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

newyddion said:
I don't see what the problem is.. some DIY rap/grime lads having a go at it..

It's not exactly having a shyte in the trafalgar square fountains or shagging a seagull in the high street.. they should be keeping their heads low after giving out back rubs to the geordies!
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Maybe we should decorate a bar for them. Put up some photographs of Mackems with trophies. The one of Leadbitter and Karanka after we went up on the final day would be a good one.
 
All the fans' fault.

They are mackems with mackem hearts. This makes them lose.
lack of passion kills them every time.
 
Hang on? They have a rivalry/hatred of Coventry? What? When? Why?

I can still remember the face of that Sunderland fan at the back of their coach(probably 15/20 years ago), as they drove up the road to the Riverside. Purple it was, with the screaming he was doing at the Boro fans he was passing. If it wasn't a derby to him, then he was angry at something.... maybe someone had let one rip on the back seat.
 
"I’m not advocating for a sudden shift in mentality but even games against the likes of Coventry and Leeds United seem to have carried more weight than those against Middlesbrough."

Sunderland home attendances this season:
Coventry: 41,216
Leeds: 40,531
Middlesbrough: 43,584

Only Ipswich which was the first home game of the season and the Newcastle home game got a bigger crowd than vs Boro.

Last Season:
Coventry: 40,851(opening day of the season)
Middlesbrough: 42,594

Only Blackburn (Boxing Day), Stoke (Alex Neil's return), Watford (final home game when chasing the play-offs) and Luton in the play-off first leg had a higher crowd than versus us.

If we are such an insignificant fixture for them, why do they keep showing up in such big numbers for games against us?
 
Its funny though isn't it. Every Sunderland game I've been to they regularly sing "we hate berra" repeatedly. Watch out for it on Sunday and count how many times they sing it. They don't care about us though.
 
i have split grandparents , one from Sunderland the other Boro.

ever since i was a boy and can remember my great grandparents , grandparents and dad all called it a Local Derby, no matter if they are from Sunderland or Boro.

I get its more intense with Newcastle. but for a long time Boro Newcastle was the high profile game in

I really don't get this narrative in the last 10 yrs that it isnt a Derby , is it Gen Z era that have pushed this and everyone's lumped on.

Leeds was also too wasn't it
 
Living in Whitby - the big game for me was Leeds/Boro - there were no Sunderland fans in Whitby, but hundreds of Leeds, if not thousands. Alot had jumped on the Revie bandwagon, before Revie, Leeds were like Hull i.e more famous for Rugby League. Sunderland like now had alot of history and large crowds, but never looked like they would win anything. Their greatest days were on cinema news reels.
 
InglebyUTB said:
"I’m not advocating for a sudden shift in mentality but even games against the likes of Coventry and Leeds United seem to have carried more weight than those against Middlesbrough."

Sunderland home attendances this season:
Coventry: 41,216
Leeds: 40,531
Middlesbrough: 43,584

Only Ipswich which was the first home game of the season and the Newcastle home game got a bigger crowd than vs Boro.

Last Season:
Coventry: 40,851(opening day of the season)
Middlesbrough: 42,594

Only Blackburn (Boxing Day), Stoke (Alex Neil's return), Watford (final home game when chasing the play-offs) and Luton in the play-off first leg had a higher crowd than versus us.

If we are such an insignificant fixture for them, why do they keep showing up in such big numbers for games against us?
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It's because they give us a massive away allocation for our cup final
 
How come they were so sh*t in that match against Newcastle a few weeks ago then? First game against their beloved in 8 years and they got absolutely pumped 3-0. Not as bad as we stitched them up earlier this season 4-0 of course but still. Maybe Newcastle weren't drawn to the magnitude of their presence?
 
Redwurzel said:
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.
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This is a very good point. By the true sense of a derby Newcastle v Sunderland isn’t. If anything, Gateshead is more of a true derby to Newcastle. Of course, there is a huge rivalry between the two that puts the Boro rivalry into shade.
 
A little bit of local football history, Middlesbrough (1876) v Sunderland (1880) was a derby long before Newcastle (1893) entered the football league.

I couldn't care less whether the Scum regard our game as a derby or not, but their generous and regular 3 point gifts are very welcome ......................... just saying.:giggle:

#UTB
 
Trying to belittle us is purely to make themselves look relevant by deflecting from the fact that that their Geordie brethren have moved on to a different stratosphere.

Leeds has always been a bigger game for me - and I don't regard them as a derby either.
 
Perhaps it isn't a derby anymore but The Sunderland Echo certainly thought it was in 1953

One of the first results of a search for newspaper articles on Wear-Tees matches from the middle of last century brought up an article looking forward to a match in 1953 in The Sunderland Echo' with the headline 'Fit Men Only for a Wear-Tees "Derby"' with the first paragraph of the article also mentioning the word Derby.

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