Phoenix v Newcastle United | Sat 26th | Westpac | 4:30pm

Oh god the announcer. And they had the music 10/20% too high i reckon. I don't see why there needed to be a Haka at all. Theres no connection in a football senario.

Why are you surprised?

If this is what annoys you then FUT has been a success.

Ground announcer for me was the biggest let down, absolutely useless. 

From a Phoenix point of view, tonights support was flat. As you can pick from the name, I am a Westham/Phoenix supporter I was amazed at the support given to the Bling and the comparative quiet support offered for our home team . For most of the second half of the Phoenix game the only noise came for the WHU block. What was that all about?

What were the approximate percentages of Nix, Newcastle, West Ham, Sydney, neutrals there?

Not from where I was sitting in aisle 9. Saw you lot jumping around but heard literally nothing from over your way.

I don't think so. West Ham were a lot better on Wed in my opinion. They were pants today

Ok sadly I was completely sober so was not as vocal or twattish as usual.

There was a lot of beer drunk and I reckon pissedness was a factor in the crowd being quite over the two matches. I also saw a lot of folk catching up and talking which was no bad thing and pretty nice. 

We need to take some responsibility in having more chant starters who know the words to the latest chants to be dotted around the zone. 

I thought we played well but I could have strangled Brockie. 

Anyone saying negative sh*te needs to just shut it as for an event it was awesome and I was not my normally "enhanced" self.

FFS it was a pre-season game!

I believe the piss poor ground announcer was Nick Tansley who was the only person to find it funny. 

The unfunny Topp Twins should ask the Phoenix to give them their money back after a pathic waste of time. 

What was with the island drums and the haka ? Neither are football related or was it perhaps the inclusion of Winston Reid. And before you start, it isn't being racist, just questioning the validity of in a theatre where there were two English teams and an Australian team involved. This was the Welli gton Phoenix, not a New Zealand national side playing.

I felt the waiata was inappropriate on this occassion because everyone knows that complete silence is to show complete respect to the departed.

The Mexican wave, haven't we got past them yet? The game at hand was exciting, if they had done it during the first game, it may have had good reason.

The biggest "gash" factor for me (boy am I angry about this) was that I didn't get to see the Magpie and Nixie go three rounds in a cage fight at half time.

The second biggest gash factor was the hammer mascot.

[quote=Junior82]

The biggest "gash" factor for me (boy am I angry about this) was that I didn't get to see the Magpie and Nixie go three rounds in a cage fight at half time.

The second biggest gash factor was the hammer mascot.

[/quote

He was my favorite thing :(

Funnily I was completely sober so was as vocal and twattish as usual.

Hugely enjoyable day, West Ham were certainly disappointing, for the money they earn you would expect more class than that. After Wednesday, I really expected them to step up, and they didn't at all.

The announcer is terrible, cant do the basics of his job, how did he get the job?

At least the Topp Twins was a one off. I could cope with their singing, but the other stuff????

The haka was way too long, probably not needed at all.

As for the waiata, doesn't bother me if that was over a minutes silence, I guess its meant to be a tribute, it came across fine to me.

I thought the Phoenix/Newcastle game was good entertainment, there was a period it looked like we could get back into it.

Its our firepower that bothers me, Id be happier if we still had Stein. We need to see more from Fenton, Boyd and Cunningham but I guess its early days and they were up against better players then they will face later.

Brockie was just Brockie, worked very hard.I guess if the keeper hadn't have saved that one he'd be a hero.

a hammer with a big arse and wearing white undies on the outside?

You've met the wife then?

I would like to "This" 2/3 to 3/4 of this post (the footy stuff).

no, but I have seen her jugs.  

hahahha!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed today. The banter was good, our game was good,  the Fritz bangers were good, the weather was brilliant. Those empty squares in the stands did fill somewhat when our game was on. Looked weird for the first one though.

This was all great! for the players to play those games against big teams, they said it's personal dream. Those two games give the team a big confidence boost, I thought they played pretty good. And they will improve over the next month. You can say all test games, blablabla, but they won one game and could easily drawn the other, that's all that counts, it's now in the players brain which they hopefully remember when they have to to win a a though game.

From my outside, I think welnix doing pretty well with the club. We have a good coach, some promising signings, the club cares and tries new things, create some buzz. The club will improve more, has a good vibe, this will get us results on the pitch. I pretty pumped, this will be a great season.

Missed this game - is it worth watching a replay?

For the haka alone.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/foot...

also: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/foot...

Was it sold out?

For a Carlsberg-sponsored event, it was surprisingly hard to find some. Most places seemed to sell Wild Buck...

And the stadium needs to better manage crowds moving through the concourse. Queues formed in major thoroughfares and so on, and the queues were soooo slow!

Great day overall though.

Laugh of the day, a fan got asked to remove his baseball cap at the entrance, doing so revealed only his head. Sadly for the fun police he was also full of the flu and generously breathed over the fun policeman thus ensuring in 4 days time, that person will be ringing in sick. What could you hide under there? Certainly not a can of beer or a bottle of spirits. Oddly enough I didnt get asked to remove mine and I saw no one else asked. Good to see the fun police being their usual arsewipey selves. Except Marley of course.

seems the mods have pulled down a lot of comments from last night. In my more sober state a few thoughts;

1) getting two epl teams over top work great for the game here.

2) west ham were purely taking the piss, they clearly treated the tour as a piss trip and showed no respect for the real reason they were here. I sincerely hope they get relegated this year, they were an utter disgrace. I was looking forward to seeing so many of those guys in action but without a lie have seen far better in cap prem/central league this year in terms of football. Biggest disappointment kevin nolan, a hugely respected professional, real team player 100% usually every game. He was the epitome of mediocrity on show ( unfit, overweight, un interested, ?hungover)

3) phoenix, looking good, really encouraging for the season, couldnt fault out lads.

4) stadium food phish as always, fritzs stand was too far to walk to

5) some the bars limiting 2 beers per person, didnt stop most getting rat arsed

Or that West Ham had rubbish tactics that relied on Andy Carroll and had no plan B? There was some of that too.

I read somewhere that Sam Alladyce complained about the fast pace the Phoenix played. I was gobsmacked. I thought the EPL players would show up the A League players for pace and skill. Certainly in WHU's case, that wasn't what happened. They looked ponderous at times and the Nix were slick. I don't think the lumbering Andy Carroll would have made any difference. First ankle tap by Ben Sigmund and he would have limped off. 

I understand WHU even struggled against Stevenage before coming on tour.

My only complaint is why does Brockie still get so much game time? I'm sorry, his finishing is substandard. Gorrin showed him how you look up and place a shot. Honestly I think if Krishna was given a full game he would have scored at least once on Saturday. ACFC's lethal Tade would have done even better. Brockie is a waste of time leading the line. Why do you still persist with him?

They did get results without Carroll last season.

Both games in NZ they were extremely slow on the ball.  Allowed Nix and Bling to get numbers back and WHam had to resort to long hopeful crossed balls into the box.  Sort of like us in previous seasons (without Tim Brown).

No issue with the waiata for me. Don't forget there was already a 'proper' silence at the Dunedin game. I thought it was quite good. I'm sure the victim's families will have more to worry about than that anyway.

It was like watching the Phoenix in 11/12. If they play like that in the EPL, they may set a record low points.

I assumed we were hoping he'd score one of his trademark wondergoals and get bought by an EPL club

Excellent day out.  Great craic. Decent match.Albert and Alejandro Rodriguez Gorrin looked so good. ,,,the whole lot looked good.

Surprised at WHU.  The off field stuff looks to be having more an impact than I thought would be the case.

Moment of the day: Guy across the aisle from me came back with eight glasses of beer. Put them down next to him in the aisle. Kindly voice says "son, best to move them". He says "they my beers". Sure enough they got knocked over! 

Yeah, the stadium should really provide us with menus and take orders from our seats.  Man some people are hard to please.

If you did bother to go to the mezzanine bar, you would have seen quite a variety of food.  The stadium should be congratulated for the changes made.

So much this!

Too far to walk? I've heard it all now.

Don't normally eat at the stadium as beer is usually all I require but $7.50 for the bratwurtz was very good, it tasted great and I only had to wait for 3 minutes. Well done stadium.

The waiata sung for Liam Sweeney & John Alder was an emotional and touching tribute to commemorate the sad loss of two fans who were supporting their club  

[Just checked earlier posts on this thread and seen that there is some disquiet about lack of respect in observing the minute's silence. I thought the waiata was an unexpected but appropriate tribute from New Zealand. Quite rightly there'll be many minutes of remembrance in the upcoming football season but we have provided a local and heart-felt tribute to the loss of two football fans]