Wor own Dougal has made it intot he Ronnie.

BACK in the days when Newcastle United were topping the Premiership under Special K, Sir John Hall loved to compare the growing Geordie empire with that of the Catalans, Barcelona.

An internet match report set Lynda Wright, of www.nufc-the-truth.com thinking back to the days when Sir John dreamed of a team of 11 Geordies.

She says: "It strikes me that comparisons between ourselves and the Catalan club are not as fanciful as they might appear.

"It's true that we haven't won as much as they have won. However, NUFC is a symbol of civic and regional pride, of the Geordie nation, of defiance in the face of economic disenfranchisement.

"It carries the community's hopes and dreams. We have a passionate supporter base that creates the wealth of the club by filling the ground every week, selling out away matches and buying the merchandise.

"We are concerned that we have so few local lads in the side despite our area producing a wealth of talent. We have a wonderful stadium.

"We even have a manager in common - read Bobby Robson's autobiography and see how he is putting into practice what he learned at Barcelona.

"With this man's experience we could win things to make the comparison even more realistic."

But there are two obstacles which must be cleared before Lynda's dream can be realised - firstly the club is still divided and secondly the new St James's Park has been a little too quiet of late.

But the future's nothing if not bright. She ends by saying: "If club, players and supporters can get behind each other in the common cause and start the songs once more, our future is as bright as the sun rising over the Nou Camp."

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Answers

SJP is a bit quiet? Hah! Remember how many of those bastards turned up at the Nou Camp when it was clear that they weren't going any further in the Champions League? We sold out our games and had far less to shout about.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Oh aye, and look at games this season that we won and could barely raise a cheer for. Like Sheffield United, for example. Geordie passion was murdered and buried during Dalglsih's era.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Hmmm. You may have a point. However, I sang a duet of the Blaydon Races with Ciara during that game since nobody else seemed overly interested. The real problem was that the ground was packed with the 'disenfranchised' supporters who have been kept out by the season ticket holders...if that's their idea of passion then it's a bliddy good thing they can't get in every week.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Can I just say that I am consulting a copyright/libel lawyer to see whether I can do them for taking my article out of context without my permission.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

maybe the fact that it is no longer a common occurance for non season ticket holders to be able to get in that when they do peopel are out of the habit of shouting. You get all the loons at away matches aswell as the core that would shout if a zebra crossed the pitch. It will be interesting to see next season.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Not a serious point TM, it was just an odd day. The Blades fans were in opposite corners so they got a grand call and response thing going. The contrast with the Spurs replay was incredible, but that was an evening game just before Christmas and the lads were on fire. I know you me and Lady Tynedale made plenty of noise that night.

Next season will definitely be interesting. Wembley was much quieter at the Semi than the previous Final, despite the extra voices. It didn't really reach the same level despite having so much more to sing about. Can't decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing that the team are going to have to play better to get the same kind of noise they've been taking for granted. This SOS business certainly hasn't helped the atmosphere any.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

After my intro to SJP on boxing day, and what seemed like quite a roar to me, it was pretty much downhill from there as far as singing went. I went nuts at wembley cause it seemed as if I was in the only Toon section not singing. Well apart from 4-5 of us that kept trying. And the Graham Rix song, which was the only thing apart from our goal that got everyone going. I hope things do pick up next season somehow, because the almighty roar of our crowd away at Leicester and WHam are exactly what I expect of our crowd. Amazing. My vocal chords are still trying to recover. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

I wrote that thing after Chelsea and Watford which were mortifyingly bad. Barca are a passionate side - they define a big club, refusing sponsorship, their membership structure, the daily debate about having 8 Dutch players in the first side, a ground that routinely fills 100, 000 seats is something special - they make Mna United look minuscule. CAN RECOMMEND YOU READ "BARCA" - great book on the subject - and Bobby Robson's musings on the subject.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Twe thing that upset me about that article in the Ronnie Gill is that they report it to be from NUFC.THE TRUTH .com. I'm gutted that they have never fetured some of my fine articles, or that some of you fine budding writers neglect to send me your articles for publication.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Hiya, pet. I didn't think you were after any additional stuff at the moment. You can have my rantings if you want them...

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

yeah, yeah..... You just want to be on the quality websites. Tabloid scum sites like mine have no credibility ...I know.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Shurrup - you KNOW I'm a great fan of your site. BTW, caused havoc at work with that robot mouse.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Did you send it under the desks of the WHam supporters? ;-)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Well, credit where credit is due. But Dougal used a nom-de-plume and loses huge dollops of crdeibility for using her real name. Ashamed of your BBS name pet? Tart!

And as for Softie singing a duet with Ciara. Huh. I was there and out-sung the pair of them. The fact that Softie is tone deaf and couldn't hear my dulcet tones has been by-passed. Ne'er mind. I know what was going on and I have the pictures to prove it.

But back to Douga's article (sorry, Lynda's). I agree with her thurst (ooh er missus). Barca is a regional team with little in common with the rest of their country. We are the same.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

As a United supporter of 38 years, 4 months and 13 days with no time off for good behaviour, then you can well imagine that I have taken some heavy knocks in my life. This news however, even I was quite unprepared for.

Imagine it. There is nothing, absolutely nothing more gut wrenchingly laden with despair, no more clear message of the pointlessness of your own existence, no greater kick in the teeth, no more stark illustration that you are a has-been, finished, washed up, a loser - than when your agent becomes a bigger star that you.

I'd turn on the gas but it's been cut off due to the non receipt of any cash from my agent whose fees far exceed my media income...

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Jonno, pet, I was merely putting my name about so that I could get leverage in the marketplace to put yours about.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000