Jonas

There's some info can be found through various sources but its a mix of last years figures, match day and over a season. Found Leeds last gate receipts were £30m, Southampton £16, Leicester £14 Norwich 10m Sunderland's 9.6 and Middlesbroughs 8.8, Hull 8.2, Watford/West Brom/Sheffield Wed 6.8

Pretty sure the first visible signs of development were the Wimbledon game where Duncan Ferguson debuted - Nov 98 from within the ground but other work had probably already taken place externally. Think Wales were playing world cup qualifiers there in Autumn 97 still and its first match was Sept/Oct 99 for the Rugby World Cup. Always bring it up in comparison to how long Wembley took. Think we did great building the current SJP to lose a roof for one reason and half the Gallowgate end for half a season - when other clubs at the time had whole ends as building sites for most of a season

They are the dominant force in Europe and have been since its inception.

They didn't reduce capacity building the Milburn/Leazes extension, so fingers crossed Overly romantic and maybe being different for differents sake but I'd still like a Tyne Bridge arc in a Gallowgate extension. Squeezes an extra thou in and would look purdy.

Some said it was part of his gimmick but he really is and always was just a miserable owld git

Its a stretch like because you cant compare gates now to gates in the 80s, totally different era. Everyone's gates were much lower, we averaged in the top ten even with those gates Arsenal got 17,000s when they had no title aspirations late in the season so you'd be saying Sunderland have better support than Arsenal on that basis.

Had to go on a school holiday the following Saturday and miss the next three home games so I made the most of it. Stands out as the turning point from boring humdrum late Smith era to entertaining, crazy and periloius Ossie one. Great view of Simpson's goal from the paddock, right behind it. You could hear the away fans - bare in mind there was only about twenty - doing the cheerleader chant spelling out the letters than singing the name thing from across the pitch (albeit the leazes end of the paddock with them in the far leazes/east stand corner) and maybe only one doing the "give us an O" thing.

That's my yardstick for a boring, joyless, depressing season (pre-Ashley) and its actually markedly better than their current season (their second best in seven years) 11th to 15th, 15 losses to 21 and the FA Cup 3rd round day as one of the highlights of the season Unfortunately at no point did I think we could give Red Star Belgrade or Milan a game, so they've got one over on us there.

Cucarella and an original Sensible Soccer sprite.

Thirty years ago to the day started sluggishly, went behind, went on to win 5-1. Thirty years later started sluggishly, went behind, went on to win 5-1

Aston Villa 93/94 5-1, They were the best team we'd played at home until we equalised and possibly the worst thereafter 30years to the very day

If there's one thing more deflating, demoralising and depressing than being a selling club its being a club that doesn't need to sell, doesn't want to sell and only has to because of arbitrary new rules specifically geared towards forcing you to do so. I'd have felt better with McKeag and co squirriling away and or wasting the money from Beardsley/Waddle/Gascoigne than a direct competitor shafting you.

My perspective is he scored less goals in his career and was nowhere near as a good a player as Shearer.

Milan was the year before. That Barcelona side minus Romario was beaten by PSG and Daveed (and Weah) - first time I saw him play and liked the cut of his jib, Neil Coxed Albert Ferrer in the seceond leg. Ajax beat them in the final (and twice in groups) that year - Wor Kluivert scoring.

Same colours, also called the Canaries, also begin with N. Wasn't that bad a shout.

Couldn't be stitched up more in the already established elites favour and against everybody else. It couldn't be less fair.

No England "glamour friendlies" should be allowed either then, since its so heinous.

All this effort and sabotage of the game just to avoid five clubs being knocked one place down the pecking order is fucking absurd.

A new ground is 100% not going to change that. If anything will make it worse. Is there even a case where the reverse has happened, Arsenal and Spurs maybe because their atmosphere was never good - everywhere else mackems, boro, Man City, Southampton, West Ham, Millwall, Derby, Leicester is worse. You only have to watch or listen to others game in this country to know its nothing to do with the various shaped stadiums or various ages.

Its a reflection of their general status and achievements relative to a club like Boro.

Boro have finished ahead of them more often than not for coming up 100years now, pretty dominant in recent times (since the 60s) 35-18.

and that's discounting 9years of the 1970s spent outside the top division. Think this is how they are seen by everybody but themselves.

Speaking of keepers, but apropos of nothing really but presume this Svilar in goal for Roma is related to Ratko Svilar who was at Antwerp when we played them. He didn't play against us but remember reading some quotes in the paper on the day - Rat Warns Magpies League Form Counts for Nothing in Europe - sort of thing.

I'd be surprised if the majority of neutral fans in the PL didn't prefer English clubs generally to lose in Europe.

I was desperate for one to win it 1999.