“Why have Sunderland often struggled when facing Middlesbrough away?” [Roker Report] 31/01/24.

Colgates_shaving_foam said:
I suppose the telling thing would be to compare their crowds at home when they play us and when they play other sides, is the crowd against us higher than their average?

I can't be bothered checking but I would say that's where the answer is.
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After a quick look. We're usually 3rd or 4th highest gate for them. Opening day, boxing day and final day and then us... So yes, on average they get more fans turning up when they're playing against us than their bog standard game
 
"The fact is that our record against Middlesbrough is absolutely dismal and particularly at their place, where since 1954, we’ve won just three times to their thirty five."

That's why they no longer want to see it as a derby. That right there.

Funny how the mackems of the 70's and 80's classed it as a derby. I've got an ex-brother-in-law who was one of them, always called it a derby back then, but these days he's jumped on the 'not a derby' bandwagon'.

The spineless modern-day mackem mentality shines through.
 
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GazBoro said:
"The fact is that our record against Middlesbrough is absolutely dismal and particularly at their place, where since 1954, we’ve won just three times to their thirty five."

That's why they no longer want to see it as a derby. That right there.

Funny how the mackems of the 70's and 80's classed it as a derby. I've got a (now) ex-brother-in-law who was one of them, always called it as derby back then, but these days he's jumped on the 'not a derby' bandwagon'.

The spineless modern-day mackem mentality shines through.
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If NUFC ever become this football powerhouse people expect them to be whereby they're a huge club full of superstars and they're winning trophies and titles and they're still rotting outside the PL (with us, potentially...) then i reckon they'll look at us in a different light as a derby they can actually compete in, and distance themselves from their successful neighbours up the road.
 
GazBoro said:
"The fact is that our record against Middlesbrough is absolutely dismal and particularly at their place, where since 1954, we’ve won just three times to their thirty five."

That's why they no longer want to see it as a derby. That right there.

Funny how the mackems of the 70's and 80's classed it as a derby. I've got a (now) ex-brother-in-law who was one of them, always called it as derby back then, but these days he's jumped on the 'not a derby' bandwagon'.

The spineless modern-day mackem mentality shines through.
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Exactly

I remember there was a pitch invasion after they equalised do they do that every week then.
 
They fail to recognise many Boro fans don't come from North Yorkshire, but live North of the Tees, typically within the old boundaries of County Cleveland.

Or that their home crowds are larger when they play us.

As said in the last 50 years we have usually been above them in the League which would explain some of the extra wins.

I understand the Newcastle game is bigger to them, because it is closer and their fans live in areas with Newcastle fans and vice versa such as South Tyneside and a lot of County Durham. But this doesn't mean the Boro game does not have a bit of spice for them and their players. Just as we treat playing Newcastle as juicy.

None of the Noerth East games are true derbies - there afre few Sunderland fans in Newcastle and few Newcastle fans in Sunderland, unlike say Liverpool or Manchester or Glasgow where cities are sliced in two.
 
newyddion said:
Football moves fast and they have lost their identity.. they held on to the mackem v toon rivalry as they dropped down the leagues.. forever the poorer and less successful relative they have embarrassed themselves in there constantly fawning and desperation towards the Geordies.. so much so THAT has become their identity.. the pathetic snivelling gimp that does everything in their power for attention from their black and white wet dream..

As much as they scream and shout that there is no rivalry between boro and sunlun.. they are right! Who the fook are they? The young supporters don’t even have Sunderland on their radar! The club that painted their bar to look like a richer local team.. the club that made scarves for a team they wanted to be special friends with.. packed lunches, sandwiches and biscuits.. embarrassing!

The best thing about Sunderland in the past 40 years? Tony Mowbray

I hope we pump them real bad. 3 points like any other game.. but I don’t like how they constantly have our name on their lips.. constantly spouting.. ffs lads.. give it a rest you sad chunts.. UTB
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Some of them were actually saying they'd prefer to beat Newcastle than gain promotion before the game.

Pathetic.
 
This subject crops up every single time we play them and it's getting very tedious now. It seems to be those of a younger generation who dismiss the fixture and state it isn't a derby. Anyone who went to Boro V Sunderland at Ayresome will know that this was no 'ordinary' game. Boro fans have never claimed it to be THE North East derby which is clearly them and the Mags.

It seems to send them on a little power trip by putting us down every time the fixture comes round. Small town in Yorkshire etc etc. First song you will hear from them on Sunday will be their full away end singing 'We hate Berra', which makes the whole obsession with it not being a derby even more bizarre.

I knew their record on Teesside was shocking but didn't realise just how bad it was until I read that article. But of course it has nothing to do with us being better than them, it's all about us raising our game when Sunderland come to town 🤣 . They are just as deluded as their friends up the road.
 
VestasBoro said:
If NUFC ever become this football powerhouse people expect them to be whereby they're a huge club full of superstars and they're winning trophies and titles and they're still rotting outside the PL (with us, potentially...) then i reckon they'll look at us in a different light as a derby they can actually compete in, and distance themselves from their successful neighbours up the road.
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They'll never look at Boro as a derby as long as they play second fiddle to us, which they have done for nearly 50 years. We've out-done them on the pitch, in cups, in Europe, in the transfer market with the calibre of players we've had compared to what they've had. It goes on and on.

Only if they manage to start getting the better of us will they begin seeing it as a derby/rivalry again. Like I said, the modern day mackem is as spineless as they come.
 
I find the protestations about how it isn't a derby hilarious. It always has been. What defines a derby has many cultural factors, one of the key ones as I grew up was our regional news programmes where recorded in the same studio transmitted across the region. Tyne-Tees television, was an important cultural media that told of life across the region and bonded us culturally and divided us from a football loyalty perspective.

If we all watchded Yorkshire TV then fair enough, but that isn't the case.

the younger generation growing up without interest in direct regional media like this, instead watching youtube videos and reading twitter have lost sight of this. But anyone over the age of 40 has this embedded in their psyche.

The sky generation (but pre-internet age) are the inbetweeners of this, having the Newcastle-Sunderland derby rammed down their throats as some huge significant cultural event, ignoring the past histories with us.

No one would argue that Sunderland-Newcastle is THE derby, but we are and always will be a derby and of significance to them despite their protestations.
 
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parmoboy said:
Some of them were actually saying they'd prefer to beat Newcastle than gain promotion before the game.

Pathetic.
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Call me old fashioned.. but football rivalries mean having a punch up.

These fcukers are going great british bake off.. and knitting of Newcastle.

If we are NOT their rivals.. why are we not getting cakes and scarves and that?

Pony Punchers, Seagull Shaggers.. leave ‘em to it.

Preston fans are a better laugh anyway!
 
18MFC76 said:
This subject crops up every single time we play them and it's getting very tedious now. It seems to be those of a younger generation who dismiss the fixture and state it isn't a derby. Anyone who went to Boro V Sunderland at Ayresome will know that this was no 'ordinary' game. Boro fans have never claimed it to be THE North East derby which is clearly them and the Mags.

It seems to send them on a little power trip by putting us down every time the fixture comes round. Small town in Yorkshire etc etc. First song you will hear from them on Sunday will be their full away end singing 'We hate Berra', which makes the whole obsession with it not being a derby even more bizarre.

I knew their record on Teesside was shocking but didn't realise just how bad it was until I read that article. But of course it has nothing to do with us being better than them, it's all about us raising our game when Sunderland come to town 🤣 . They are just as deluded as their friends up the road.
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I think you're correct regarding the power trip comment. I think they're insecure because they know deep down that Newcastle are a bigger club, so they look down on us and dismiss us to make themselves feel important. They love having this idea that Boro are just desperate to be noticed by them.

In fairness, I kind of get the point some of them make, regarding it not being a rivalry because they don't know any Boro fans. When I was younger I had a couple of mates who were Newcastle fans, so games against them always felt like a bigger deal. I'd dread having to face my mates if we lost the game.

Where they make themselves look silly though is when they claim it's just another game. The atmosphere always feels different when we play them. I can guarantee both sets of fans will be singing well before kick-off, and as you said, they will sing "we hate berra". But it's just another game to them.
 
Sunderland fans have a big problem. The reason that they are desperate for this fixture to be not regarded as a derby is because of their dismal record against us. Rest assured that if the tables were turned it would be a derby but Sunderland hate being the third largest fish - results wise - in a very small pond and it drives them nuts. Regular visitors to SMB will know that the older fans among them do regard it as a derby and have stories to tell of crazy clashes at home and away. Many of the younger fans however, knowing that their record against us will never be overturned in their lifetime form various defences to salve their throbbing brains; we've all heard the old "it's no different to me than playing Peterborough."

Another, rather strange one is the "it can't be a derby because they are in Yorkshire" defence which suggests that clubs from different counties - Derby, Leicester, Forest anyone? - can't have derbies. Strange because that means that their own derby only came into being in 1974 when Tyne and Wear was formed. To inform them of such would probably drive them over the edge. Most of these younger Sunderland fans actually brandish the Yorkshire thing as an insult, as if Yorkshire was somehow an inferior place to Tyne and Wear. You have to laugh.
 
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The start of the River Wear is a wonderful place.
It's the **** at the other end that's the problem!
(y):love:
Nenthead 2000 ft leaving Cumbria.JPG
 
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