GROUNDHOPPERS ARCHIVE *** INTER MILAN @ THE SAN SIRO STADIUM 2003 ***

Posted '2:00pm bells' Sunday 3rd May 2020

With nee NUFC games, pubs or work to gan tee because of the lockdoon, av had plenty of time on mee hands to update mee away games stories!

In complete contrast to the resorve friendly @ The Victoria Pleasure Grounds in Goole in 1994, (ground number 120) which woz mee last archive groond report--the next one av done iz just a little bit more glamorous than that!--- when we went to Italy in 2003 for a Champions Leegue game v Inter Milan at the iconic San Siro Stadium! (Match report on that game, below)

The next time we played sund'lind after this, the Toon fans had a field day: "Have yoo ever seen a mackem in Milan!", we sang, which haz become wor mockin war cry! 

THE TOON V SPORZ *** TO BE PLAYED IN AN EMPTY NEUTRAL GROOND!

Posted '2:47pm bells' Saturday 2nd May 2020

THE NUFC 'DRASTIC PLASTIC' X1 !

This afternooon in less than qwaataa of an hours time, we were supposed to be playin' Sporz at SJP in front of a noisy 52,300 crowd, but instead I am sittin' in wor hooses watching the news on the telly in front of wor lass and hor noisy vacuum cleaner!

News that wor game v Sporz will now be played at a neutral venue in front of nee paying spectators haz been conformed!
Life sizecardboard cut oot fans and canned stadium crowd noise are likely to be added to make this a farcical situation of the highest order!

"THIS GAME IZ CRAP!---WE'RE BOARD STIFF!"

Why dont they gan 'the whole hog' and have giant plastic Subbuteo  players on the pitch az well? 

The whole idea is crazy if yoo ask me and there is NEE WAY that I will pay to watch a 'live stream' in mee living room, which wont be live anyway, az there will be a 10 second delay in case a player swears, so they can delete it before we hear can hear it!

Why dont they just 'caall it a day' for now and play the games when it's safe for everybody to attend?---in 6 months time, or whenever???---and worry aboot next season, then???

Futbaall on the telly withoot fans is a non starter!--for the likes of me, anyway!

THE SILENCE IZ DEAFENIN'!

Posted '7:00pm bells' Friday 1st May 2020

THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE FROM THE QUAYSIDE BAR

Well!---it's now 'seven bells' in the evenin' and there iz STILL nee news of the takeower, despite rumours that today woz the day that aal would be reveeeeled!

Of course we half expected it---az NOTHIN' iz plain sailin when it comes to NUFC---more like battlin' through a force 10 storm in the North Sea!

We cannit even gan to a match or a pub to talk aboot it, because of the lockdoon, so the internet and the telly are on constantly in wor hoose!

To keep me sane, av been gannin for lang walks alang the banks of the Tyne, takin pictures of  the Magnificent 7 bridges that span the sacred river---and of course stoppin' off at various locations for a much needed rest and a bottle of 'DOG' with mee faithful dog caalled 'Brewdog' (wot else!) 

I will be publishin' some of mee photos on a new page entitled 'The MAGnificent 7 Bridges' on a new page in the next few days!
Meeenwhile here are some aa took this afternoon! 

THE KING EDWARD RAILWAY BRIDGE

(REDHEUGH BRIDGE IN BACKGROOND)

THE QUEEN ELIZEBETH 11 METRO BRIDGE

(THE BLUE BRIDGE)

THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE WALKWAY

THE REDHEUGH BRIDGE

THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE

WITH VIEWS OF THE 'NEW'CASTLE, CATHEDRAL AND ST JAMES PARK

THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE ROADWAY

"MAY DAY!---MAY DAY!"

Posted 'midneet bells' Friday 1st May 2020

                                           "AMANDA IN! *** FAT CONTROLLER OUT!"

The NUFC takeower iz allegedly, finally, hopefully, gannih happen sometime today!

 

 

The deal brokered by Amanda Staveley to finally rid us of 'The Fat Controller' iz slowly---oh! so slowly!---reachin' 'the end game'!

We honestly have nee idea if this will happen today, but Toon fans have been waitin 13 lang sufferin' years aalready, with deathly silence from both parties!
 This haz seen us lookin on the internet, on Facebook, on Twitter, on WhatsApp, on, on line tabloids, on the telly etc. scrawlin' for any scrap of info, in the hope that the deal finally gans through and that we can get wor great club back at last!

If mee WhatsApp page gans mental when get up later, then aa naa that a decision has been finally reached!
Hopefully in the reet direction!🙏

We will soon find oot later today (or NOT az the case MAY be!?)

'THE FAT CONTROLLER' TELLS MORE LIES THAN DONALD TRUMP!

Posted '2:22am bells' Wednizday "er!" Thorsday 30th April 2020

FROM 'THE JAWNIL' *** FRIDAY 25th MAY 2007

"FAKE NEWS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!"

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"NOTHING FAKE ABOOT THIS PREDICTION!"

PROJECT RESTART RESERVATIONS!

Posted '12:22pm bells' Tuesday 29th April 2020

EMPTY SEATS AT A RESORVE GAME AT ST. JAMES' PARK!

*The Premyaa Leegue are havin a meetin on Friday (by video) in a desperate bid to restart the season in the middle of Joon and the plan iz to finish the 92 games to be played by the end of July!

The games (its said) will be played on neutral groonds and Twickenham Rugby Stadium haz been mentioned, az well az Ing'land's St George's Park trainin complex and Sporz new abode!

However!---many teams are unhappy aboot givin' up home advantage, even though the groonds will be empty apart from 300 staff, tv crews etc. needed to stage the games!

FIFA have stepped in and said that nee games should be considered til September at the orliest--and UEFA have given European leegue til May 25th to come up with a plan to complete the season!

Holland and France have both admitted defeat and have voided their seasons aalready, while Scotland are expected to dee the same! 
Jawmany's cash strapped Bundesliga are desperate to restart next month, but it could by blocked by Jawman chancellor Angela Merkel!

It aall boils doon to TV money at the end of the day of course--and the thought of havin to watch 'The Toon' live in mee own livin room, in front of 52,000 empty seats, fills me with dread!

Will the season be completed?---who knows?---who cares? when there are still hundreds of people dying every single day!

It will be a logistical nightmare and should just ONE player get 'the bat out of hell' virus, then the whole thing will unravel for certain!

A better idea would be to end the season now and continue in September, like FIFA says, when hopefully the crisis iz ower!----and finish the season in November---have the winter break in December---and play the next season from January 2021 til say October 2021 (With a break for the rescheduled European Championships in Joon)

Then have 2 months off from November and December---And then anothaa season exclusively in 2022, with The World Cup in Qatar at the end of that year!

We shall soon find oot wot exactly WILL happen!---


*

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Flashback 119 years!***THE TOON 1 THE LIVERBIRDS 0 *** NOVEMBER 1901

Posted '2:12 bells' Tuesday 28th April 2020

THE 1st WEST STAND AT ST.JAMES' PARK

BUILT DURIN'  THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1897

The action below iz from a 1st Division game in 1901 when NUFC played The Liverbirds at St. James' Park!
This iz believed to be the forst ever game where an NUFC game woz filmed. The game woz played in the same year that Queen Victoria died!
In those days the goalkeepers wore the same strips az the outfield players!  The Toon's goalie woz M. Kingsley (below, takin goal kick)

NUFC GOALIE M. KINGSLEY TAKES A GOAL KICK

TOWARDS THE LEAZES END

The pictures are grainy az you'd expect, but it shows the forst ever West Stand which woz built in 1897 (to the left) and demolished in 1905!  
Yoo can clearly see Leazes Terrace in the backgroond (Where The East Stand iz now!) and St. James' Street to the right---where the groond got its name from! (Below)

The crowd numbered 18,000---not bad for the time and McColl got wor goal to win the game 1-0----But unfortunately the cameras missed the goal!

See videos below for match action of the game

   

  

   

 

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"OH WHY ARE WE WAITING?---OH WHY?---OH WHY?"

Posted '2:22pm bells' Munday 27th April 2020

Some Toon fans have aalready decided the takeower outcome!
Let's hope (and pray!) that they are reet!?🙏

The saga of NUFCs latest takeower haz been gannin on for more than a month now!
The question is!---How the hell does it take so lang to pass the owner and fit persons test?
They say that there's a 500 page document to get through, so even if yoo just read 20 pages a day, then surely a month is lang enough to make a decision, one way or the othaa!

Of course we have Anmisty International and several othaa group tryin to uptorn the apple cart, but even so, surely a decision shud have been reached by now?

Speculation just who will be wor new manager and new players comin' in , is exactly that!  Aa meeen, just how do they know, when nebody else does!?

It's just like when will the 'bat out of hell's pandemic end---and in my case, just when will I be allowed to gan back to graft after ower a month, with nee pubs or futbaall to gan tee eethaa, are cases of the unknown!

Hopefully, we will find sommik oot this week aboot the takeower at least!

Fingers(and toes) crossed for a favourable ootcome!

THE NEVAA ENDIN' NUFC ROLLERCOASTER RIDE!

Posted '6:40pm bells' Saturday 25th April 2020

*Bein' an NUFC fan for seven decades now (1960s to 2020s), there have certainly been more 'lows' than 'highs' in that time! 
In my case, we won The Inter Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 which woz an aall time 'high'----and then we were brought back doon to orth, losin at that non leegue side beginning with the letter 'H' from near Wales in 1972, which woz an all time 'low' for me! (I can't even bring meesel to print their name!) 

And then anothaa 'high' in 1974 when we beat Bornley at Hillsborough to reach the FA Cup final!----followed by anothaa 'low' when we lost 3-0 to The Liverbirds in the final at Wembley!

This woz followed by anothaa 2 'lows' in 1975 when we lost to both Chester and Walsaall in Cup competitions!
And then anothaa 'high' when we beat Sporz in 1976 to reach The Leegue Cup final----to be followed again by a 'low' after losin to Man City in the final!

1978 woz anothaa 'low' with record 'low' gates of under 10,000, fences, the roof removed from The Leazes End and relegation to Division Two (now The Championship) plus a dire 4-1 defeat to lowly Wrexham in the FA Cup!
Anothaa 'low' in 1981 when we travelled to the othaa St. James Park and exited the FA Cup with a humiliatin' 4-0 loss to EXITer!

Promotion back to the top flight in 1984 with King Kev az a player woz a 'high' followed by relegation again in 1989---yet anothaa 'low'

King Kev led us back to the promised land az manager in 1993 to record anothaa 'high'----and then we hoyed a 12 point lead away when it looked certain we would win the Premyaa Leegue for anothaa 'low' in 1996

2 losses in the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup finals meant anothaa '2 lows' were added to the list!

And then in 2007 we wrongly thought that a 'high' point had been reached when a Billionaire known now az 'The Fat Controller' bought the club and we aall thought he would 'bank-roll' us back to the very top of the tree!

However!---we were soond to find oot that this woz a 'false dawn' and 2 more 'lows' followed under hiz lack of leadership because he wouldn't spend the money to make us great again, appointin' ridiculous managers like Joke Kinnear etc. and we were relegated in 2009 and 2016 (Followed by 2 'highs' of promotion at the 1st attempts!)

Finally! in 2020--aftaa several relegation battles and failed attempts to sell the club, it might finally happen when a mega rich Saudi Prince torned up! (Alang with a lass caalled Amanda and the Reuben bruvvaz!)

However!---the deal iz still to gan through aftaa several parties have tried to hoy several spanners into the works to derail the takeower, which haz been painfully slow! (Just to make it worse!)

We shall hopefully find oot within the next week if we are on an aall time 'high' at the top of the rollercaster, with a new very (VERY!) wealthy owner----OR! at a new 'low' at the very bottom of the ride, if the deal iz scuppered!

We can anly hope and pray that the deal DOES gan through and that we can get wor pride back aftaa 13 years of mediocracy and  misery under wor present absent owner!🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

WOTFAAD WOE!

Posted '2:40pm bells' Saturday 25th April 2020

"The 'dog' on the Tyne iz aall mine--aall mine!---the 'dog' on the Tyne iz aall mine!"

At this exact time I should be 'drinkin up' and heedin for Wotfaad's groond for a Premyaa Leegue game!

Instead I am on the banks o the Tyne 'drinkin up' with mee bottle of 'DOG' and mee little dog caalled BrewDog! (Wot else!?)

*DOG is Geordie slang for Newcasil Broon Ale!