PaddockLad

Baileys as well? Tbh I thought it was a done deal but maybe they're (rightly) thinking that the whole thing is unworkable and is going to be an admin nightmare. There's been loads of protests around the country about it but none have made the national media. Hmmm. Sounds like Colstons were "buying" work, sure sign of a recession induced panic to take jobs at any cost. You busy in general at the moment? Apart from placing Colstons blokes with other contractors this morning?!

Yeah that's the club culture in The Netherlands as well. In Simon Kuper's latest book he says there's a saying among these cloggie "amateurs" that regularly turn out world class talent: "he knows as much about football as your average Englishman" In the "Brilliant Orange" book that a few on here have read there's a chapter devoted to Sir Bob at PSV. Its noted that Sir Bob described every game in military terms, eg "its a battle", "you'd want him beside you in the trenches' etc etc...and it quotes one of his players as saying " Bobby Robson is a very nice man but I didn't learn much about football from him" The Dutch talk too much, they all have an opinion. But there's an element of truth in this for me. We need to start playing football with our brains as much as we do with our hearts if we want to move on at international level. We do compare football games in this country to going into battle in the second world war, I do think that's true. The Dutch reckon we're obsessed with 1939-45. A lot of managerial press conferences are riddled with military references "dogs of war", "SAS strike force" etc etc...its in our culture to treat a game as a battle and not a game if chess. More brain,less brawn required. Look at Spain, they've got the best half dozen players in the world and none of them are above 5ft 9. Puyol isn't 6ft tall.Although they're brilliant footballers, they do have to play in a system that makes up for their lack of physical presence. There's so many different ways to think about football but we seem incapable of doing it. Doubt if it will change too much.

Dunno but aren't they building a new "academy" at Burton on Trent? The Dutch and Spanish dont have a central academy. The French do. I don't think it makes much difference tbh, the talents either there or its not. And in the last 15 years I think England has produced loads of talented players. England turn up at tournaments knackered due to 38 very physical premier league games, overhyped by the press (although that has changed a bit) and clueless about how to play tournament football. Its our football culture to play aimless long balls into the opposistions box when we run out if ideas in the second half of games and that's not going to win us a major tournament as long as I've got a hole in my fuckin arse.

MJN Colstons pulled out of the breakaway group of contractors before xmas Stevie, maybe this was why. Have they had any major jobs go tits up lately?

Verbally abusing old ladies isn't big or clever, whatever your opinions mate. How about a hammer and sickle flag left fluttering from your house before you go away on June though? Had some sad news at the weekend, we heard that our 80 year old mate has passed on. He went to watch Newcastle home and away all his life and was doing so right up to early January this year when he was admitted to hospital, sadly he never really came out, save for the odd weekend with his daughter. He attended 5 FA cup finals, actually saw us win 3! RIP Frank Couzens, Newcastle United fan. I came home from work early today feeling dog rough and shitting through the eye of a needle, promptly and violently emptied the contents of my digestive tract all over the bathroom. Am still passing rusty piss through my postern exit. As an experianced self-diagnoser, I reckon the prawn roll at 9 30 this morning may well be the culprit

I heard some ridiculous squawking mare on 5live at the back end of last yeear when it looked like Citeh weren't going to make it through their group in the champions league "we don't want europa league football, we're a champions league club...blah blah..." which is a hell of a claim seeing as a little over 10 years ago they were a Divisoion 3 club.

He's not got a lot of friends to go the the games with... http://ladyarse.co.uk/2012/02/why-arsenal-fans-really-hate-piers-morgan/

Negligible entity that exists purely to feed Mark Jensens ego and provide a way for the Mag to pass off its advertising debts..... oops did I say that? eeeeh wheres the delete button? ahh feck it hes never going to read it anyway because and I quote "people who use Internet forums are insignificant" Oh dear. Vaguely knew the bloke when he started the Mag, always seemed to be a good lad but it seems from whats been said about him on here by various posters that its all been a bit of an ego trip for him. Was being the founding editor of a successful and influential fanzine not enough for him in the end?

Branson was obviously offered the "double deal" for shirts and stadium but knew not to touch the ground with a bargepole.

"I prepared a few lines for today......but I snorted them all off the font in the church before you lot turned up"

The last time we played Arsenal in the FA Cup there was 51,023 there, that's what he was up against shame it took him 6 years to realise. He set himself up for the fall by criticising the fans for not going last season. Silly fucker shouldve shut up in the middle of the worst downturn for a generation or two. Crowds are down at most clubs. We only got 30k v Blackburn and it wasnt on the TV. Arsenal at home wouldve ensured 10-15k more than that though and that wouldve been around 25k more than they got on Saturday. Just when things are looking up for them they still cant be arsed to turn up.

Saturdays crowd the final straw then

Sauce?...nowt on bbc. ITK?

£20 to get in yesterday too. That yank must've realised by now that Quinn has sold him a fuckin pup.

Funny you should say that but I had the present Mrs PL (she'd never been north of Birmingham) up visiting my folks at xmas and new year and she was looking forward to seeing Edinburgh Castle, which turned out to be even duller than I'd remebered it as a bairn.She was a bit unimpressed as well. A day or so later we went for a spin down the Northumberland coastal route and she could see Bamburgh Castle from around Beadnell Bay. It didnt really prepare her for coming over the brow of the last hill before the villaige and seeing it sat there, towering above everything in the area.I'd sort of forgotten a bit about it too, having known the area well when I was a kid. We went on to the beach, it was at dusk in late December and the whole place had a completely otherworldly feel to it.The castle looked stunning lit up above the beach with the moon rising above it. We couldnt get in for a look but we're going up in a couple of weeks and are going to visit it again probably the day before we play the mackems. Suffice to say the missus is now in love with the Northumberland coast and is currently being talked into moving to somewhere like Alnmouth if/when my job moves north later this year, which is only a possibility at the moment but looking increasingly likely to happen. KSA , if its history you want just stop off anywhere between Newcastle and Edinburgh and you'll find it lying around everywhere.The Tyne valley and Hadrians wall are worth seeing,Rothbury and Cragside are great, Berwick is well worth a look, follow the Tweed up to Coldstream etc etc. Go up to Edinburgh from there or keep to the river and head further upstream, theres loads to see. Not been to the Beamish Mueseum near Chester-le-Street since I was a kid but if Victorian and Edwardian vilage life in the North East floats your boat then that may be worth a look. I saw Portillo on the TV visiting the Pitman Painter's exhibition a few weeks back and once I'd turned the sound downon the great steaming orange shit head the paintings looked brillaint, all done by the miner's themsleves in the 20s.

Killdozer were monumentally fuckin shite mind. Reckon Gene is a sort of Northumbrian Samuel Peyps for the 21st century. We are truly blessed.

30k for the FA cup game v Blackburn. Crowds wouldve been sub 50k without the half price offer, as they have been since before relegation. Not that it proves or disproves anything. Crowds were dropping off in the middle of the last (3 year) deal from the club too when the ground was still called St James' Park.

Source they got that from Gene?

SouthernMag, perhaps you'd like to share with the board how much sports direct have paid NUFC for the advertising at the ground to date? The massive sign on the Gallowgate is in its 4th(?) season now, how much did they pay the club for that?

Andy if you get a Pulitzer for this blog of yours are we getting top billing in the acceptance speach?

Lineker appears to be handing him his arse on a plate though...that crack about his two world cups etc. Am not on twitter, is there anyway to see Morgan's replies?

The Rangers fan at the desk next to mine has just informed me with a straight face that inside and outside Ibrox on Saturday they'll be 70k "at least". When I remarked that recently theyd got a big 17k (all inside) for a match he mentioned that after selling Jelavich last month and finding something more useful to do with the cash (legal fees?), Whyte "doesnt deserve any more of our money". Righty-oh.

Chelsea last season was colder than anything I experienced on the terracing, Derby as well the season before, same time of year between christmas and new year. Coldest I've ever been was at "that" game at Stevenage. There was terracing there in front of a temporary stand and we ended up being stood next to old Stevie Charlton...we were taking turns rubbing his hands together for him, fucker was near on turning blue.

I think Sir John Hall picked the Town Moor as he knew the reaction it would get, and that made planners let the SJP development go through. Stevie nails it about the increase in capacity. To me though its the passage of time from the Taylor Report. If you weren't brought up on the terraces you (mostly) don't have the "matchday ettiquette" that some of us older ones have. Hence some young shaver, no older than 18, swining punches at me at Brighton last month because I said Ben Arfa had been shite. Honestly, I couldnt fuckin beleive it. In the old days one of us wouldve moved a different part of the terrace. Changed days. Don't think we get the match-long racket of the Keegan years any more and I doubt that will return, mostly as I say due to a "changing of the guard" fan wise. Less old radigies, more fan boys. Many radgies priced out of it too.Shame.

There was a new stadium proposed I think, on the Town Moor, which had the "save a gay whale" brigade up in arms. It almost certainly guaranteed the large scale redevelopment of SJP that we see today. And a fuckin ludicrous scheme dreamt up by the local press about sharing a stadium with the tramps near Gateshead. To be fair the Chronicle sold a lot of papers that night. We're lucky in a way, we can still make an almighty racket and quite often do. I think thats much the same as the old days, but its all reaction to whats happening on the pitch nowadays. We often used to create huge atmospheres on the open Gallowgate just by our own sheer exuberance,pride and of course at NUFC our sense of (black) humour when things were going tits up. Which they invairiably did. We created better atmospheres than clubs with a lot more to celebrate at the time than we did too.