TheBrownBottle

Agreed mate - I'm not arguing that this isn't the case.

I do sympathise, though ultimately a lot of it has to do with football being tribal (this is a mackem pisstake thread, after all), and the notion that this localism / tribalism is why the football pyramid exists at all. Without people supporting their local side, English football ceases to exist in its current form, and would start to look more like a franchise-type league. The football club is seen as an expression of a city / region's identity, which is why so many will get defensive. I genuinely don't think any of this really matters, ultimately who a person supports shouldn't really be of any consequence to anyone but themselves. If it means something to you, that should be enough - it isn't for anyone else to decide whether or not you're 'worthy'.

Yep, 'support as penis extension' has a long history. It just has an international flavour these days. Let's face it, Dublin's Torquay United fanbase, Mumbai's Rushden and Diamonds ultras and Singapore's hardcore Port Vale support could fit into a single toilet cubicle

He swears down that it is true. He's shown me charts showing how gravy sales dip east of Bensham. I always trust men who have shit taches, a mullet and a fading Indian ink 'SAFC' tatt on their knuckles

I've heard from a solid mackem source that Gateshead is already 51.5765367% sunderland - so it would be a liberation rather than an annexation ....

'Wanker from Truro in Peace' shall be set to ignore

It is a weird thing to obsess over. Who gives a shite? I don't get irritated anymore when I listen to Man Utd fans from Truro whining. I just don't listen to them.

I got them off, you know, Nobby Burton, who comes round with a suitcase. Two for a tenner.

It was more that the guy was ranting about a lad on our coach for an away game who was from Hexham, and he was banging on about how he wasn't from Newcastle and therefore was a glory-seeker. I otherwise wouldn't have worried at all about the distinction edit: Wallsend isn't a suburb of Newcastle, mind. It is a town separate to Newcastle, and always has been. Parliamentary constituencies aren't how a city's limits are marked double edit: Gateshead isn't either - you might class them as commuter towns, but they are most definitely not suburbs of Newcastle

Yeah, it used to be one they’d use - though the obvious point that Wallsend isn’t in Newcastle yet you won’t find many Mackems there eluded them NB I once had an argument with a bloke who thought that Wallsend was in Newcastle. The most startling part was him telling me he’d lived in Wallsend all his life - he was comfortably in his 40s. Imagine living all those decades in a place and still not know where it is?

Do you think it is a coincidence that in 1991 we had a sub-20k average; one of only four seasons post-World War I (there's only been three post-WWII) where this was the case? The twats are rabid about it. 'They used to average under 20k'. Three times in eighty-seven years that has been the case. As any mackematics textbook of statistical analysis will tell you; robust analysis of statistical and probablistic outliers which diverge from the central tendency of the median don't fucking count when it comes to Newcastle.

People going radge on the internet during the game doesn't bother me tbh - there's lots who confuse angry internet comments with whinging at the match. Whingers at the ground piss me off; they ruin the atmosphere and that can affect the players. Jacob Murphy isn't reading NO during play; I'm not convinced it has any bearing on his performance

Is it as bad as Alan 'Fucking' Robson telling us to MAKE SOME NOISE?

Yeah, that's fair enough, certainly initially - I don't think we're going to agree in terms of timing when Bruno goes off

I don't see Bruno or the medical staff running to a press conference and sounding off - everyone could see the lad was struggling. We were playing with ten men for most of that half; I'm not seeing the circumstances where Howe cops grief. And anyone who did give him grief for it would be a complete and utter knacker anyway - who gives a shite what they say?

I don’t think Howe gets slaughtered for subbing a struggling player no matter who it is

It isn’t 20-20 hindsight in fairness; have a look through the match day NO waffle. There were plenty of us writing there during the game saying that he needed to come off, and surprised that Eddie hadn’t withdrawn him

Mackems bang on about NUFC’s 90s side more than we do

You were watching a different game from me - he was struggling after he twisted it. His passing range was gone; he was hobbling, and he was turning like an oil tanker when the ball came to him. He wasn’t right at all.

I’m glad Jesus and God are finally getting the credit they deserve, Jeff

Howe himself said afterwards it was a mistake. And I'm pretty sure the chief sponge-bearer who checked him isn't a doctor. It is actually possible to criticise a manager without going overboard or calling for his head. We're not in a cult.

Yeah, Carling were the initial sponsors - then Barclaycard, then Barclays. I think Barclays were still sponsors when it shifted to ‘Premier League’

FA Carling Premiership

The FA-backed top flight breakaway initially called itself the ‘Premiership’ due to disputes as to whether use of ‘League’ was the intellectual property of the Football League (and given the PL breakaway was from a now pissed-off Football League, court cases were not unlikely). It took a few years to resolve that it wasn’t an infringement, and changed to the Premier League from then on. Ugly stuff, all based around a money-grab by the top division clubs - plenty of whom are now rattling round the lower leagues (non-league in Oldham’s case) and complaining about the Premier League’s greed.

I was confident before Fulham of three points, but I'm not as confident here. This is precisely the sort of place and game NUFC historically don't do well in - and I'm talking pre-Ashley, KK and BR years too. I'd take a point if the footballing gods offered it up now. At some point we're going to go behind, and if we do I suspect we'll struggle against the mid-table sides who then shut up shop.