My Footballing Weekend

My best mates brother was getting married in Newcastle on sat and the mrs and myself were invited to the evening reception so we decided to make a weekend of it and take the kids (oldest is 14 so he was babysitting in hotel whilst the wife and i went to evening reception. A few weeks ago i was looking at fixtures and saw that both Newcastle and Middlesboro were at home so i opted for the lure of the Geordies at home to the giants from the North West Wigan. I went on line and brought tickets for myself and the 2 older boys at a total cost of 55 quid which wasnt too bad for premiership football.

We set off from Andover at 7am and arrived in our hotel in Sunderland at 11.45 (i just hope no speed cameras were operational). The Mrs dropped me off at the metro station and for £6 we had a day return for 3 of us into centre of Geordieland. We had a wonder around the city Centre and at 2pm we decided to go into the ground. Outside the ground which is in the City Centre there were thousands milling around. The ground has its own bar (Shearers-original name.....) but it was an absolute goldmine with hundreds of fans drinking in and outside. Why the CCFC didnt build a pub outside the CCS is beyond.

We went in through the turnstiles and the first thing i saw was SKY Sports showing Wolves v The Jacks. At that stage it was 0-2 and not what i was hoping to see! I had an overpriced pint (£4 i think!) and couldnt bear to see the jacks play well so we went to our seats in the lower tier of the Gallowgate End (the main end for NUFC fans). Looking through the programme i saw several names of note-Martinez and Gomez plus the usual big names.

The tannoy announcer then mumbled something about Wolves 2 Swansea 2 so i sent eldest boy to the bar area to find out. He came back with a big smile-2 all dad the JBs have messed up.

The teams came out and the atmosphere was electric. Throughout the game they continued to back their team despite a mediocre game. I couldnt help but think if we were playing a crap team alot of our fans would have been booing and getting on the players backs. Wigan are a joke-took barely 400 fans. Do they deserve/want premiership football? The stewards were fantastic-they stayed in their places and let fans get up and sing and create the atmosphere. At the ccs we have ravenelli and the jobsworths determined to spoil things with constant up and down telling fans to sit down or face banning orders etc...

Newcastle just about deservedly won the game thanks to a great strike from cabaye.

The atmosphere reminded me of the good old days at Ninian Park when we were allowed to stand and support our team. I left the ground with my boys who loved the occasion/atmosphere thinking this is how to support your team.

I just wish our stewards/safety officers would let our hardcore fans get behind the team as it would be worth a few extra points every season.

I'm not reading all that

Fair play to you Gareth, you always make a good time of it

good read mate glad you enjoyed it ive been there before lovely place

Fair play, sounds like a good crack!

im off to Southampton v Boro saturday and looking forward to it

that should be a cracking game and southampton have won something like 13 on the trott at home

that should be a cracking game and southampton have won something like 13 on the trott at home

not sure but think its another sell out. A mate of mine is a massive soton fan now living in the mighty port. he came down here the other week when we played um, and got hold of a freebie as im not going to leeds due to money, couldnt turn it down

Of course Wigan Athletic deserve Premiership Football.

They deserve it just as much as Man Utd, Millwall, Macclesfield or Maidstone.

Just because they are low in number does not make them any less passionate about their love
of their club and football than any other club.

IMO you cant say, Wigan dont deserve Premiership Football because they only took 400 to Newcastle.

Every single one of those fans deserves to see Wigan play Premiership Football just as much as 5000 Manchester United fans would if thats what they took to St James's.

Fair play, sounds like a good crack!

im off to Southampton v Boro saturday and looking forward to it

St Mary's stadium has always disappointed me. My 1st visit was SFc v Pompey and for a local derby (Sts won 3-0) the atmosphere was shite. Been 3 or 4 times with Cardiff and we have never won. Hopefully that will change this season....