Good decision - close enough to make the day trip realistic but far enough away to make a weekend away worth it.

For those seeking a little cultural distraction to their weekend away then by all means have a most pleasant stroll along the quayside but give The Baltic contemporary art gallery a swerve, never in the history of The Kings New Clothes Art Genre has so little bilge been presented in the name of art in one building, the only reason they dont charge entry is because theyd be inundated with refund requests all day long.

Apart from that you should have a good time in my wifes home city.

I feel obliged to direct a few of you to the real ale watering holes in the city. Look forward to seeing you - even those that chuck insults around when people disagree! Obviously if you are a Mackem this may need reviewing!

They are putting a (permanent) big screen up on the side of the Leazes end in the coming weeks. When you get tickets you will best be able to see it from the Leazes end or the Milburn stand. Look forward to having you all

booked two nights on monday (took a chance on the dates) in a small hotel in westoe village near south shields, 30 mins on metro to st james, travelling up from suffolk and looking forward to it, hopefully we get etihad weather with mill stad location re town centre etc

Stadium is bang in the centre - the cathedral on a hill overlooking the city! China town is pretty much opposite, the shops and shopping centre are a 5 minute walk, the quayside 10 minutes, the train station 5-10 minutes and the Bigg market and all that is 5 minutes.

I hope that a lot of the locals turn out and get interested in it. I will certainly be banging the drum enough with all my friends and family that I recknon I can get some of them to go just to shut me up, if nothing else!

A week before my Wedding.
Not sure I'll get away with it...gutted.

'Stag' excuse, surely?

So Newcastle is the destination for the pointless extra round.

Be interesting to see how the magic weekend fits in with the new format. I presume it is before the top 8 split, in which case there could be claims of unfair fixtures.

I was surprised to hear that Coventry was under consideration. I would have been very happy with that outcome!

Well it would have looked full at Coventry