manc-mag

I'm here til four....which is precisely three and a half hours away.

Precisely. It was a subtle wordplay as the name is clearly no boon for that particular Clint.

Clint Boon tbh.

Newcastle Northern Ireland?

Chez is in complete disgrace!

You leave it out in direct sunlight? bleeeuurrgghhhh! Your guts seriously must have perished long ago.

Don't see how that can be! Using each cities airport as a guide....... Newcastle is 55, 2', 15" North - 1, 41',30" West Liverpool is 53,20',1" North - 2,50',59" West Therefore Liverpool is west of Newcastle, I think Lol at John Lennon 'airport' btw. Bindippers!

How man! Robbie Williams is from Stoke and he considers himself a northerner! That's good enough for me!

WubbleUC, Unfortunately that's the way it is today. I'm certainly not directing this at those who've expressed their concerns on this thread, nor am I directing it at NUFC in any way. It's the same throughout the game, particularly at Premier League level, a vast majority want to go and be entertained and demand that everybody else creates the atmosphere they want for them. Fortunately, I'm now following a team where every single one of the 2,000-3,000 crowd takes the responsibilty of creating the atmosphere personally, whether they are young charvas or 70 year old grandmothers and I've got to tell you it's brilliant. I liked the idea of FCUM when it started but ironically it's got so many parallels with Man U that it's purpose is almost self-defeating. Although it's almost certainly going to rise through the divisions (and possibly attain league status), it's going to do this on the same basis that Man U does-ie with it's mass market appeal. It attracts players from all over the country to trials, thereby giving it an absurdly massive advantage over other teams in it's division, it has a fanbase that is out of all proportion for it's league, it places costly adverts in the media for it's games and it even has it's own television show ffs! It's so 'unlike' it's fellow clubs that it's bizarre. It's also a very similar experience to being a Man U fan in the sense that the fans can just turn up and expect to win. No disrespect to Flowers, as I know he'll tell me that the aim is to make sure that the club remains the property of the fans and that is the essential difference (I get that), but I just think that it loses some of the 'magic' as a result. Manc Mag, Unsurprisingly, I agree with most of what you say but there is an air of inevitability about that as the club has been formed by breakaway supporters of Man Utd. I think that will gradually change over the years as we attract other support that doesn't have the same emotional attachment to Man Utd that most of us do. We are already seeing a significant influx of kids from the Bury area who fall into this category. Likewise much of the marketing activity we are undertaking is aimed to attract local youngsters who don't necessarily have an emotional attachment to Man Utd, particularly through the junior teams and 'football in the community' aspects. We do currently have a fanbase that is predominantly disenfranchised Man Utd supporters and many of these are travelling from outside the area just like Man Utd's supporters do, but as I say, given the logic behind the formation of the club it's inevitable. I'm regularly asked why the hell I want to drive for 2 1/2 - 3 hrs to watch non league football when I could roll out of my front door and watch Spartans, Whitley, Blue Star etc. For me, it's about keeping in touch with mates that I've been watching football with for over 40 years, having a few beers and a laugh with them as I've always done. I suspect it's the same for many more. We make no apologies for the massive advantage we hold over other clubs financially in the pyramid system, we currently have cash reserves of over 180 grand which I agree is chalk & cheese to other clubs but believe me we'll need a lot more than that if we are to fulfill our ambitions of our own ground in the future. It's also worth bearing in mind the massive cash injection we are giving to other lowly non-league clubs on our rise through the pyramid system by travelling in our thousands, we are giving many a clubs a financial lifeline that will set them up for years. The important thing for us, as a supporters owned club with mutual status, is to try and do things correctly. That's not always easy and sure we'll make some wrong decisions along the way. It's important that we don't use our financial status to appear 'arrogant' as many would like to perceive us as a breakaway formed by Man Utd supporters. To give just one example of this: there were many people (outside of the club) who felt we should be given some kind of fast-track through the pyramid system. Several clubs with higher league status who were in financial difficulties contacted us with a view to taking over their clubs (I won't mention them all but it's an open secret that Leigh RMI were one) but how the hell could we justify that as a club borne out of Glazer's takeover! By and large, I think we've acheived what we set out to do without becoming arrogant about it. Of course we want to win our league and get promoted, that's the overall objective after all and it's inevitable that we'll use some of our financial clout over other teams to acheive that, it's in the nature of the beast, but Karl Margison (manager) has been aware of the need to do that without attracting players from too high up the pyramid system and has done it succesfully. Our team this season is totally different to last as we didn't go overboard in our first season and needed to attract better players to do well in this league. If, as we should, we go up this season then it's inevitable some current players will be left behind in the need to improve quality. It's not all about money though with these players, imagine yourself in that position, you are playing at the bottom of the pyramid system in front of gates of 35 every week and you are offered the opportunity to play in front of 2000-5000 passionate supporters every week and play all your home games at football league status ground! To be honest, players will be atrracted to us for many reasons other than money! I'm not knocking anyone's motives (fans or players past present or future) and I still applaud the core objective, mate. I just think it's a bit of a 'shame' that the experience of being the massive club with resources beyond compare is automatically replicated. As long as nobody is ever allowed to get their fingers in the till however then of course there can be no substantive criticism. In that ideological sense (and of course the friendship ties etc) it's worthwhile building the club. It's why I put Barcelona on a pedestal in terms of the 'big' clubs tbh. Did you see the unicef shirt sponsorship this year btw? Nice touch that!

Or rather the other thread was....ffs.

Kelly McGuilless is practically a blerk anyway. Massive! Cruise was loving this one.

for the wifey? for the wecord. This is Jamie Oliver after all....

No, he's just pleased to see you.

On a serious note re wines....practically every Australian wine has some sort of medal, award or prize proudly displayed on it. As the bloke in the shop put it, they're extremely fond of awarding themselves prizes. Plenty of good Aussie plonk out there but in their case a rosette doesnt mean it's a decent drop.

Monday's a Bank Holiday btw (for St. Paddy's). Aye, I saw that. If I'm in a country where it's a bank holiday that means by rights I get the day off work, right? Actually, how do the proddys take to it? Do they celebrate it? I think he's recognised by both sides anyway. There's a little bit more hassle with the Bank Holiday on July 12th though I think. It never even looks sunny in July when all the marching boots off.

Monday's a Bank Holiday btw (for St. Paddy's). Aye, I saw that. If I'm in a country where it's a bank holiday that means by rights I get the day off work, right? Actually, how do the proddys take to it? Do they celebrate it?

Racial

WubbleUC, Unfortunately that's the way it is today. I'm certainly not directing this at those who've expressed their concerns on this thread, nor am I directing it at NUFC in any way. It's the same throughout the game, particularly at Premier League level, a vast majority want to go and be entertained and demand that everybody else creates the atmosphere they want for them. Fortunately, I'm now following a team where every single one of the 2,000-3,000 crowd takes the responsibilty of creating the atmosphere personally, whether they are young charvas or 70 year old grandmothers and I've got to tell you it's brilliant. I liked the idea of FCUM when it started but ironically it's got so many parallels with Man U that it's purpose is almost self-defeating. Although it's almost certainly going to rise through the divisions (and possibly attain league status), it's going to do this on the same basis that Man U does-ie with it's mass market appeal. It attracts players from all over the country to trials, thereby giving it an absurdly massive advantage over other teams in it's division, it has a fanbase that is out of all proportion for it's league, it places costly adverts in the media for it's games and it even has it's own television show ffs! It's so 'unlike' it's fellow clubs that it's bizarre. It's also a very similar experience to being a Man U fan in the sense that the fans can just turn up and expect to win. No disrespect to Flowers, as I know he'll tell me that the aim is to make sure that the club remains the property of the fans and that is the essential difference (I get that), but I just think that it loses some of the 'magic' as a result.

Berb....watch and learn, son!

You gonna let her off your knee like? I could do a really horrible joke linking those last two posts........

I think there were probably several who wanted to beat me tbf.

Is Snakey 'girlfriend safe' then or will I need my extra pointy shitty stick?

Billy Rationbook.