Who has had the best of the derbies, Sunderland fans or Newcastle United fans?
Based on the narrative that the media are desperate to help push, there would appear to be only one answer to that question.
It is 14 years since Newcastle United fans last saw their team win a Premier League derby, whilst it is just under 11 years since Sunderland fans enjoyed a Premier League win over their rivals.
I’m not disputing those facts BUT I am disputing their relevance.
Unlike say the derby win that Newcastle United fans enjoyed all the way back in…2024!
Apparently that one doesn’t count, as it was in the FA Cup.
Imagine if the Mackems had won that game 3-0 in January 2024, do you honestly think that the media would this week be dismissing that as irrelevant? I think not.
Indeed, it would be endlessly talked about and be centre stage in the media coverage, with Sunderland fans repeatedly asked if they thought their team will give Newcastle United another hammering, just like that 3-0 only 23 months ago.
Instead, the narrative has been hijacked by Sunderland fans and a complicit media.
They want to focus on what happened more than a decade ago. What relevance has more than a decade ago got to do with the here and now? The owners, the managers, all of the players, none of those who were around 10+ years ago, will be involved on Sunday.
Whereas, compared to January 2024, the two clubs have the same owners now, one has the same manager, whilst loads of the players involved 23 months ago are still with the two clubs, ten of the Newcastle players who got on the pitch in that 3-0 win are still at St James’ Park.
History boys (and girls)
What is your experience of the derby in your time following Newcastle United?
Why should what happened more than 10 years ago, be anymore relevant than what happened 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, in living memory?
Here is my derby history, so both Newcastle United fans and Sunderland fans, sit back and hear the history of the last 45 years, then decide who are the derby top dogs…
If we take a period of time from mid-April 1980 and go forward to early April 2013, how many times did myself and other Newcastle United fans see Sunderland fans enjoying a derby victory?
During those 33 years, there were 31 derby matches,, so how many of the 31 saw Sunderland fans celebrating?
Well put it this way, you can count them on one hand and still have change.
That’s right, in a 33 (THIRTY-THREE) year period, Sunderland fans saw their team win four of 31 (THIRTY-ONE) matches. It just wasn’t a thing you ever really worried about, as it happened so infrequently.
The four wins in that time period were May 1990, August 1999, November 2000 and October 2008.
So from 1980 onwards, in almost 20 years Sunderland won one derby. If you want to measure 19 years in time, compare it with something, if you go back 19 years from now, none of us had heard of Mike Ashley back then.
In that 33 year period, the derby record was Played 31 Newcastle Wins 13 Draws14 Sunderland wins 4
Speaking of Mike Ashley, we then experienced two years of derbies that summed up the entire Ashley era, between April 2013 and October 2015, Sunderland won six derbies against Newcastle United, with Pardew, Carver and McClaren as managers.
I am not saying I wasn’t bothered when Newcastle lost these six ‘in a row’, but by that point I was so disheartened by the Mike Ashley era and he was set to relegate us only seven years after his first ‘success’, it just was part of that whole malaise for me. The derby defeats just summed up why we so desperately needed to get rid of him and his ambition-free agenda. Just try and survive in the Premier League with as little money spent as possible and fill St James’ Park, the training ground and everywhere else, with as many free adverts for Ashley’s retail empire as possible. I honestly don’t think Mike Ashley could have cared a less that we lost those matches to Sunderland, just so long as they were played in the Premier League and everybody saw his Sports Direct adverts on TV.
Sunderland fans had their couple of years of glory and I don’t blame them for revelling in it.
However, the previous 33 years I only had to suffer them winning four times, once every eight years or more on average, four of 31 and so only a one in eight ratio as well. Then after October 2015, it has been more than a decade (and counting) without seeing Sunderland win a derby, not our fault they have been hiding away in the second and third tiers for so long.
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