St James' Park - Newcastle United FC
Newcastle United 1-1 Aston Villa
02/09/12 - Premier League
Att: 48,245
When this blog first started the idea of visiting grounds all over the place seemed like an exciting one, but as I began to think a bit deeper and considered the logistics of it all, there was a nagging question of "how the hell am I going to get there?" when looking at certain places on the map. Newcastle, located 302 miles to the north-east of my home in Hampshire, came under that category. However, when I noticed that tickets for the visit of Aston Villa were just £26 a head, I was determined to make the trip, regardless of how I got there.
Working in a betting shop doesn't always make things easy when it comes to attending matches and so it proved again, with the rota having me down to work 08:15 - 21:45 the day before the game. After finishing late Saturday night I then drove 120 miles to Walsall where a friend of mine very kindly put me up for the evening, before I boarded the North Walsall Lions coach to Newcastle at 7am the next morning, following about 5 minutes of sleep. After catching up on a bit of sleep the beer was flowing and after a couple of hours the coach pulled into the village of Osmotherley for a pub stop before we continued our journey to Tyneside.
As we came into Newcastle the ground was visible from miles away, with the height of the stadium really standing out. Once we arrived the scale of the ground was really something to behold and it was an impressive sight. After having a look around the ground I went into The Black Bull pub, directly opposite the ground where both sets of fans mingled without any trouble. After sinking a few pints in the sunshine we made our way into the ground, reaching the away end after climbing the 459,320 steps (yes, I counted them) that take you to level 7 of the Leazes End.
After years of financial and planning issues, which held back several attempts to renovate the stadium over the years, St James' Park finally reached it's 52,000 capacity in 2000 after additional tiers were added to both the Leazes End and the Milburn Stand, creating an imposing, if unbalanced venue. The East Stand is the oldest part of the current stadium, built in 1973. Following the Bradford City fire in 1985 the West Stand was demolished and re-built, named the Milburn Stand after one of Newcastle's greatest ever players. Building work gathered pace in the 90's as the Leazes End was finally re-built, before the Gallowgate End followed it and the Milburn Stand was renovated. By 1995 the stadium was all seated and had a capacity of 36,000. Today it's the third biggest club ground in England and boasts the biggest cantilever roof in Europe, as well as an excellent view of the Newcastle sky line from the away section.
Last season was a successful one for The Magpies, with a 5th placed finish exceeding all pre-season expectations and guaranteeing European football for the first time in eight years. The club has come a long way since relegation in 2008/09 and Alan Pardew has done a much better job than most people expected following his controversial appointment two years ago. With a good squad, including players like Ba, Cisse, Cabaye and Ben Arfa, amongst others, they are expected to be in and around the European places again this term. They've already secured a place in the Europa League group stage, where they will face Maritimo, Brugge and Bordeaux. This is the best team that Newcastle have had since the days of Sir Bobby Robson and they'll feel that they have the quality in their ranks to secure their first piece of silverware since lifting the Fairs Cup in 1969.
They were certainly favourites for this one against an Aston Villa team that were lucky to stay up last season and had lost their opening two games of the campaign. Last week's 3-1 defeat at home to Everton meant that Villa were bottom of the league going into this game and the bookies had them as long as 5/1 to win the match. There was a surprise in the line up, with Guzan coming in to replace Shay Given in goal.
As we entered the ground it was difficult not to be impressed by the size of the place and with the Leazes End being incredibly steep you feel as if you're on top of the action and the view is superb. However, due to the size of the other two stands you can feel a bit removed from it and it doesn't feel quite as intimidating as other big stadiums. Another thing that I felt really let the stadium down was Mike Ashley's whoring of it for advertising space for his crappy sports shop. All over the outside and inside of the stadium he's got the logo everywhere anyone can see it and I feel it really cheapens one of English football's most iconic stadiums.
There weren't many empty seats as the teams entered the pitch, although there was a pretty disappointing turnout from the Villa fans, with around 1,000 making the long trip north. As the game got underway Villa settled down quickly and started off the better of the two teams, much like they had at West Ham on the opening day. Darren Bent was getting involved and always looked dangerous and almost gave Villa the lead, but his effort was kept out by Krul. Villa continued to press and took the lead when Barry Bannan's pinpoint cross was headed home by Ciaran Clark. There was jubilation in the away end and they looked a totally different side to the one that had been beaten so tamely in the opening two games.
Despite Newcastle getting back into the game and looking threatening Brad Guzan was having a solid game between the sticks and dealt with everything that was thrown at him. The Magpies started the second half brightly as well and got back on level terms on the hour mark when a long range strike from Hatem Ben Arfa flew straight into the top corner, to the delight of the home fans. With the form that Guzan was showing it was the only sort of strike that was going to get past him and there was simply nothing Villa could do about it. Five minutes later Gabriel Agbonlahor made a welcome return to action and looked dangerous when he came off the bench. He showed a great turn of pace and played in Bent, but his effort was blocked. Stephen Ireland also had a good chance to win the game, but he couldn't find the target. Despite these chances it was the home side who went closest to winning the game when they were awarded a free kick deep into stoppage time. Cabaye's effort was heading into the top corner, but Guzan got across well to keep it out.
A draw was probably a fair result and it was a very satisfying performance from Aston Villa, who have improved a lot since the last league outing. The home fans seemed disappointed with the performance and the result, but both teams had good chances to win the game. One thing I did notice was the atmosphere in the ground, which seemed a bit muted to me. Whether it has anything to do with the acoustics and the away fans being so far away I don't know, but I was expecting a much more raucous home support and I felt it was quite disappointing.
We got out of the ground easily enough and got on the coach for the long journey back. You realise how far north you are when you've been on the road for a few hours before you even reach Leeds! We arrived in Walsall around 10:30pm and I walked back and stayed over before driving back Monday afternoon. It had been an exhausting few days, but the match was an enjoyable one and the venue really is superb. It was a cracking trip and it's rightly considered to be one of the best stadiums in the country.
As we came into Newcastle the ground was visible from miles away, with the height of the stadium really standing out. Once we arrived the scale of the ground was really something to behold and it was an impressive sight. After having a look around the ground I went into The Black Bull pub, directly opposite the ground where both sets of fans mingled without any trouble. After sinking a few pints in the sunshine we made our way into the ground, reaching the away end after climbing the 459,320 steps (yes, I counted them) that take you to level 7 of the Leazes End.
After years of financial and planning issues, which held back several attempts to renovate the stadium over the years, St James' Park finally reached it's 52,000 capacity in 2000 after additional tiers were added to both the Leazes End and the Milburn Stand, creating an imposing, if unbalanced venue. The East Stand is the oldest part of the current stadium, built in 1973. Following the Bradford City fire in 1985 the West Stand was demolished and re-built, named the Milburn Stand after one of Newcastle's greatest ever players. Building work gathered pace in the 90's as the Leazes End was finally re-built, before the Gallowgate End followed it and the Milburn Stand was renovated. By 1995 the stadium was all seated and had a capacity of 36,000. Today it's the third biggest club ground in England and boasts the biggest cantilever roof in Europe, as well as an excellent view of the Newcastle sky line from the away section.
Last season was a successful one for The Magpies, with a 5th placed finish exceeding all pre-season expectations and guaranteeing European football for the first time in eight years. The club has come a long way since relegation in 2008/09 and Alan Pardew has done a much better job than most people expected following his controversial appointment two years ago. With a good squad, including players like Ba, Cisse, Cabaye and Ben Arfa, amongst others, they are expected to be in and around the European places again this term. They've already secured a place in the Europa League group stage, where they will face Maritimo, Brugge and Bordeaux. This is the best team that Newcastle have had since the days of Sir Bobby Robson and they'll feel that they have the quality in their ranks to secure their first piece of silverware since lifting the Fairs Cup in 1969.
They were certainly favourites for this one against an Aston Villa team that were lucky to stay up last season and had lost their opening two games of the campaign. Last week's 3-1 defeat at home to Everton meant that Villa were bottom of the league going into this game and the bookies had them as long as 5/1 to win the match. There was a surprise in the line up, with Guzan coming in to replace Shay Given in goal.
As we entered the ground it was difficult not to be impressed by the size of the place and with the Leazes End being incredibly steep you feel as if you're on top of the action and the view is superb. However, due to the size of the other two stands you can feel a bit removed from it and it doesn't feel quite as intimidating as other big stadiums. Another thing that I felt really let the stadium down was Mike Ashley's whoring of it for advertising space for his crappy sports shop. All over the outside and inside of the stadium he's got the logo everywhere anyone can see it and I feel it really cheapens one of English football's most iconic stadiums.
There weren't many empty seats as the teams entered the pitch, although there was a pretty disappointing turnout from the Villa fans, with around 1,000 making the long trip north. As the game got underway Villa settled down quickly and started off the better of the two teams, much like they had at West Ham on the opening day. Darren Bent was getting involved and always looked dangerous and almost gave Villa the lead, but his effort was kept out by Krul. Villa continued to press and took the lead when Barry Bannan's pinpoint cross was headed home by Ciaran Clark. There was jubilation in the away end and they looked a totally different side to the one that had been beaten so tamely in the opening two games.
Despite Newcastle getting back into the game and looking threatening Brad Guzan was having a solid game between the sticks and dealt with everything that was thrown at him. The Magpies started the second half brightly as well and got back on level terms on the hour mark when a long range strike from Hatem Ben Arfa flew straight into the top corner, to the delight of the home fans. With the form that Guzan was showing it was the only sort of strike that was going to get past him and there was simply nothing Villa could do about it. Five minutes later Gabriel Agbonlahor made a welcome return to action and looked dangerous when he came off the bench. He showed a great turn of pace and played in Bent, but his effort was blocked. Stephen Ireland also had a good chance to win the game, but he couldn't find the target. Despite these chances it was the home side who went closest to winning the game when they were awarded a free kick deep into stoppage time. Cabaye's effort was heading into the top corner, but Guzan got across well to keep it out.
A draw was probably a fair result and it was a very satisfying performance from Aston Villa, who have improved a lot since the last league outing. The home fans seemed disappointed with the performance and the result, but both teams had good chances to win the game. One thing I did notice was the atmosphere in the ground, which seemed a bit muted to me. Whether it has anything to do with the acoustics and the away fans being so far away I don't know, but I was expecting a much more raucous home support and I felt it was quite disappointing.
We got out of the ground easily enough and got on the coach for the long journey back. You realise how far north you are when you've been on the road for a few hours before you even reach Leeds! We arrived in Walsall around 10:30pm and I walked back and stayed over before driving back Monday afternoon. It had been an exhausting few days, but the match was an enjoyable one and the venue really is superb. It was a cracking trip and it's rightly considered to be one of the best stadiums in the country.
Statue of Sir Bobby Robson
Where the St James' Park sign used to be...
Rear of the Milburn Stand
Rear of the Gallowgate End
Rear of the East Stand
Club shop
Jackie Milburn statue
Teams coming out
Gallowgate End
Milburn Stand
East Stand
Mutual appreciation
Panoramic views of St James' Park
