St James' Park

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, Wilson said:

Completely off topic but the announcer is going to be another level of cringe next home game isn't he? Be able to hear the music back down Wembley. 

🎵We are the Champions🎵

[Kilcline]

3 minutes ago, Wilson said:

Completely off topic but the announcer is going to be another level of cringe next home game isn't he? Be able to hear the music back down Wembley. 

Reckon the massive cheer he got for "ENJOY THE GAME" will have gone to his head, like when you give sarcastic applause to the cat strangler on karaoke and they stay on all night 

[Wallsendmag]

On 14/03/2025 at 21:22, mattypnufc said:

😂. 
 

also find it funny that not everyone from that ‘era’ still holds him in such high regard. The whole bonds thing tarnished that. 

 

Tbf the bond scheme was a Freddie Fletcher initiative. Ultimately I'll always hold SJH in high regard. Couldn't care about his political views. Labour aren't exactly much better and over the years as I've got older I've learned to tolerate and respect people with different views to mine, whether that be political or otherwise, as long as they aren't extreme!

 

What I do know is that without him we don't have the Newcastle United that we have today. We were on a one way road to oblivion when he stepped in. I was a season ticket holder when the Magpie Group which he headed, managed to oust McKeag and his cronies out. The ground was a crumbling wreck, we got drenched when it rained, any good players were sold, the team was shit, the crowds were down to 10, 11, 12k for some League games. He spotted the potential, more importantly he brought in Kevin Keegan and the rest they say is history but no doubting that the club we have today is due him and that decision to bring back Kevin Keegan. It changed the course of history for us for ever.

 

He was hoodwinked by Ashley but I don't hold it against him. He had us all fooled for a while. Offering us free beer if we got into the ground early or buying everyone in Blubambu drinks, going in with the fans in his NUFC top, whatever, his charm offensive early doors did a real number on us until his mask slipped. Plus we were getting into the day and age of Chelsea being Russian owned, The Middle East and America were wanting to get involved and SJH and Shepherd just didn't have the means to come close to competing with them. On the face of it, selling to a British born Billionaire with a background in sport didn't appear to be a bad choice.

 

Aside from that I've met him before and thought he was a lovely bloke!

[Dr Venkman]

40 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Couldn't care about his political views. Labour aren't exactly much better and over the years as I've got older I've learned to tolerate and respect people with different views to mine, whether that be political or otherwise, as long as they aren't extreme!

 

Quote

Sir John told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he was "white and proud of it" and was backing the party because he did not want to see his country's culture "destroyed".

[christ]

Sir John Hall is a bit like Kanye West. His earlier work was and remains outstanding, but the less said about his recent behaviour the better. 

[danswan]

25 minutes ago, christ said:

Sir John Hall is a bit like Kanye West. His earlier work was and remains outstanding, but the less said about his recent behaviour the better. 

 

See also Steven Patrick Morrissey

[Wallsendmag]

42 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

 

 

It's hardly extreme, also I suppose in this day and age some people could think it is. I think of extreme as being someone who wants to bring actual harm to others because they aren't the same religion or race as they are. Lots of people of his generation will think the same tbf.

[Dr Venkman]

5 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

It's hardly extreme, also I suppose in this day and age some people could think it is. I think of extreme as being someone who wants to bring actual harm to others because they aren't the same religion or race as they are. Lots of people of his generation will think the same tbf.

 

Now's not the time and I don't want to ruin the thread, shouldn't have posted at all TBH.

[Bondedcrown]

57 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

 

Tony Blair telling us he saw Jackie  Milburn play!

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, Bondedcrown said:

Tony Blair telling us he saw Jackie  Milburn play!

 

Whilst he sat in the Gallowgate iirc.

[Nucasol]

Just now, Bondedcrown said:

Tony Blair telling us he saw Jackie  Milburn play!

Sitting in streams of piss in the Gallowgate as. 4 year old watching Jackie Milburn play.

[TomYam]

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

 

What I do know is that without him we don't have the Newcastle United that we have today. We were on a one way road to oblivion when he stepped in. I was a season ticket holder when the Magpie Group which he headed, managed to oust McKeag and his cronies out. The ground was a crumbling wreck, we got drenched when it rained, any good players were sold, the team was shit, the crowds were down to 10, 11, 12k for some League games. 

That's not quite factual, is it?

 

I believe John Hall's Magpie Group started their hostile takeover campaign in May 1988. The club was still being run in the traditional way - by a bunch of directors, made up of farmers, doctors, solicitors and accountants, who had very little money and were struggling to find the wealthy backers that many other leading clubs had. Most of the directors comprised those that held the greatest number of (inherited) shares amongst the many hundreds of shareholders (George Dixon was the largest shareholder and had no interest at all in football, and sold out to Hall at the first opportunity).

 

It's true that attendances were much lower than a dozen years prior, but that was the case with almost every other club - in fact, although only 21,038, we had the 6th highest attendance average in 1988. The stadium was a crumbling wreck but, again, that was true of so many clubs - particularly after many stands had to be closed off/pulled down after the numerous football ground disasters, such as the Valley Parade fire.

 

It's true that the club had achieved very little over the past dozen years and was, ultimately, incapable of holding onto their very best players when wealthy clubs like Liverpool, Spurs or ManU came calling, but it's often forgotten that the club had just finished 8th in 1988. We were a mid table club.  

 

The real problems for the future of the club started after the takeover campaign started. Hall was using The Chronicle and S&N to oust the board and refused to communicate directly with them. The board resisted. Eventually a stalemate was reached and Hall took a place on the board on the condition that his promise to 'democratise' the club was undertaken by Hall. That failed and, for better or worse, Hall assumed total control of the club after a 3-4 year battle. It was that battle that almost led the club to oblivion.

 

Salvation came in the form of KK who, almost overnight, transformed the fortunes of the club. 

 

[Wallsendmag]

29 minutes ago, TomYam said:

That's not quite factual, is it?

 

I believe John Hall's Magpie Group started their hostile takeover campaign in May 1988. The club was still being run in the traditional way - by a bunch of directors, made up of farmers, doctors, solicitors and accountants, who had very little money and were struggling to find the wealthy backers that many other leading clubs had. Most of the directors comprised those that held the greatest number of (inherited) shares amongst the many hundreds of shareholders (George Dixon was the largest shareholder and had no interest at all in football, and sold out to Hall at the first opportunity).

 

It's true that attendances were much lower than a dozen years prior, but that was the case with almost every other club - in fact, although only 21,038, we had the 6th highest attendance average in 1988. The stadium was a crumbling wreck but, again, that was true of so many clubs - particularly after many stands had to be closed off/pulled down after the numerous football ground disasters, such as the Valley Parade fire.

 

It's true that the club had achieved very little over the past dozen years and was, ultimately, incapable of holding onto their very best players when wealthy clubs like Liverpool, Spurs or ManU came calling, but it's often forgotten that the club had just finished 8th in 1988. We were a mid table club.  

 

The real problems for the future of the club started after the takeover campaign started. Hall was using The Chronicle and S&N to oust the board and refused to communicate directly with them. The board resisted. Eventually a stalemate was reached and Hall took a place on the board on the condition that his promise to 'democratise' the club was undertaken by Hall. That failed and, for better or worse, Hall assumed total control of the club after a 3-4 year battle. It was that battle that almost led the club to oblivion.

 

Salvation came in the form of KK who, almost overnight, transformed the fortunes of the club. 

 

 

And after all that KK only comes back because of John Hall. He wasn't coming back to work for McKeag and his lot who would have sold any emerging talent from under his feet as soon as an offer came in.

 

We also had the worst ground of us, Sunderland and Boro who at least both had covered home terraced areas. The 21,000 average gate you quoted in 1988 was down to 16,000 by 1991 which was 17th highest in the Country and less than the mackems and even Middlesbrough!

 

If John Hall didn't come in we don't have the club we have today. Simple as that.

[Jackie Broon]

8 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

And after all that KK only comes back because of John Hall. He wasn't coming back to work for McKeag and his lot who would have sold any emerging talent from under his feet as soon as an offer came in.

 

We also had the worst ground of us, Sunderland and Boro who at least both had covered home terraced areas. The 21,000 average gate you quoted in 1988 was down to 16,000 by 1991 which was 17th highest in the Country and less than the mackems and even Middlesbrough!

 

If John Hall didn't come in we don't have the club we have today. Simple as that.

 

It could be said that if Mike Ashley didn't come in we don't have the club we have today.

 

Ashley is rightly judged by what he did over his entire ownership.

 

John Hall's ownership also included letting Keegan be forced out by bankers, paying his family out tens of millions in dividends when the club went backwards and finally lining his pockets with the sale to Ashley.

 

 

Edited March 19 by Jackie Broon

[Wallsendmag]

6 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

It could be said that if Mike Ashley doesn't come in we don't have the club we have today.

 

Ashley is rightly judged by what he did over his entire ownership.

 

John Hall's ownership also included letting Keegan be forced out by bankers, paying his family out tens of millions in dividends when the club went backwards and finally lining his pockets with the sale to Ashley.

 

But that would be rubbish. Ashley didn't build the stadium from a crumbling wreck to what was at the time one of the best in Europe and the 2nd biggest in the Country. In fact he left it in a bit of a state of disrepair. He didn't take the club from a nothing Division 2 team to a top PL team which challenged for the title and played Champions League, breaking the world record transfer fee in the process. He didn't increase our attendances by nearly 200%.

 

 

Edited March 19 by Wallsendmag

[JT24]

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-leazes-park-stadium-31237715
 

First public campaign against a not-yet-announced Leazes Park stadium is in. Calling for a referendum on any decision to build on the park. Good luck with that, mind.  

[Pancrate1892]

4 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

But that would be rubbish. Ashley didn't build the stadium from a crumbling wreck to what was at the time one of the best in Europe and the 2nd biggest in the Country. In fact he left it in a bit of a state of disrepair. He didn't take the club from a nothing Division 2 team to a top PL team which challenged for the title and played Champions League, breaking the world record transfer fee in the process. He didn't increase our attendances by nearly 200%.

 

 

 

100% correct. We aren't asking for people to lap up his piss, or even like him, but to ignore the fact he turned the club around is a bit cuntish. 

[TomYam]

6 hours ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

And after all that KK only comes back because of John Hall. He wasn't coming back to work for McKeag and his lot who would have sold any emerging talent from under his feet as soon as an offer came in.

 

We also had the worst ground of us, Sunderland and Boro who at least both had covered home terraced areas. The 21,000 average gate you quoted in 1988 was down to 16,000 by 1991 which was 17th highest in the Country and less than the mackems and even Middlesbrough!

 

If John Hall didn't come in we don't have the club we have today. Simple as that.

Fair enough. It's about opinions. I'd argue that the attendances dropped principally because of Hall's manipulative and disingenous actions from 1988-1991. 

In my opinion, had Hall not appeared on the scene in '88, Newcastle United would have remained a mid table side until the advent of the PL and would likely have been taken over shortly afterwards.

I'm not sure what you mean about us not having the club we have today without Hall's input. Surely you could say the same about Ashley or the P.I.F? I'd argue he took the club to the brink of disintegration and then took us to the brink of exhilarating glory before taking us to the point of bankruptcy and quickly selling out to a cancerous individual. So a very mixed record and, of course, he made himself fabulously wealthy in the process. 

Evidently I've never cared for Hall, but a part of me will always be grateful to him for his appointment of KK and the glorious few years that followed. 

[Decky]

4 hours ago, JT24 said:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-leazes-park-stadium-31237715
 

First public campaign against a not-yet-announced Leazes Park stadium is in. Calling for a referendum on any decision to build on the park. Good luck with that, mind.  

 

I can understand the concerns of environmentalists, but at least wait and see the plans first. What if the the current site of SJP is made into parkland, it would go some way to offsetting the new build. Also what about the huge area of green land beside Leazes Park, the Town Moor, couldn't it be improved with better facilities to make it more like a modern park area?

 

[Exiled in Texas]

They jump straight to assuming that we take some land in Leazes Park and give nothing back from current footprint.  
We might not return the current ground area to parkland but I’m pretty sure that we will… it’s not like we’re asking to have both grounds.  Returning the current area to a city park would enhance the city and make the walk to our new home even more special.

 

 

Edited March 20 by Exiled in Texas

[Kimbo]

4 hours ago, JT24 said:

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-leazes-park-stadium-31237715
 

First public campaign against a not-yet-announced Leazes Park stadium is in. Calling for a referendum on any decision to build on the park. Good luck with that, mind.  

You’d think it was Central Park from their description. I used to live next to it and was always of the opinion that it’s a rundown shithole that had been left to rot. It’s the sort of place that gets more crackheads using the swings than kids. If the club wants to build on part of it, let them on the condition they help renovate the rest of the park and make it somewhere that people actually want to go. Alternatively it can just be left rotting away.

[Whitley mag]

5 hours ago, Kimbo said:

You’d think it was Central Park from their description. I used to live next to it and was always of the opinion that it’s a rundown shithole that had been left to rot. It’s the sort of place that gets more crackheads using the swings than kids. If the club wants to build on part of it, let them on the condition they help renovate the rest of the park and make it somewhere that people actually want to go. Alternatively it can just be left rotting away.

The environmentalists would be quite happy with your last sentence, fuck progress they’d be quite happy if we all lived in tree houses.

[Stottie]

I reckon the council will be too hard up to resist any offers of regeneration funded by the Saudis and the Reubens.

 

They may have knocked back previous projects from the club to use Leazes Park, but that would have been a pre-austerity council with much more money and far less wealthy owners of NUFC with much less to offer as sweeteners. The council now will have barely a pot to piss in, never mind pay for things like park upkeep. Libraries and parks across the North East are now maintained by volunteers not the council.

[black_n_white]

May of missed, when are they likely to announce the stadium plans?

[r0cafella]

Just now, black_n_white said:

May of missed, when are they likely to announce the stadium plans?

Was meant to be early 2025 but we are starting to stretch "early"