TheBrownBottle

Let off there - moronic by Trippier

I also think his hold-up play is superb

Love Gordon’s little bursts of pace

The commenatator talking about the ‘strangeness of seeing Newcastle in green’, especially when it was ‘unnecessary’ to wear it. Why would it be weird to see Newcastle play in green? I know what the context of the statement is, but most teams change their away colours every season. It’s hardly strange to see them in colours which aren’t their home ones.

That doesn’t prove that it makes a difference vs other clubs - which also have crowds. And if it does breed success, we must have the worst atmosphere and crowds in the country, given that half of the football league has won a trophy since we last did. edit: there are plenty of other academic studies that conclude the opposite of the study you’ve cited. Here’s two of them: https://www.newswise.com/pdf_docs/166932427047777_Home advantage study.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8670806/

There isn’t an initiative that could be offered which would bring an atmosphere like those of old. They relied on big groups of pissed-up mates standing together in a packed stand, particularly if a game had an edge or a bit of needle to it. The average match goer is no longer a pissed-up young man with his group of pals - it’s a middle-aged man who has been sat In the same seat for twenty-odd years and sees the match as a bit of time away from the stresses of work and family. Add to that the ‘embarrassment’ factor so many have of joining / starting chants on their Todd (see lack of groups and being pissed-up). Football collectively decided many years ago that it was willing to sacrifice atmosphere for more money (young men don’t tend to be flush) and safety (pissed up young men with a group of mates tend to find bother more easily). The game has been sanitised and gentrified. Those days are not coming back. For what it’s worth, the atmosphere doesn’t sound any worse than it has for a long time - in fact, it sounds better than the Ashley era, and the efforts of wor flags means that it is the best it has ever been as a spectacle. I also don’t think atmosphere matters one jot one it comes to results. It’s a little white lie that football supporters tell themselves, and the clubs like to go along with. How loud and how often a crowd sings has no impact on winning matches - if it did, Arsenal wouldn’t have been in the top division since 1919 …

Being intelligent with the ball and first rate spacial awareness are two things which Almiron hasn’t shown so far. He’s best served staying where he is.

We were averaging just over 16k in 1991. 10 years later it was 52k. It’s closer to 35k

The current songbook is shite (I am a middle-aged man now though, so that may factor in). I cringe at the 'Bruno in the middle' song - something that I don't generally do at even the daftest of football songs, but I actively hate that song. But even the traditional songs are sung badly - Blaydon Races (which may as well be remained 'GanalongthuScotswooRoadtuseethuBlaydonRaces', given that it is now spat out as a single word in about one second) in particular feels like a crime against local culture. It's a folk song, not a New Monkey / Colosseum choon, lads.

Just remembered we were in Europe in 12/13 - I didn't go to any of them due to my self-imposed boycott of Ashley's NUFC ...

I was in the Milburn A Paddock in 93/94 & 94/95, went into the Leazes from the following season - there were plenty of mediocre atmospheres during that period too

Similar to me mate - up until this year I missed the 1860 IT Cup tie in 2001 (on hols) and the UEFA Cup qualifiers in 2006 (potless). Sadly you're spot-on re atmosphere - there aren't many particularly memorable atmospheres during that period. I love being in European competition myself - nothing better. But it was the away days that made the experiences so memorable - home matches didn't spark great atmospheres. I do wonder if the lack of history between the clubs plays into it too - over the years, loads of English clubs (from Man Utd to Cambridge Utd under John Beck) have pissed off the SJP crowd over the years and created grudge matches. Not sure that anyone will feel similar about pretty much any European club.

We did that vs Antwerp in the round before, too - though from memory it was the Belgian supporters who started it (when you lose 10-2 on aggregate you might as well make some entertainment for yourselves) edit: you’re spot on re European Cup nights - all those CL games listed were crap atmosphere-wise n

Bring back drinking on the terraces and that Native American war cry I reckon.

The grumbling started from the moment it went all-seater and all-season ticket. The atmosphere hasn’t been what it was for three decades - for what it’s worth, even on TV it doesn’t sound markedly different to what it has at any point during the PL era (and it’s much better than it was for most of it). People want to believe it used to be better than it was - when it was actually pretty average to crap for most matches. European nights in particular were always odd - if we weren’t playing someone that the more passive elements acknowledged as a ‘big club’, the atmosphere mirrored most league cup ties. The fact that so many clearly view PSG as bigger than Dortmund is where the current mob of football supporters and me just don’t see eye to eye. Dortmund are a much bigger club as far as I’m concerned - no excuse for not being up for that game.

Honestly, he’s not even worth reacting to - the tiresome cunt thinks he’s speaking truth to power. But all he’s doing is trolling to football fans. He’s torched his reputation in the region where he covers football.

‘We love you Saudi’ isn’t aimed at individuals, but at the govt of a nation state. It isn’t the people of Saudi Arabia funding us - it’s the govt of KSA. Criticism of the govt is not blanket criticism of an entire nation. It is Saudi Arabians who are the primary victims of the oppressive Saudi state.

From memory, the poster started banging on about how gambling was the devil’s work etc. It was put in crudely religious terms, and some people then seek offence at being called out on using religion to moralise at others. I thought your response was to that. Honestly STM, I think it was one of those posts where the intent was obvious (to me), but the wording was indelicate. I’m not having a go - every single one of us does this at some point, we make a point which afterwards we think could be worded better - if we were having a conversation in person, I doubt it would have spun off in the direction that it did. The calls for a ban were utterly ridiculous.

We’ll have to agree to disagree I don’t think Miggy is an intelligent footballer (I don’t have a clue if he’s intelligent generally, of course). If we were listing Almiron’s strengths, how many adjectives would we list before we start getting to ‘visionary’, ‘alert’, or ‘subtle’?

Fucking hell

It’s not what it once was, though. I don’t think being heavyweight champion has the cultural cut-through that it once did. The heavyweight champion used to be one of the most famous people on Earth - not sure that they are now.

The problem is of course that when govts buy football clubs - particularly ones which use what is effectively a state religion to oppress the population of that country - then sport and politics can’t be separated. The KSA govt - including the man in ultimate charge of the PIF - are truly awful, one of the most oppressive dictatorships on earth. People in KSA can be killed, tortured, imprisoned for writing what I just did there. Anyone who wants to get offended on behalf of that govt needs a shake.

He’s a superb footballer, but I think it is a concern that he appears to be made out of paper and cobwebs

I think Almiron isn’t smart enough as a footballer to play as a 10 effectively. He’s all high energy and commitment, but I wouldn’t describe him as an intelligent or cute footballer.

Yep. Usually short sticky patches then back to kicking arse again. Hopefully this isn’t what’s happening - I think we just lost to a really good side in a match where we could still have gotten a result despite not playing at our best.