Tales from the Toon. The ups and downs of an NUFC supporter....

[Nem]

Nah mate we will be fine and i don't base this at all on todays result,i'm 99.9% we be safe by April

Im 99% certain your £50 will be mine!

[mondatoo]

Nah mate we will be fine and i don't base this at all on todays result,i'm 99.9% we be safe by April

Im 99% certain your £50 will be mine!

LOL yeah

[Rooky9]

Andy Gray.  I hate the fella, perhaps irrationally, but he has the ability to wind me up like pretty much no one else on the planet.  There's often a big stink about making ex pro footballers into professional referee's, because they 'know the game'. What an absolute load of BS. Its like saying a crimanal would make a good policeman (okay so Mr Abagnale apart) it just doesnt work like that. Being agood referee is about having a certain number of skills at your disposal and knowing the laws of the game. Its a hard job. I've done it. But its not as hard as many of the refs we have in this country make it look. I dont think its their fault wither, they are bound by some daft rules and monitored by people stuck in the 1980's. Anyhow, I digress from my Andy Gray slating...

I caught some highlights of whoever Sunderalnd were playing at the weekend.  Andy Gray made the statement that 'its got to be a penalty, I dont believe Cisse would dive there'. Are you F'ing kidding me? We are now going to make decisions based on what we think a player (even an irrational one in this case too)would do in a situation, rather than what we can and cant see? Mental. My main gripe is him making rules up. Ball to hand and his own view on it which is now way too commonly held in football and I can't believe he gets away with it.  Since when does it have to be delibrate handball to be a direct free kick/penalty? Thats the yellow card caution/red card rule. If a player has his hand out, especially if above his head or at right angles, and it hits it him they cant have an arguement.

Cracking result last weekend against Chelsea and one that I would never ever have seen coming. In fairness we were absolutely robbed there last year, disgracefully so, and so this goes a little way towards making up for that. Having said this a good 20 of the 28 shots must have been 30 odd yard row z threateners. You cant beat Shay Given from there. He's the best. A proper pro too. Will go down as an all time Newcastle great imo (well in my lifetime). He has taken to the city and a classic example to prove that Jenas was talking absolute dog shite with his goldfish bowl BS.


Next week sees what could (and probably should) be the last two exams before I'm classed as a qualified accountant. I dont ever want to do anything remotely accounting (well I'll do enough to keep myself current) but it should be a good thing for me to get under my belt, and behind me etc.  It has been a long hard slog, 3 years worth of spending about 20 weekends a year at college and pretty much feeling like death for a month every six, but I just have to keep telling myself I'm nearly there.  Not the greatest time ever to be qualifying in terms of if I'm wanting to move on to a different company, particularly when the field I'd be most interested in is aviation related.  I ahve some insight into football finacing etc too and obviously that would be very interesting, a pretty small sector though.  I'd quite fancy a job with 50% international travel, but again not exactly great timing. I'm quite happy where I am though and I'll see if I can push on once I dont have exams hanging over me.

As a reward to myself I've booked a trip to Dubai for the week after my reults are due. BA had an unbelievable offer on so I have used my various points/miles systems to get Business class return flights, 5 full days and 3 nights accomodation for just under 300 quid. I hope I'm not bokking myself by booking it now - it had to be booked by Friday for the offer - but either way I'll need a sort break so hopefully karma will recognise that I'm not being cocky by booking now!!

Also by way of reward I'm giving myself the aftyernoon off to go to the Newcastle Boro game on Saturday afternoon. I say reward because I hate this fixture 2nd of any... behind playing them at SJP. Its not a derby game. But it is massive for me, having lived on Teesside for half my life and now flatshare with a schoolmate who is a big boro fan! Obviosuly due to my indicision, and Newcastle fans not sitting down at the riverside, I have missed out on getting into the away section. Luckily there is enough space at the Riverside for me to have a corner of the ground to myself, sio I'll be doing that and keeping myself to myself. I'll be easy to spot though. I'll be the one not clapping along like someone on gas to that pigmat song thing that they still play. Thats just plain embarrassing for the north east of england and they should be ashamed of that.

Howay the Toon.

[cdw1111]

   Completely agree,boro is not a derby game,in my eyes i always saw Leeds as a bigger game even in the eighties when we were both in the 2nd division.Good luck with you exams sounds like a proper slog for something you don't even want a career in.Have you seen the thread on the live poker board about the Feb forum poker tourny in Newcastle, interested?
    Anyway ball 25 in the FA cup draw on Sunday,home tie please!!!

[Rod Paradise]

My main gripe is him making rules up. Ball to hand and his own view on it which is now way too commonly held in football and I can't believe he gets away with it.  Since when does it have to be delibrate handball to be a direct free kick/penalty? Thats the yellow card caution/red card rule. If a player has his hand out, especially if above his head or at right angles, and it hits it him they cant have an arguement.

While I agree with you on Andy Gray, I'm afraid you're wrong here & he's right.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/81/42/36/lotg%5fen.pdf

Pg 35 on.

[mondatoo]

Know what you mean mate,I'm using holidays from work at the moment to study for exams in just over a week it's boring but worth it in the end.Good luck with yours and enjoy the trip sounds like you've put a lot of time in so you should be fine crikey if i can pass them 

PS Enjoy the game and totally agree it ain't no derby to me

[Rooky9]

   Completely agree,boro is not a derby game,in my eyes i always saw Leeds as a bigger game even in the eighties when we were both in the 2nd division.Good luck with you exams sounds like a proper slog for something you don't even want a career in.Have you seen the thread on the live poker board about the Feb forum poker tourny in Newcastle, interested?
    Anyway ball 25 in the FA cup draw on Sunday,home tie please!!!

I still can't work out how you can stand in South Shields, face the Tyne, the look left, and have a picture of the piers! Got my spacial awareness feelings going crazy!

i used to love the Leeds midweek games (night games have something about them). Dirty Leeds. you could always guarantee a hard tackle to get everyone in the game.  I think we miss a bit of that at the moment (inc Barton!). Just someone who can put in a hard fair challenge to get the crowd going. Obviously I wont write the name of the man who used to do that!

Thanks for the luck. It is a slog, and I propably undersold it in my post. Whilst i have no interest in being what I think of as an accountant the qualification is pretty relevant to all areas of business. Plus having it is a bit like a degree in someways, its an indicator to employers etc.

Any tie that isn't worthy of being on tele (ie no thank you to any non league teams away!) will do!

[Rooky9]

My main gripe is him making rules up. Ball to hand and his own view on it which is now way too commonly held in football and I can't believe he gets away with it.  Since when does it have to be delibrate handball to be a direct free kick/penalty? Thats the yellow card caution/red card rule. If a player has his hand out, especially if above his head or at right angles, and it hits it him they cant have an arguement.

While I agree with you on Andy Gray, I'm afraid you're wrong here & he's right.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/81/42/36/lotg%5fen.pdf

Pg 35 on.

FML. I'm probably going to have to kill myself!! That is definitely an alteration, or I'm sending a strongly worded letter the the East Riding County FA! Its not the rule that is used in football then. 50% of the handball penalties are deliberate.

[Rooky9]

Know what you mean mate,I'm using holidays from work at the moment to study for exams in just over a week it's boring but worth it in the end.Good luck with yours and enjoy the trip sounds like you've put a lot of time in so you should be fine crikey if i can pass them 

PS Enjoy the game and totally agree it ain't no derby to me

Good luck to you too mate. What are yours in?

I can honestly say I dont think I'll enjoy the game, unless we're 3-0 at half time!

[Rooky9]

 Have you seen the thread on the live poker board about the Feb forum poker tourny in Newcastle, interested?

Will have a look now. I live down in Leeds now so not as easy to get up etc - plus I have a week in Glasgow and a week in Dubai in Feb to fit in!

[mondatoo]

Know what you mean mate,I'm using holidays from work at the moment to study for exams in just over a week it's boring but worth it in the end.Good luck with yours and enjoy the trip sounds like you've put a lot of time in so you should be fine crikey if i can pass them 

PS Enjoy the game and totally agree it ain't no derby to me

Good luck to you too mate. What are yours in?

I can honestly say I dont think I'll enjoy the game, unless we're 3-0 at half time!

ICAEW,I hated all of the sunderland game was to nervous as i thought we were going to lose obv boro is not like that just another 3 points to me

[cdw1111]

   I dread Newcastle-Sunderland fixtures,just to much pressure although our recent record against them is good.Shields is split between Mags and Mackems,probably 60/40 there way and derby days especially in the 80's and early 90's would end in violence with several pubs being virtual no-go areas.I couldn't get a tickect for the away end so had to go in the clock stand for this goal,trying to hold back from going mental was virtually impossible.

   Definately in my top 3 moments of following Newcastle,the others being,Leicester away when we needed to get something to avoid being relegated to the third divison and playing football 3000 aside in a square just off the ramblas in Barcalona.The lows of following the Mags are many but moments like these make it all worth it.

[cdw1111]

Tyne on your left,groyne thing is opposite the block of flats and priory on the other side of the river,beach is called sandhaven and is quite nice now unlike when i was a kid as you had all the mess from Westoe pit,shipyards and consett steelworks.How i never died of something toxic i'll never know as we were always down there murdering and burning anything we could find.

[Rooky9]

Tyne on your left,groyne thing is opposite the block of flats and priory on the other side of the river,beach is called sandhaven and is quite nice now unlike when i was a kid as you had all the mess from Westoe pit,shipyards and consett steelworks.How i never died of something toxic i'll never know as we were always down there murdering and burning anything we could find.

Ah ty ty! Makes sense now.
I use to go to Collingwood monument with my Gran when I was younger, havent been for best part of 15 years. I love our area for places like this as much as the city's highlights.

[Colchester Kev]

could be worse, you could be a Sunderland fan.