Views from the Sieve

The new signings are coming in as quality, and i am looking forward to the new local derby,Daggers v Billericay.

Better than the pre season friendly at South Shields!
Jesus, could they get any further away!

stanton101 wrote: Fri May 29, 2026 5:46 pm Better than the pre season friendly at South Shields!
Jesus, could they get any further away!

Agree, it is very strange arranging a pre season friendly so far away, perhaps it's a bonding weekend away for the players to get to know each other better?
Other than that, are we signing a player from South Shields and it's part of the transfer package?
Or is it that Andy Carroll wanted to visit his old stomping ground?

Quite agree, South Shields does seem like a long hike for a friendly.
However, I like to think that there might be some thought behind it.......Years ago I heard that John Still liked to organise a long distance pre-season friendly (Tiverton, Nailsea, Bromsgrove etc) just to remind the players what it is like to have to get up early, have their weetabix by 6.30 and be ready to leave Viccy Road by 8am for a four or five hour coach ride, arrive at an unknown ground, prepare for a match and play it in front of zero/few D&R fans. He wanted to get away from the cosy “anywhere around the M25 will do” friendlies model. Next term we will be at Truro, Weston and Salisbury and it would be nice to think that our new management team are preparing in such great detail.
Of course, it might be (as Len suggests) a jolly for Andy Carroll around his old stomping grounds.....
Onwards and upwards!

Likely to be some team bonding surely. I think it's a great location for a friendly, one of the best parts of the country.

Probably a mixture of the above and I am all for it. Pre-seasons don’t exist for the purpose of fans to attend, they’re there to build and test a squad. Getting practice in for a distant away day, and inevitably getting on the lash in Newcastle and building stronger team bonds are a huge part of that. I’m sure any fans that go will have a great time too.

Spot on, I remember last pre season where people kept saying results and performances don’t matter, then look how we started the season. Whilst fitness plays a huge part so does building patterns of play etc, let’s hope we hit the ground running.