Individual baggage, maybe. Collective, not so much. And I don't consider bitterness and disillusionment baggage. I rather enjoy the taste. Part of the reason I am here.
I've been searching for an EPL club for the past few months and I think it might be Newcastle United. In many ways they seem a bit similar to my American football team the Pittsburgh Steelers, a bunch of fans in a blue collar town who are overly obsessed with their team. Hope to learn loads more about the club because right now I don't have the knowledge to be considered a fan but more of an extremely interested viewer.
Welcome but I must advise you to think long and hard about this. We aren't even close to the Steelers. They have won something.We've been close but always choked. The Cubs or I guess the Philadelphia Eagles minus a title would be a better team to compare us with.
Well the Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had a winning season in 14 years or so, so I think I'm well conditioned. And at least Newcastle can't have as many injuries next year, can they?
well not sure what i should say here ..........but here goes well im from wallsend ...which is about 5 miles east o newcastle Upon Tyne been following toon since before 1980s ... think our motto should be "so near yet, so far" and if we dont win chelsea tomorrow im gonna be gutted again
i wish... but my son played 5aside there for a few years...there re-allocating soon to the ooutskirts of wallsend....somehow dont think it will ever be the same once it moves well im at work & bored and got nothing better to do than post
New Fan here Hey folks...I'm a new magpie fan....I'm a Nigerian-American in the States, and I wanted to pick a side that would be more fun to follow than the 'big four'. I went with Newcastle because of Nigerian-American Onyewu (is he going to stay for good?), Nigerian Martins, probably my favorite player on the planet right now, Nigerian Babayaro, who was one of my favorites in the late 90s for the Nigerian national team. Also a fan of Duff and Owen and some of the others. Unfortunately I hear rumors that Owen may leave, Babayaro may leave, and not sure if Onyewu is permanent. Regardless, I caught a couple matches toward the end of the season (I only recently ordered FSC, but will follow all of next season), and I really like the club, the fans and love Martins! Anyway just wanted to introduce myself, feel free to provide info on any pertinent information, who I should hate the most, good fan sites, etc.
Welcome, Edson. Hate S*nderland, Sp*rs, and the fecking Mancaneers. That's a start. Oh, and visit True Faith. I don't have the URL offhand, though, but that's a sound fanzine. And, of course, some of us around here know what we're talking about too.
www.nufc.com is also required reading. So did you grow up in Nigeria and recently move to the US? I have some friends from Nigeria and I had a prof in college from there also.
born in u.s. moved to Nigeria as an infant, lived there for bout 10 years, then moved back to the u.s. been here for 15 years...go back to nigeria to visit every few years...nigerian-american in the truest sense of the term
icnewcastle.com is cool... u ********e up, fsc is shlt, direct tv has setanta (unfortuneatly for me too)
Hello Folks, I have just joined BigSoccer from a recommendation by another NUFC supporter here in Seattle. I have been supporting the Magpies since 2000 when I started to travel to the UK on business and I realized I better pick a team to support or I would have very little to talk about with the footy-mad Brits. I chose Newcastle because of Sir Bobby, Alan Shearer, the cool black & white stripes and NUFC's Chicago Cubs like mystique of losing / under-achieving teams but still having crazy-supportive fans. What started as a sales tool quickly turned into a sports obsession. I am so hooked on EPL and European football that I have had to drop my interest in basketball and hockey. Something had to give. I still am a big baseball and NFL fan though. (This will show my age but the first soccer team I ever supported was the Tampa Bay Rowdies with Rodney Marsh and Steve Wegerle.) I saw the England v Albania 2002 World Cup qualifier at St. James Park which was AWESOME. It was the first game after England's big 5-1 win over Germany and the atmosphere was amazing. England won 1 nil with an Owen goal from a great long cross from Beckham. (Little did I know that Michael Owen would be playing for Newcastle one day and - so far - would be a BIG disapointment! Who woulda thunk it.) Spent the night in Newcastle night clubs with the prettiest ladies wearing no coats on a cool night. Gotta love those Geordie Girls!!! I have seen Newcastle United play once, at the old Filbert St. Grounds in Leicester. A rather boring nil nil tie just a few games before Leicester was relegated - and a few games after Robbie Savage forgot to pull the chain. HaHa. But hey, I can say I saw Alan Shearer play live. I hope to catch the Toon at St. James in the next couple years, if my work travel schedule goes well. Looking forward to Toon Army news in this forum and for Big Sam to pull us up the table the next few years and maybe even win some silverware! cheers, Luis aka Lu(ni)Toon
New Fan Hello all. I'm a brand new fan (I hope I'm welcome) from the US. I really didn't get a chance to watch any games this season (again, I hope I'm still welcome) and I had some questions. What was/would be the normal formation and lineup used if everyone was healthy? I'm assuming a 4-4-2 or a 4-5-1, but which of the Mids drop back to play right or left full? Solano as RB? N'Zogbia as LB? Did someone like Bramble slide over at times? I was looking at the lineups and profiles of all the players and trying to piece it together. It looks like they started the season with Babayaro and Carr, but rarely did both get in after a short while. Also, I'm assuming Butt was playing on the D side of the Midfield - did they use a 4-1-2-1-2 or similar formation? I'm trying to digest as much info as possible as I'm learning about the team.
Re: New Fan If everyone had been healthy last season, minus Owen, I think Roeder's typical formation would have been: Ameobi - Martins Duff - Emre - Parker - Solano Bab - Moore - Bramble - Carr Given As far as what players can play what positions the list would be to long. Everyone played almost every position.
Re: New Fan Roeder did love Butt, however I can't see him sitting a fit captain. Taylor was always the first to sit, if there were other healthy options at CB. He sat Taylor for Gooch and Bramble, so I would think Roeder would play Moore over Taylor.