GNR will have bugger all to do with the attendance on Sunday matey. Whether it was Sat at 3pm; Sunday at 1pm or Sunday at 3pm as it is, the paying fans will be voting with their feet this weekend. The crowd on Sunday will no doubt be lower than the Chelsea game IMO but will no doubt be excused by the club as the timing changes, played on a Sunday, people still on holiday, GNR, there was a y in the day etc etc. If they do they will ignore the simple fact that Bruce's lame tactics and the awful statistic of 1 win in 9 games at the SOL, has totally turned off non-season ticket holders from shelling out their hard earned. The crowd, or lack of it, will be a stinging indictment of the state of the club right now and may well have more of an impact on any decision concerning the managers future than the result. A sub 30,000 crowd would be a savage blow to Bruce's and the club's claim, that everything is fine but I reckon there will be a drop of some 6,000 at least after Saturdays boring, tedious offering. Estimates reckon we have around 27,000 season ticket holders, Stoke will not bring more than 1,000 up and I dont see a rush from another 2,000 non season ticket holders, so a sub 30k crowd is on the cards IMO. We had 36,666 in for the Chelsea game (a top 4 side) so how can we expect to get any more for a hideous game of head tennis with SAFC reserves?
I think potentially more could turn up as they believe you at lest have a chance of a result. Most had already written the Chelsea game off as a defeat.
Depends where they're coming from really. At least the GNR doesn't go into Sunderland or the immediate area around it. If Newcastle had a match on Sunday it would have been an absolute nightmare. I honestly think a huge chunk of fans just wouldn't have wanted to deal with getting there and back. It's bad enough with the GNR-goers alone, nevermind 50,000 odd mag fans trying to wade their way through Newcastle.
Are you for real...A huge chunk of our support comes from South Tyneside, and that's not accounting for all those fans involved in the GNR..Of course it will have a detrimental affect on our crowd... I will be very surprised if the gate tops 30,000, due to this event, the short notice change of dates, our terrible home form and the opposition we are playing.
I agree with you mate. All I said was it "depends where they're coming from". And it does. What I'm referring to specifically is just how bad it becomes as you get closer to the stadium. Once fans get towards inner Sunderland the GNR activity starts to taper off a bit, so they just need to get out of their immediate areas around South Shields, Gateshead and Newcastle which is the tricky bit. With SJP, the stadium is basically a cumshot away from the Great North Run itself, so it's the major crowds from the GNR and the major crowds from the footie together slap bang in the same area. Would be a ****ing nightmare.
I know a stack of folk who arent going, including me. Mostly due to being involved with the gnr, and the fact shields is a ****ing nightmare to get out of on run day. Attendance around 33k is my prediction.
Most of the Shields crowd are only part-timers anyway, any true supporter will get to the match come hell or high water, personally, if no transport was available I would walk, its only about 4 miles, whats the problem? As for anyone entering the GNR, just ask your sponsors to donate anyway because you have priorities, I'm sure they'll understand if your a true supporter. I'm willing to bet that if the match was a cup final then the GNR would pale into insignificance.
I heard Gyan was running the GNR??? Oh yeah, that right, he's already started running and is now in another ****ing country, my mistake.
I still think there'll be 30,000 +. Us season ticket holders will still be there and Stoke will bring a couple of thousand. I actually think the crowd can be better when we only have the hardcore there and not the 10,000 that turn up for Newcastle, Man Utd and Liverpool then whinge for 90 minutes as if they are at every game then walk out 10 minutes before the end.
I wont be there as im doing the run and i imagine it would be aa nightmare trying to get there afterwards
