kicks to Lee This is back when the offside law was different - but it was clear as owt that Nielsen wasn’t the intended recipient of a forward pass