Newcastle United’s players will kick off against their rivals in the derby on Sunday afternoon.
Bragging rights, local toppers, all that nonsense, but who is better positioned to triumph?
Would you say the Sunderland players or the Newcastle United players have a better appreciation of what the derby is all about?
There is only one winner on that front.
That will hopefully have an impact on today’s performance and result.
Have you played in the derby before?
There aren’t many games on this front as the Mackems have been hiding in the lower leagues for years.
So we really only have that January 2024 FA Cup match to go on.
Ten of the Newcastle United players who took the field that day during the 3-0 away draw are still in the Newcastle United squad.
Sunderland virtually bought a new team in the summer and spent more money (over £160 million) than any promoted club has ever spent before. This is reflected in the fact that looking at the team they fielded last week and which was pressed at Manchester City, only two of the Sunderland players started against Newcastle in the FA Cup last year.
Fans
Unless Africa has been secretly a hotbed of the Sunderland fanbase for the past few decades, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many, if any, lifelong Sunderland fans among their team today. Obviously they have based a lot of their summer recruitment on bringing in players from African countries and I think Sunderland now have a total of nine who could potentially have been called up for AFCON (African Cup of Nations). Although I think only the seven will go there with their national team that has qualified. Look again at the team that knocked out Sunderland in their most recent match (lost 3-0 at Man City, no local boys either, with Dan Ballard the only English player and he’s from Stevenage).
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having players anywhere. However, if we’re talking purely about having an appreciation and a long understanding of what our local derby is all about, then certainly having lifelong fans and/or local lads can only have a hugely positive effect.
In fact, the two in the Mackem squad who probably have the best appreciation of what the derby is about are Chris Rigg and Anthony Patterson, both of whom are substitutes these days. As has been well documented, Rigg grew up in a Newcastle United family, while Patterson is from North Shields, so I would be surprised if he grew up in a red and white family. Please correct me in the comments box below if I’m wrong.
That brings me to our fate
It’s more than possible that Newcastle United will have four lifelong fans as of today, with Burn, Hall, Murphy and Miley all potentially in the team to take on Sunderland.
No doubt plenty of advice for this quartet of their families ahead of this derby, and just in case any of their Newcastle teammates didn’t know what this match means, these lifelong NUFC fans will be able to give them chapter and verse.
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