Disappointing attendances

[Guest Roger Kint]

Imagine in the 1960's and early 70's the board saying fans could only stand in the Leazes End if they bought up a membership in advance or them introducing the scheme for the Gallowgate Corner and Scoreboard sections in the 1980's/early 90's. There would have been uproar and rightly so and it wouldn't have been allowed to happen. Sadly nowadays we have too many spineless people following the club who just go along with whatever they are told and is one of the reasons SJP is missing that spark that it had yesteryear and sadly I think that's gone for good now. I'm not just referring to NUFC here but football fans in general these days. I'm just glad i'm old enough to have witnessed the better times when I could stand shoulder to shoulder with proper people who certainly wouldn't be pushed around.

 

Jesus Christ its a free(nay better than free) card that takes no effort to get. Get over your self man, all this nostalgic bullshit over nowt! Making out you are better than those currently attending because you are too daft to accept it would benefit you?

 

 

 

In reality it's clear that it's actually you who needs to get over yourself. I'm not saying i'm better or worse than anyone else and if people want to buy up this membership that's up to them although evidently not many people have bothered.  I don't want to become a 12th man member and that's my decision. Just get over it. It's no big deal. I'm happy to watch the games on the foreign channels instead.

 

Calling other fans 'spineless' and suggest they arent 'proper fans' says you do think you are better. I dont need to get over myself mate i am not the one inventing issues where there are none.

 

Where have I suggested anyone isn't a proper fan? All i said was that our support of years ago (of which i'm presuming you weren't part of because of your age) wouldn't have put up with all this rubbish of only being allowed in certain parts of the ground unless you buy up a membership in advance or having the name of our stadium changed to Sports Direct.com@St James' Park or whatever he's decided to call it at the minute.

 

Open your eyes and take a look for gods sake. People don't want to be forced into buying a membership just so they can go into a certain part of the ground, that's why that part of the stadium is empty this season, and for you to say it's cheaper to do that is a total load of tosh. For example I have 4 friends from Arbroath who like to come down to watch Newcastle 2 or 3 times a season and for the past couple of seasons they were able to join me in Leazes Corner to watch the match and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere up there. It isn't cheaper for them to buy a membership is it?

 

PS. You're not Derek Llambias in disguise are you?

 

1. How old do you think i am? Not that i care what you think.

2. I guess you are going to be pedantic of the words 'fan' and people' its the same thing in the context you used. But please feel free to sneak out of it.

3. You should know that 2 memberships can buy 4 tickets, your 4 friends can use those 2 memberships and remain in pocket, easy really isnt it? In any case for you to start crying over £5 when they are travelling from Arbroath? You want me to open my eyes? Fucking hell!!

4. Of course i am not Llambias, for a man allegedly over 40 its worrying your childish digs show an IQ of similar number. Grow up! All your excuses over a 2 minute process which WILL NOT cost you money yet which has stopped you attending games. Pathetic, simply patheitc!

[MKSC]

Hall- perhaps it's not the sole gauge but I know plenty folk who may not have brilliantly paid jobs, but make sacrifices elsewhere to go and support the team. If people make the decision not to do that then that's entirely their decision but don't tell me they are brilliant supporters.

 

Anyone who spends money they don't have following their football club because they believe it makes them a brilliant supporter needs to head down the hospital for a brain scan, just to check they have one like.

[Guest BooBoo]

When did i mention folk spending money they didn't have?

[Pav]

I actually find L7 claim to be holier than thou.  Yes they make some good songs & make some noise but some of the stuff they sing is so cringeworth

 

e.g the here we go song then f*** off at the end.. very cringeworthy.

It's a shit song but you'll find most teams in England sing it. To add to that it's pretty funny that you claim people in L7 are 'holier than thou' and then instantly have a dig at them, seems a tad hypocritical but maybe that's just me.

 

Also some people who sit in L7 feel that they are better because they sing/chat etc and will slate other stands which imo is pathetic

But they don't though, and I've made this point on here a few times now. Feel free to prove me wrong, but I've never once read anything on here where someone's claimed they're 'better' because they sit in L7. Just because they say it's better for atmosphere or prefer it to other parts of the ground doesn't somehow mean they think they're better than others for sitting there. People like yourself seem to find it hard to grasp, but some of us think being sat in the East stand for 90 minutes is utter shite. Spending the game sat in silence like a sardine in those tightly packed plastic seats just isn't for me. It obviously suits you down to the ground and that's fine for you, but some of us enjoy a sing song and being able to stand 

[Big Geordie]

I'm as big a supporter as I have ever been. The fact that I don't get to as many games now has not altered that. I still follow the lads on TV, the net and on radio as well as the odd home game now and then, when cash allows.

[Mick]

Imagine in the 1960's and early 70's the board saying fans could only stand in the Leazes End if they bought up a membership in advance or them introducing the scheme for the Gallowgate Corner and Scoreboard sections in the 1980's/early 90's. There would have been uproar and rightly so and it wouldn't have been allowed to happen. Sadly nowadays we have too many spineless people following the club who just go along with whatever they are told and is one of the reasons SJP is missing that spark that it had yesteryear and sadly I think that's gone for good now. I'm not just referring to NUFC here but football fans in general these days. I'm just glad i'm old enough to have witnessed the better times when I could stand shoulder to shoulder with proper people who certainly wouldn't be pushed around.

 

They pulled the Leazes down, I would have willingly paid a membership to have been able to go in.

[brummie]

I am probably in a minority of one (or possibly a handful) on this thread, but I think I enjoyed football much, much more in the mid 1980s when hardly anyone gave a shit about it.

 

Treated like shit in piss soaked grounds we might have been, but it cost feck all, the league was competitive, and you didn't have to put up with the ubiquity of know-it-all-but-never-go Lovejoy-inspired types on the internet

 

I once went to see us at Nottingham Forest. When we got off the train, the police herded us out of the station and put us in - quite literally - a cage for 90 minutes, before sticking us on a train back to Birmingham with the people who'd been to the match.

 

If it sounds weird that someone could be nostalgic for a period which involved regularly getting treated like an animal like that (and I know loads of people who feel similarly)  then maybe the question should be how football has managed to make rational people think like that.

 

It costs too much - not just a little bit too much, but way, way too much, the players are cunts with an almost total detachment from the real world, the league is incredibly uncompetitive, the media coverage is predictable, cretinous, and an insult to the intelligence (oh, and fucking expensive, too), there's no atmosphere because the whole experience has been sanitised and had the passion squeezed out of it - all CCTV cameras, "sit down and shut up" and high vis jackets

 

I still go, I've got my season ticket, I do a 100 mile round trip every home match, I fork out a decent amount to do the odd away game, more importantly (for me) i hand over a lot of my free time (going to matches, watching matches, arguing about matches) to football. So do lots of members of my family, and so have said family members for 100 years now, but I would not for a nanosecond point the finger at anyone who decided "fuck it, it isn't worth it" and stopped bothering.

 

I've been tempted myself.

[broonalegeordie]

brummie you have it spot on.

 

wish id been to the football in the 80s.

 

european aways / mackems away on the train are always class though.

 

ive spent my thousands upon thousands on football and ive had that 'fuck it, its not worth it' moment.

[Guest neesy111]

Great post from Brummie btw.

 

People are mainly not bothered about how they go to a football match and how they feel watching the game.  It's all about that feeling of supporting your team and actually supporting your team.  Most NUFC fans have said the shitest things about the club etc, does that mean we are shit fans, no it fucking doesn't because it shows that we care about NUFC and always will.

 

I've moved from Newcastle in recent times, but it does not show in how I post on here and how I talk to my mates etc, nor should it not as well because that is the way of life sadly.  I will say NUFC will always have a great support and long it should continue, despite the club being the shithole it is and has been for a quite a while.

[Mick]

I am probably in a minority of one (or possibly a handful) on this thread, but I think I enjoyed football much, much more in the mid 1980s when hardly anyone gave a s*** about it.

 

Treated like s*** in piss soaked grounds we might have been, but it cost feck all, the league was competitive, and you didn't have to put up with the ubiquity of know-it-all-but-never-go Lovejoy-inspired types on the internet

 

I once went to see us at Nottingham Forest. When we got off the train, the police herded us out of the station and put us in - quite literally - a cage for 90 minutes, before sticking us on a train back to Birmingham with the people who'd been to the match.

 

If it sounds weird that someone could be nostalgic for a period which involved regularly getting treated like an animal like that (and I know loads of people who feel similarly)  then maybe the question should be how football has managed to make rational people think like that.

 

It costs too much - not just a little bit too much, but way, way too much, the players are c***s with an almost total detachment from the real world, the league is incredibly uncompetitive, the media coverage is predictable, cretinous, and an insult to the intelligence (oh, and f***ing expensive, too), there's no atmosphere because the whole experience has been sanitised and had the passion squeezed out of it - all CCTV cameras, "sit down and shut up" and high vis jackets

 

I still go, I've got my season ticket, I do a 100 mile round trip every home match, I fork out a decent amount to do the odd away game, more importantly (for me) i hand over a lot of my free time (going to matches, watching matches, arguing about matches) to football. So do lots of members of my family, and so have said family members for 100 years now, but I would not for a nanosecond point the finger at anyone who decided "f*** it, it isn't worth it" and stopped bothering.

 

I've been tempted myself.

 

You're not in a minority of one, the only difference is that I haven't been tempted to stop going.

 

I didn't live too far from you in the late 70's and early 80's and worked and lived for football.  I found it much easier going to away games as the travelling distance was much less.  I travelled back up to Newcastle on a Friday for the night out, only to travel to London and places like that on a Saturday for the match.  3 hours travelling each way for a home game was a bitch especially if we travelled by train as we would have to leave 5 minutes early to get the last train to Stalybridge so that we could get a connection to Birmingham and then a connection to where we lived.

 

I made loads of friends in the midlands just by travelling to games by train as Newcastle fans were probably the only ones at that time to wear team colours, especially to away games.  I didn't like Newcastle Brown but I felt that I had to dring it because of its association with the area and club, we'd down 8 or 12 cans on the train then go straight to the first pub when we got off the train, they were mental but happy times.

 

[Mick]

brummie you have it spot on.

 

wish id been to the football in the 80s.

 

european aways / mackems away on the train are always class though.

 

ive spent my thousands upon thousands on football and ive had that 'f*** it, its not worth it' moment.

 

Walking from Seaburn station and having to go behing the Fullwell end was always a good laugh when visiting Joker Park, it's not the same going to SOS.

[merlin]

TV Money should be used to decrease ticket prices, as the more people in stadiums should create better atmospheres for the games on TV.  Sky are not going to be bothered too much by 10,000 people that are not watching on sky.

 

I think it mainly comes down to price to be honest, I think we could get 50,000 most weeks if it was £20 a ticket, and £10 for bairns.  I wonder if the club are going to put up prices further with the VAT increase from next January.

 

TV money is largely going into the pockets of(in many cases)sub-standard players who are not worth paying even a quarter of what some of them get...until that is addressed, football will be expensive.

Don't hold your breath, though - greedy players Union combined with spineless and short=termist management(common in Western society) will ensure the PL is in a state of crisis before anything is done.

[merlin]

Some interesting debate on this thread.

 

I have some sympathy with Wallsendmag's views because I believe that many of the people that used to follow the club in the 70s have either stopped going because they are disenchanted, or they haven't got the money(many on a pension now). In fact, many WERE disenchanted that the Leazes was knocked down without a plan to replace it quickly,and in the 80s we had 3 really class players and lost the lot to other clubs.

 

In addition, the whole way people are educated now combined with the loss of industrial jobs has left many younger people fatalistic and more accepting of being ripped off etc because they have no alternative but to go along with it all. Life seems very limited in its prospects, esp at this time.

 

Brummie has raised an excellent point about the 80s and I agree with him to a point. We at NUFC had a reasonable period between 1983 and 1987 because we had KK, got promoted with some exciting young

players and it all looked good until the board spoiled it all by refusing Cox a decent transfer budget(now THAT sounds familiar..!). He walked, in came Big Jack(who we all thought would do the biz)and although we never looked like being relegated in 84/85, the football was, shall we say, pragmatic..!! Nevertheless, we got flashes of brilliance from Waddle and Beardsley and then Gazza came along.

 

Jack walked out before 85/86 after getting the bird at a friendly with Sheff Utd and McFaul took over.

The board were happy, but I wasn't - I don't like keepers as managers anyway, and we all knew McFaul was a board stooge. He DID give us some decent football for a while and although Waddle went to Spurs we got some OK signings such as Paul Goddard, a good player who actually kept us up in 87. McFaul stole the headlines in the summer of that year by signing Mirandinha, the first Brazilian to play in England, but against that, we lost Beardsley to Liverpool in order to pay for the Milburn Stand. MIra's best performance was probably one of his first games at OT, where he scored and starred in a 2-2 draw, and Gazza was becoming a real talent. We lost him to Spurs in Summer of 88 and because the board were under pressure from John Hall and the Magpie Group then, McKeag let Mc Faul sign Thorne and Beasant from Wimbledon)a case of 'if you can't beat 'em, sign em, as they had knocked us out of the FAC after all that controversy with Gazza and Vinny Jones) - he also signed Robertson from Hearts, a prolific striker in Scotland but flopped totally at SJP - as did the other 2....we never replaced Gazza, and the takeover struggle probably partly caused the club's relegation although the players should have got on with their jobs and didn't.

 

As the 80s came to an end, we were back in the second div again and after a terrible flop against the Mackems at SJP in the 1990 play-offs  we were destined for 3 years of mediocrity until SJH and KK took over.Many fans DID stop going between 1990 and 1993...

 

Interesting times, with enough going on to keep fans coming to games - once the 3 local geniuses left though, the only thing that really kept the fans interested was getting McKeag & Co out.

 

In some ways, we have come full circle because we have a manager who is basically in the board's pocket

and an unbalanced side as we did in 88..

Not a coincidence that gates began to drop off after Gazza left and some called it a day after Beardsley went - people want entertainment, but they also want results and neither were forthcoming after 1987.

 

Today, it is almost impossible for a club to do what we did in the 90s because the money is only with a few clubs and THAT acts as a dis-incentive to fans because they can see there is a real limit as to what their club can achieve. Hopefully, the new rules concerning young local players will make a difference but I'm not holding my breath...money does, and always has , talked.

[broonalegeordie]

Thanks for some very interesting posts every one!

 

Love reading peoples views on stuff like this.

 

My dad used to go to all the games in the 60s, 70s and 80s, stood under the scoreboard apparently.

My mam used to travel with Leicester City in the 70s and 80s, wherever they played.

 

My mam started going to SJP with my dad in the late 80s, but by this time they had us 3, so both stopped going, and stayed away until 2 or 3 year ago.

 

Now they're old, kids grown up, mortgage paid etc you cant keep them away from St James Park, or the away games.

 

 

Maybe one day, i'll be back! Hope its not 20 years time like!!

[gray]

TV definitely has an effect. I dont have a season ticket anymore because I can pick and choose games now, and then alot are on TV.

 

NUFC v Stoke = 42k (52k capacity, 80% full)

 

World Best Millionnaires XI v Juventus = 35k (47k capacity, 74% full)

[Crumpy Gunt]

Is not that a lot now see NUFC as nothing but an 'ALSO-RAN'? Even before a ball was kicked this season we all new we'd amount to fuck all this season. Some wise heads still think we'll be fortunate to stay up. Maybe it gets forgotten that football is an entertainment business and if folk don't feel they'll be entertained they'll think 'fuck it' - especially if the games on TV. 50k turrn out v Blackpool because they think we're going to give them a howking. We got beat and only 41k turn up next time. Perhaps the realisation we're still complete and utter shit played as big a part in the poor attendance than anything - TV coverage providing the get out clause.

 

There will be thread appears at some point questioning why we haven't sold out for the SAFC game. Well, £42 to watch shit?

[merlin]

Is not that a lot now see NUFC as nothing but an 'ALSO-RAN'? Even before a ball was kicked this season we all new we'd amount to f*** all this season. Some wise heads still think we'll be fortunate to stay up. Maybe it gets forgotten that football is an entertainment business and if folk don't feel they'll be entertained they'll think 'f*** it' - especially if the games on TV. 50k turrn out v Blackpool because they think we're going to give them a howking. We got beat and only 41k turn up next time. Perhaps the realisation we're still complete and utter s*** played as big a part in the poor attendance than anything - TV coverage providing the get out clause.

 

There will be thread appears at some point questioning why we haven't sold out for the SAFC game. Well, £42 to watch s***?

 

Yep - you are right again Crumpy.

Unfortunately the 'Emperor's New Clothes' fans will deny it.

It's not that we are TOTAL S--t, but that we are in crucial positions and many older fans see that and know it aint going to be put right any time soon.

[Guest BooBoo]

We've just been promoted. Did people really expect a swashbuckling assault on the top ten?

[Guest neesy111]

We've just been promoted. Did people really expect a swashbuckling assault on the top ten?

 

They expect some sort of investment though to make sure we have a fighting chance of staying up.  Also some people won't spend money on a club, knowing it's not going to be invested properly.

[merlin]

We've just been promoted. Did people really expect a swashbuckling assault on the top ten?

 

As Neesy says, its nothing to do with an expected assault on the top 10....not that a club like Newcastle shouldn't expect to be there anyway. If you'd said Top 6 I might have agreed.

[Wallsendmag]

Imagine in the 1960's and early 70's the board saying fans could only stand in the Leazes End if they bought up a membership in advance or them introducing the scheme for the Gallowgate Corner and Scoreboard sections in the 1980's/early 90's. There would have been uproar and rightly so and it wouldn't have been allowed to happen. Sadly nowadays we have too many spineless people following the club who just go along with whatever they are told and is one of the reasons SJP is missing that spark that it had yesteryear and sadly I think that's gone for good now. I'm not just referring to NUFC here but football fans in general these days. I'm just glad i'm old enough to have witnessed the better times when I could stand shoulder to shoulder with proper people who certainly wouldn't be pushed around.

 

Jesus Christ its a free(nay better than free) card that takes no effort to get. Get over your self man, all this nostalgic bullshit over nowt! Making out you are better than those currently attending because you are too daft to accept it would benefit you?

 

 

 

In reality it's clear that it's actually you who needs to get over yourself. I'm not saying i'm better or worse than anyone else and if people want to buy up this membership that's up to them although evidently not many people have bothered.  I don't want to become a 12th man member and that's my decision. Just get over it. It's no big deal. I'm happy to watch the games on the foreign channels instead.

 

Calling other fans 'spineless' and suggest they arent 'proper fans' says you do think you are better. I dont need to get over myself mate i am not the one inventing issues where there are none.

 

Where have I suggested anyone isn't a proper fan? All i said was that our support of years ago (of which i'm presuming you weren't part of because of your age) wouldn't have put up with all this rubbish of only being allowed in certain parts of the ground unless you buy up a membership in advance or having the name of our stadium changed to Sports Direct.com@St James' Park or whatever he's decided to call it at the minute.

 

Open your eyes and take a look for gods sake. People don't want to be forced into buying a membership just so they can go into a certain part of the ground, that's why that part of the stadium is empty this season, and for you to say it's cheaper to do that is a total load of tosh. For example I have 4 friends from Arbroath who like to come down to watch Newcastle 2 or 3 times a season and for the past couple of seasons they were able to join me in Leazes Corner to watch the match and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere up there. It isn't cheaper for them to buy a membership is it?

 

PS. You're not Derek Llambias in disguise are you?

 

1. How old do you think i am? Not that i care what you think.

2. I guess you are going to be pedantic of the words 'fan' and people' its the same thing in the context you used. But please feel free to sneak out of it.

3. You should know that 2 memberships can buy 4 tickets, your 4 friends can use those 2 memberships and remain in pocket, easy really isnt it? In any case for you to start crying over £5 when they are travelling from Arbroath? You want me to open my eyes? f***ing hell!!

4. Of course i am not Llambias, for a man allegedly over 40 its worrying your childish digs show an IQ of similar number. Grow up! All your excuses over a 2 minute process which WILL NOT cost you money yet which has stopped you attending games. Pathetic, simply patheitc!

 

Stop getting your knickers in such a twist man! You are clearly in the minority with your views, hence the reason why so few memberships have been sold. You have been unable to grasp the point so many times I feel it's impossible to continue this debate with you as you will never grasp it and it will end up just ruining the thread so i'll just leave it at that.

[cp40]

despite all this talk about 70s and 80s- im fairly sure the average so far this season is higher than it was in either them decades.

[Guest neesy111]

despite all this talk about 70s and 80s- im fairly sure the average so far this season is higher than it was in either them decades.

 

Late 70's early 80's defo.  Though many more families go to football games now because it's a hell a lot safer than it was in those days thankfully.

[cp40]

despite all this talk about 70s and 80s- im fairly sure the average so far this season is higher than it was in either them decades.

 

Late 70's early 80's defo.  Though many more families go to football games now because it's a hell a lot safer than it was in those days thankfully.

 

 

def all 80s neesy. the capacity was lower than the average crowd this season.

[Wallsendmag]

despite all this talk about 70s and 80s- im fairly sure the average so far this season is higher than it was in either them decades.

 

That's true and it makes a bit of a mockery of the heading at the top of this thread. "disappointing attendances". We're averaging over 45,000 with 2 of our 3 home games being televised on a Sunday dinner time and only 1 of the 3 away clubs has brought a decent support up.