This website iz dedecated to the Newcastle United groundhoppers who follow the fortunes of the team aroond the world (and beyond!) The ground totals include competitive and friendly forst team, resorve team, junior team and Newcastle United X1 games that 'the mad-sad groundhopper' has attended, aall for Newcastle United games only, in the last SEVEN decades*** cheers!***'Fink' (the mad-sad groundhopper!)***last count 379 (380 inc Motspur Park outside)
* Posted ‘high noon ๐️ bells’ Thorzday 19th Septembaa 2024
We are very sad to report the passing of former Toon goalie Steve Hardwick who has died at the age of 68
Steve woz signed from Chesterfield in1976 and played ower 100 times for NUFC.
He played in King Kev’s debut v QPR in 1982 (Keegan) and woz sold to Oxford in 1983
RIP STEVE! ๐ชฆ
*Posted ‘5:00pm ๐ bells’ Wedinzday 18th Septembaa 2024
*Havin drawn the first game 1-1 in Dunston, which the home side shud have won in the dyin minutes, this replay woz a bit one sided with Scarborough on top for most of the game! (They are 2 ‘steps’ higher in the futbaall pyramid system)
We travelled doon on the Dunston team bus (committee at the front— fans in the middle —players at the back) and were told that away fans wernt allowed into their clubhoose for pre match booze and wud be segregated inside the groond despite Dunston welcoming’ Scarboro fans into their clubhoose last Saturday and there woz nee segregation at UTS Stadium!
Not a good take at aall from them! ๐ฉ!
Because of this, when we got to the groond, we were forced (at gunpoint ๐ซ) (honest!)to trek to the nearest boozer 15 minutes away for wor pre match ‘gargels’
After shovelling doon vast quantities of the local ale (John Smiths bitter!) in ‘The Valley’, it woz time to heed back to the groond! (The Flamingoland Stadium)
On arrival we asked where the away end woz and were directed past the main entrance where the committee gan. We wandered in and one of the lads who just happened to be an ex resorves Toon player in the 1980s (Justin Robson) said hiz son woz playin for Dunston (Scott) and woz on the list for free entry to the main stand because of this!
Az he woz talkin to the lass on reception, aa walked past him and wasn’t challenged! I woz in for free az well and didn’t have to pay the £16 entry to the away end! (The bus woz free az well (normally £10) so it torned oot to be a very cheap day oot for me!๐คช๐
Dunston charged half the price for admission in the forst game! So two fingers up to them for tryin to rip us off and treat us like 2nd class fans!
(Nee alcohol allowed in the away end eethaa!)
PS: Normally I wud gladly pay, but because of wor unhospitable๐ฉ treatment I said “fcuk them!”
The game didn’t start off well for The Bad Blue Boys of Dunston (playin in aall blue, wud yoo believe?) and were 1-0 doon after anly 3 minutes when scored for Scarboro with a shot past Dan Lawson in the Bad Blue Boys goal!
Dunston held oot til the 32nd minute when Tear scored from a through baall to bring tears ๐ญ to wor eyes!(sic!)
6 minutes later it woz 3-0 when Wiles latched onto a through baall to fire ๐ฅ home! HT 3-0 to The Seadogs!
It woz soon 4-0 orly in the 2nd half when Wilson interspersed a back pass!— The Wembley dream woz ower for The Bad Blue Boys!๐ฅถ
A glimmer of hope in the 75th minute when Richie Coulson hit a rebound in after a Robinson effort!
4-1
The ‘glimmer’ woz soon shattered when Ross shot past Lowson, but Sado Djalo made the score look a little more respectible when latched onto a ๐ฉ clearance to reduce the arrears deep into stoppage time!
FT Seadogs 5 Bad Blue Boys 2
Attendance: 770 including aboot 35 from Dunston! ๐20 in the away end (Including me it woz actually 771!)
And the first time ever in the 71 away groonds visited by 'little old me' followin Dunston, that we have been segregated and denied access to a clubhoose!
PS: The othaa Bad Blue Boys from Zagreb (where we went to watch NUFC and twinned them with Dunston) lost 9-2 to Bayern Munich in The Champions Leegue az well on the same neet!๐ฅถ
*Posted ‘3:52pm bells’ Munday 16th Septembaa 2024
“A BARNESTORMIN’ FINISH!”
Wolverhampton haz 50 pubs within walking distance of their Molineux Stadium—2nd only to The Toon which haz close on 200! But not one of Wolves pubs allows away fans in, in total contrast to NUFC where 99.9% let away fans in!
This meant that Toon fans were forced to gan elsewhere for wor pre match booze!
We chose Stafford like a canny few othaa Toon fans did, which iz a 15 minute train ride from Wolves!
A ridiculous situation that makes yoo wish that they would get relegated!
Anyway! we arrived in good time for the kick off where the usual ๐ฉ flame throwers were positioned aroond the pitch and lit when the Wolves players name were read oot ower the tannoy! Hopefully NUFC will never stoop to this Americanisation of futbaall!? (but divvint haad yi breath!)
We played in wor maroon and dark blue kit and started off very sluggishly and just couldn’t get oot of first gear az Wolves pressed forward!
Eventually their persistence prevailed when an error from Longstaff in the 36th minute, let in Larson and his crosss across the box woz ‘dummied’ by Gomez for Lemina to poke home unmarked! 1-0 to them!
Things needed to change and 3 subs were brought on at the start of the 2nd half: Tonali replaced Longstaff, Willock replaced Joelinton and Barnes replaced Isak who woz injured in the first half!
This did the trick az WE pressed forward but we still couldn’t find the breakthrough!
The ‘key’ to change aall this came in the 64th minute when Kieran Trippier replaced Livramento and straight away his influence bore fruit!๐ ๐(No! not that kind of fruit!)
Within 11 minutes of him organisin things we were level when a Rakin shot from ‘Fab’ Schar from ootside the box took a deflection off Dawson and sailed into the roof of the net to send the 3,000 travellin faithful into wild celebrations—so wild that this fat kid in the row in front of me fell backwards ower his seat and nearly broke mee leg! ๐ฆต
While those celebrations were gannin on and just 5 minutes later, up stepped one of the half time ‘super subs’ Harvey Barnes to send a right footed screamer into the top right hand corner of the goal!
I woz ready this time! and az the fat fcuker again fell backwards I had mee arms outstretched to push him into some poor unfortunate soul in the row in front of him!”๐ซ”Aarrrr!”
Despite 9 minutes of stoppage time added, we held on to take the valuable 3 points to climb to the dizzy ๐ต๐ซ heights of 3rd place in the Premyaa Leegue table with 10 points from 12!
We’ve played 5 games including 1 in the Leegue Cup—We’ve been below par in aall of them—but still undefeated!
That’s the sign of greatness we have been told—But will wor luck ๐ desert us eventually? OR! Will we come good and prove the doubters wrang?๐ค
Attendance:30,255 (3,000 faithful who drank elsewhere pre match!๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ๐บ)
Like here in Stafford!๐
*Posted ‘high noon ๐ bells’ Sataday 14th Septembaa 2024
*We travel to the first of 3 consecutive away games on Sunday when we play Wolves at Molineux and aall 3,000 away ticket were sold ages ago! (Warnin!—NEE Toon fans allowed in ANY boozers in Wolverhampton!—-An effin disgrace!๐ฅถ)
Up til now NUFC are unbeaten in 4 games and hopefully we can extend this to 5!
Then on Saturday week we are off to west London to tek on Fulim at Craven Cottage and then travel back to London, this time on the south bank when we tel on The Wombles of Wimbledon at their new abode in The Leegue Cup the Tuezday after that! A brand new groond for ‘The NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers’!
Match reports on aall these games plus Dunston’s big FA Cup tie v Scarborough at UTS Stadium this afternooon!
Az per usual “Watch this space!”
*Posted 5:28pm ๐ bells’ Friday the 13th (unlucky fixture changes for some—-us!) Septembaa 2024
3 oot of wor 4 games in Novembaa have been moved to ridiculous kick off times for SKY and TNT telly!
Novembaa fixture fcuk ups!
Saturday 2nd November:
The Arse at SJP now ‘12:30 ๐’!๐ต
Sunday 10th November:
The Friar Tuck Mob of Nottingham at The City Groond now ‘2:00 ๐’!๐ฑ
Munday 25th November:
The Jellied Eels Mob of West Ham now ‘8:00 ๐’!๐
Saturday 30th November:
The Paliss Prats at Selhorst Park still ‘3:00 ๐’ BUT nee trains to King’s Cross coz the line north of there iz shut!๐ฅถ
*Posted ๐ high noon bells ๐ Friday the 13th (unlucky for some!) Septembaa 2024
Fowaa Toon games in Novembaa are at risk of bein moved for live telly and are due to be announced this afternooon! ( but divvint haad yi breath! ๐ฌ️)
They are aall ‘3:00 bells ๐ kick offs at the mo!
Sat 2nd Novembaa
The Arse at SJP
Sat 9th Novembaa
The Friar Tuck Mob of Nottingham at The City groond
Sat 23rd Novembaa
The Jellied Eels Mob of West Ham at SJP (rumoured to be moved to Munday neet?)
Sat 30th Novembaa
The Pallis *Prats at Selhorst Park
(*Anti Saudi banners at the ready!)
*Posted just after ‘high noon ๐️ bells’ Munday 9th Septembaa 2024
With just 3 Premyaa Leegue games played so far, we have the ridiculous situation of a fortneets break and then 3 away games in a row, startin at Wolves next Sunday, followed by Fulim away the followin Saturday and then Wimbledon the Tuesday after that!
It seems crazy that the season haz hardly started and we have a lang break?
The Wolves game iz sold oot with 3,000 tickets sold, az iz the Fulim game, a 2,300 allocation, while Wimbledon ticket sales are still on gannin to season ticket holders with 112 loyalty points—allocation not known, but Ipswich got 1,800 tickets for their Leegue Cup game there!
Will keep yoo posted just when the Wimbledon tickets are aall gone and how many we got!?
Updated '10:05pm bells'
Just hord we have been allocated a paltry 1,100 tickets for Wimbledon----700 less than wot Ipswich got!
*Posted ‘2:08pm ๐ bells’ Saturday 7th September 2024
“WHO ARE YOU?”
With nee Toon games ower this weekend coz of the International break, aa got mee ‘fix’ at Emley in deeepest Yorkshire to watch mee fave non leegue club, Dunston in the FA Trophy (for non leegue clubs) on the Team coach! (Committee at the front, players at the back and supporters in the middle of the coach!) A 225 mile roond trip!
The game woz played on a Friday neet coz Emley share their groond with a cricket club and the Dunston hierarchy were non too pleeezed to have to dee a roond trip to the sooth Yorkshire dales on a Friday neet, instead of Saturday afternooon!
Anyway! the traffic woz heavy az we got onto the notorious A1 near ‘the monstrosity of the north’ ( The Gatesheed Angel!) but after gettin stuck in the queue we eventually got to Washington sorvices to pick some more players and supporters up!
The coach woz rammed and this bloke who I didn’t naa sat beside me!
We got taakin and he told me his son Scott woz playin for Dunston and that’s why he woz gannin!
Later on he said he had played for Newcasil in the orly 1980s but hadn’t made it into the NUFC 1st team due to injury!
“Who are you?” I asked and he replied “Justin Robson”!
The name ‘rang a ๐️’ and I said that I had probably seen him in wor resorve side aall those years ago! (Fink aboot it๐ค—-an old Toon player woz sittin next to me and I didn’t naa who he woz!—the ๐ณ shame!)
Anyway! We arrived in Emley deep into the countryside and there woz this massive telly transmission mast in the distance on top of a hill!
Taller than both the Eiffel Tower in France and The Shard in London, I woz told!— So that makes it the tallest structure in the UK!
(NO! It’s not ‘The Leanin Tower of Emley’—-The tower doesn’t lean—it’s me takin the photo! Memo: Must drink fewer liquid lubrications! “hic!)๐ต๐ซ
More’disasters’followed az the game kicked off az ‘The Bad Blue Boys’ (playin aall RED!) just didn’t get oot of the blocks and were 2-0 doon lang before half time! (6th and 35th minute goals!)?In total Dunston had just 1 shot on target in this half
The 2nd half woz a bit better, but the linesman on the far side from us kept puttin his flag up for offsides against Dunston, when the players were ‘on side’—-The ref woz useless az well and booked at least 8 players from both sides! (probably more—I lost coont!)
Emley players fained injuries near the end to waste time and they held oot til the final whistle to progress to the next rooond!
Attendance: 410 (including the committee, aboot 25 Dunston fans)
This woz mee 72nd groond watchin The Bad Blue Boys of Dunston!
Not bad for a part time supporter!?ehh!
PS: Justin Robson iz the brother of Bryan Robson who won numerous honours with Moan U!
I trawled through the NUFC record books and found that Justin had scored one goal for wor resorves—a 3-1 win at Leeds 41 years ago in May 1983! (Nee wonder I didn’t recognise him after aall this time!)
He aalso played for West Brom and Gatesheed!
The ‘gargles’ took place here!
Posted just after ‘high noon ๐️ bells’ Thorzday 5 Septembaa 2024
Tickets for wor away Leegue Cup game at AFC Wimbledon in sooth London are nuw on sale to season ticket holder with 215 loyalty points or more! (1 loyalty point for each away game attended)
The forst points drop iz at '4 bells' today!
We have nee idea of the size of the allocation, but Ipswich got 1,859 in this 9,300 capacity stadium!
Tickets are priced at £25 for big kids AND zimmerframeites and £12:50 for 17 year olds and under! (Wimbledon charged Ipswich fans £15 and a fiver for U18s)
The game tex place on Tuezday 24th Septembaa at '7:45 bells' and iz live on Sky Sports +
*Ground number 370
*Date of first visit: 30th August 2024
The Proctor Cars Stadium, Matlock
Derby County U21s. 1
Newcastle United U21s 0
FA Premier League 2
Attendance: 774 (includin’ quite a few Toon exiles and 10 or so had travelled lang distances! (like us!)
Plus The ‘New’castle on the hill of course, watchin from afar!
“DOUBLE DISAPPOINTMENT!”
2 days after wor Leegue Cup win in Nottingham we were off to the Midlands again, this time to the Derbyshire Dales to see NUFC U21s take on Derby Coonty U21s at Matlock Town FC, who play in The Northern Premyaa Leegue.
4 of the NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers travelled doon from Tyneside (Namely: Big Al (not the sheet metal workers son!—Biffa the beer, Blondie Alan the Morris Dancer and not so little old me!) )and met up with Alex of St George and Dave from St. Albans in The Remarkable Hare boozer near the groond for a few liquid lubrications before the ‘7 ๐️ bells’ kick off!
It woz then off the the clubhoose inside the groond for some more’lubrucations’! (Where Glennn from Ashington and his fellow Ashingtonian Byzy appeared!)
There woz a castle high up above on top of a hill to make us feel ‘at home’!
Look! it’s dead simple! the Toon players who played are simply nee where near good enough to get into the first team!
And so it proved az Derby dominated most of the game and they took the lead in the 19th minute through Wheeldon who’s shot took a wicked deflection off a Toon player and into the net which looped ower Harris’s heed in wor goal!
The rest of the game woz one of those that you’d wished yoo haddint made the effort to gan tee!
But we are The NUFC mad-sad groundhoppers and it WOZ a new groond! So it woz compulsory to gan!
The highlights of the game for NUFC came after the break, woz a Hefferman heeder which hit the bar at The Castle End’ in the 57th minute, a McAurther heeder which went wide 10 mins later and a Huntley shot in added time which woz saved by their keeper!
A 1-0 defeat!
The jorney back yem took 3 hours compared to 4:15 on the way doon coz of bank holiday traffic and the total for this and the trip to Forest on Wedinzday clocked up 630 miles in the Canny Tranny!
Another one crossed off the never endin list!
