Internet Football Ground Guide - Away Days, St James Park, Newcastle United

St James' Park - Newcastle United FC
Saturday 5th February 2005
V Charlton Athletic, Premier League, 3pm
By Martin Hart

In the sweetest of seasons for me as a "Scottish" football fan, came
another sweet success for me south of the border. Having already in the space of 4 months been to 2 Championship matches and an FA Cup tie (funnily enough, all at the same place), today was the realisation of another personal dream - for today was my first ever Premiership match, although it's a shame that having taken Sunderland to my heart that it had to be at St. James' Park, Newcastle.

The journey south from Dundee actually started at 5:30am, now you're probably thinking "but it's only three hours to Newcastle, so why leave so early?" (All will be explained shortly). It was a largely uneventful journey, and for once the trains (unlike my previous trip to the Stadium of Light), ran brilliantly on time, and I duly arrived into Newcastle Central Station at 9:30am.

Now comes the answer to the earlier question. Before the game, I had decided in advance that I would spend most of the morning in Middlesbrough getting some photos of the Riverside Stadium, and equipped with two disposable cameras, that is exactly what I did (with some hopefully good ones too) (they're yet to be developed), but then at 12:20, I headed back north for the game at St. James' Park. As well as being at Middlesbrough, I also passed the stadiums at Sunderland and Darlington on my travels, so 4 in 1 day. Not bad!

So at 2pm it was off into St. James' Park, being a Sunderland "neutral", it was the away end for me (of course), and the realisation that the notorious 14 flights of stairs were ahead of me, I even asked the steward at the bottom of the stairs if I could borrow his non-existent oxygen mask, but when I finally made it, it was more than worth it as the view across St. James' Park was impressive. I managed to use my other disposable camera on getting snaps from the Level 7 area (where the Charlton fans were located.) One thing I did notice though is that the view of the pitch wasn't as bad as I expected. I thought the Charlton support (myself included) would be higher up and further back, but it was a relief not only for me, but also for the other 2,500 Addicks that had come "up" (I had come down of course) that we weren't.

I've also never murdered a beer as quickly as the one I did when I reached the top of the stairs, the beer was good, served in Newcastle United branded plastic glasses and the pies were fine. Although perhaps disappointingly, the bars in the away section don't open until after the whistle for half time, the lady at the bar said it's because their license doesn't allow alcohol to be sold whilst the game is in progress.

The game was just brilliant, a true Premiership classic, it really deserves to be in the "Premiership top 10" for 2004/05, even if Newcastle did dominate for much of it. The first half went by quickly, with the most worrying moment for the Addicks being when Dean Kiely was forced to tip a fizzing drive from Jermaine Jenas (I think !!) onto the roof of the net via the crossbar. Although, things got worse for Alan Curbishley 10 minutes into the second 45, when a jammy deflection from a Keiron Dyer strike took the ball into the net. 1-0 Newcastle, (I was sat thinking "surely not, Newcastle don't win !!), but seconds later I found myself on my feet, as from the kick off, Charlton literally went right back up the park, and thanks to a superb strike from Dennis Rommedahl (which was so good that even the Match of The Day cameras missed it, and I've got the highlights on tape) were level at 1-1, which despite being the final score only told half the story, both sides had chances to win the game, but it finished 1-1 and I was happy both for the fact that Charlton's excellent recent away run continued and perhaps more that Newcastle hadn't won (nothing new there then !!).

I've never heard such a passionate vocal following in England as being amongst 2,500 Addicks fans - they are simply terrific, and surely one of the best in the Premiership, it was our day to enjoy, and we damn well did just that !

Getting away from the ground was generally quite easy, obviously going down the 14 flights of stairs was much easier than coming up, but my legs were still pretty tired when I reached the bottom, and then as I met the crowds at the bottom, just the sheer volume of people leaving the ground meant that we came to a virtual standstill, although everything was still moving. I took the Metro back for the short journey to Central Station, and unlike Sunderland after a game at the Stadium of Light, at least it was bearable at St. James', busy though it was, it was nothing like down the road, and I have to admit, I did enjoy the journey back to Central, before finally arriving home in Dundee (as expected) just before 9pm.

Another thing I noticed about St. James' was that for such a large crowd, there wasn't near as many stewards as I thought there would be, I had also read that the policing was quite strict - but there was absolutely no need for it at all, as the banter between the two sets of fans (even with the proverbial "no man's land") was largely "in order", I can only recall 1 guy getting chucked out - for what I am not sure. The "passionate" Geordies weren't as passionate as most visitors would expect, Charlton totally outsang them the whole game (even for the 60 seconds when they were behind), with their only real burst coming in the 60 seconds when they were ahead, so the atmosphere from the home fans wasn't what I thought it would be (what a shock !!)

Never the less, overall, from a "neutral" perspective I had a brilliant day out at St. James' Park, and would definitely recommend a visit to anyone even remotely considering it. The game wasn't a total sell out, but even with this, a good tip for anyone going to Newcastle is, unless you are a Newcastle fan (unlikely), to try and get a ticket for the away end as it is SO much easier, but try to make it when the visitors are someone like West Brom or as I did, Charlton, someone not likely to sell their allocation, and not Arsenal, Chelsea or Man. Utd, that's when it will become impossible, also try to get your tickets early, I ordered mine the day they went on sale, but still didn't expect as large a Charlton following as there was at the match, and if you do plump for the away end, be prepared for the 14 flights of stairs to get to the spacious concourse (plus the added 1 to get to your seat !!), as I wasn't the only fan gasping for breath when I reached the top !, but otherwise prepare yourself for a top day out at an excellent stadium (when was the last time, if ever, you heard a Sunderland supporter say that ?).