Sunderland may think they have to go to extremes to get people to go and watch them but even they, in Cup games, don't do quite as badly as Juventus.

On Sunday their crowd was 2529, that's two and a half thousand !!!!!!

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Answers

arreverderchi perchance

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

What's the gripe with Juve? And why is it our continental cousins are more militant in their club protests than us? Take the SoS campaign - a lot of support for the cause, but it amounted to signed petitions and boycotting half-time pies.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

they were knoicked out the CL so they're a useless bunch of has-beens

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

The Copa Italia is about as cherished as the Northumberland Senior Cup. With no reserve league in Serie A it is to give their fringe players a run-out.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

However Newcastles' 24000 against Brentford broke all records for the worthington cup..................

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

macbeth, I thought that was how many paid to get in at the turnstiles. I think it's in addition to season ticket holders and away supporters. I've read the ground was about half full which would make it a very small ground by your figures !!

I agree it's still not very good but some journo has tried to exagerate a story he didn't need to. That must be the first time that's ever happened, eh ? `8¬)

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Whilst the fanatical mackems swarmed down to Sheffield Wednesday to swell the crowd to a staggering 12,004.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

The Juventus crowd was 38,200 with 2500 paying on the day.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Some Newcastle fans fixation with crowds is staggering.

This thread was started with an anti-Sunderland jibe and when a retorte was posted it brought forth another dig!!

Could it be a subsitute for penis size?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

So, a larger percentage of paying spectators than at the SoS.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Every time I read a message from a mag about how good it is they pay more to get into their ground, I just laugh my socks off.

If it was scientifically proven that paying more for football didn't make you a better fan, what argument would you use to back up your presumptuous "best fans in the league" claims?

ML³

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

ML, I have to agree, I really would like to pay less for my tickets. The price is way too high, particularly for kids.

The counterside of the argument though is that with similar crowds, only 5000 apart on averages, Sunderland seem to have such a smaller amount made available for transfer funds. We get to see the likes of Bellamy, Robert and Jenas for our money, you get to see Haas, Reyna, Bjorklund. If I really had a choice, and I know neither of us does, I'd much rather be watching pace and skill for my extra money, sadly neither of us can choose where we go to watch :0)

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Yes, leave Kev alone, he was being factual rather than clever, as he stated the crowd against Brentford was the highest of that round

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

I could have sworn that everton had more.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

So, its tru what they say over here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The fishin' really is good, and with such little bait ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Soccerbase .......

Everton: Gerrard ,Abel Xavier ,Stubbs ,Weir ,Watson ,Moore (Hibbert ,90 ) ,Gascoigne ,McLeod ,Tal ,Campbell ,Ferguson (Chadwick ,91 ) Subs not used: Simonsen, Cleland, Clarke,

C Palace: Clarke ,Smith ,Austin ,Popovic ,Gray ,Berhalter ( Riihilahti ,58 ) ,Mullins ,Rodger ,Kirovski ( Thomson ,93 ) ,Freedman ,Morrison Subs not used Kolinko, Harrison, Black,

Bookings: Abel Xavier , Gascoigne (Everton) Rodger , Smith , Thomson (C Palace)

Attendance: 21128

Referee: M J Brandwood (Lichfield

-----------------------------

Newcastle: Harper ,Griffin ,Quinn (Bellamy ,90 ) ,O'Brien (Lua- Lua ,118 ) ,Hughes (Elliott ,45 ) ,Solano ,Robert ,Bassedas ,Acuna ,Shearer ,Ameobi Subs not used: Given, McClen,

Brentford: Gottskalksson ,Powell ,Dobson ( Williams ,72 ) ,Price ( O'Connor ,109 ) ,Anderson ,Gibbs ( Rowlands ,70 ) ,Evans ,Mahon ,Ingimarsson ,Burgess ,Owusu Subs not used Paul Smith, Theobald,

Bookings: Bassedas , O'Brien , Robert (Newcastle) Evans , Powell , Price (Brentford)

Attendance: 25633

Referee: R D Furnandiz (Doncaster)

------------------------

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Your power of search is unrivalled,especially when statistics are needed to boost your ego.

Lies ,damned lies and statistics-true or false: Sunderland hold the attendance record for the WORTHINGTON cup outside of the fianl?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

MacBeth, re your reply to my post about cheap tickets, so would I.

However would you put your success this season down to spending money or the skill of your manager to create an effective team unit? From what I've see of your lot, some of Robson's cheaper buys have been as much a revelation as Robert or Bellamy, yet they get little praise from the media or even your own fans (beyond the hard-core footie- professor elements like this board).

Reid's failure this year is not simply down to his failure to spend pots of money; he did and he wasted 7.5 million on Laslandes and Medina (God knows how much money we have lost in undisclosed signing on fees). More pertinently, there's a complete absence of tactics, particularly going forward and a general lack of enthusiasm from the players. With the relative solidity in defence, even a pair of half good wingers would make a difference, yet he persists with full backs and the much maligned Kilbane.

Making jokes about how cheap our tickets are just seems a ridiculous line of attack when there is so much else at Sunderland to ridicule right now, unless of course the mags in question are justifying the outlay to themselves.

ML³

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

yup, yous against the might of Van Der Gouw, Clegg, Stewart, O'Shea, Wallwork, Webber, Greening, Chadwick and Healey, one brownie point to the boys in red and white !

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

can'r argue with your comments, Bellamy has been key to our improvement, but the maturing of O'Brien and Hughes, and Solano becoming dependable has helped immeasurably.

As for tactics, well ours are pretty simple, 4-4-2, 90% of the time, two skillful wingers, for central midfield and attack a mixture of pace and old heads, defence has been no more than average but generally only been found out by the better sides.

Don't know what your tactics are, but then does Reid ?!

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

What is it with you Mackem lads? Too sensitive by half. This thread is not about the so-called Free Ticket Mackems but about the attendance at Juventus in a cup game. Macbeth makes a light- hearted reference to the standard joke about efforts to fill the SoL, and suddenly he has issued a jibe, or made an attack on Sunderland.

This forum is NOT obsessed with Sunderland or it's gates, and refers to the Mackems in far more generous terms than the invective directed at the Mags I've seen on my 2 visits to RTG. It is a fact, is it not, that Sunderland did issue free tickets far and wide to summon up support amongst youngsters? So the "joke" about Free Ticket Mackems will stick around for some time - live with it - much worse stuff is directed at clubs than that. If you have been reading this forum long enough you will have seen a number of posts praising the enlightened attitude of the Sunderland management vs ours, in encouraging the habit of football attendance amongst the next generation of fans. If our gates were below capacity I would applaud any such initiative from our board and then you lads could call us the free ticket Magpies which would be a much better use of the FTM initials than the pathetic hatred they stand for now.

what argument would you use to back up your presumptuous "best fans in the league" claims?

Don't all fans claim to be "the best fans in the league" just as all but the most unfortunate individuals claim to have "the best mum in the world"? In the case of the Toon, there are many tributes, far and wide, from writers, players and managers that the passion for football in the area is second to none. You may have seen the quote posted here just last week from Alex Ferguson who spoke warmly of the Geordie passion for the game. I'm on record as saying that there is little difference between Geordies and Mackems who share the same social, cultural and economic history, which to my mind, puts the Mackems on a par with Newcastle in terms of the passionate support. I think, all things being equal, Sunderland has a slightly harder job to fill the ground simply because of the relative populations of the 2 areas, but with successful teams, both grounds will be packed to the rafters (and free tickets will quietly disappear). The best fans in the country come from the North East. Is THAT something we can all agree on?

Now, back on topic, what was that about Juventus' gates Macbeth?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

When we had the old 36,710 ground (isn't it sad that I can remember that?), there were constantly Sunderland fans phoning into Metro after the matches saying they were better - just look at the gates.

They obviously can't use that argument now, but wait till their 55k stadium is made (if they fill it) and they'll be back to their old arguments.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

Ml#3 - apart from revisiting the same ol' tired s**te, have you ever noticed how just how little "ridiculing of SAFC" goes on on here, even when there is fair amount of ammunition - unless one or two contributors are provoked that is?

I really do believe that is because we love the Toon infinitely more than we dislike SAFC.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2002

back to where I came in, Radio 5 reckoned the crowd for the Juve-(a big)Arse would be ~5000, of which half would be Arsenal

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2002