Sunderland crowd

[TheHolgate]

And if we are honest, there is an element of that in our rivalry too. Not because we are struggling to stay on a level with them, I agree with those who have said we have been more or less on a level with them for 70 years. But because we always struggle to cope with the fact that they care less about us than we do about them.

It’s logical that they should. They are our nearest rivals. We are not their nearest rivals. They have another rivalry, which is arguably the most bitter in English football. You can’t make them care the same way we do. You need no mystery beyond that to understand the difference. But for some reason it works us up no end.

I think the saying they don't care is sometimes genuine, sometimes a lie and a lot of the time to make them feel like as a club they are out of our league. The inconvenient truth for them is they aren't. Heaven forbid they are rivals with little old Boro.

 

[FishofContemplation]

Sunderland won titles in the 19th century and the 1930s. All a bit irrelevant as the point remains the same. I'm not so sure we dwell on first division seasons tbh. I genuinely think our fan base is more realistic than most and realise we are a yo-yo club. Real success is a run in the top division and maybe a cup run.

True I think we are probably aligned in thinking mostly. We are more realistic than they are. But we still want more based on our history. People do still comment on the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth and point out that they have come from nowhere. But they are bigger towns with more wealth. Our only claim to be above them is the past or in our supporter base. Exactly what they bang on about.

A run in the top division is something we have only had twice in 70 years, and one of those was distorted by Gibson throwing money at it. Yet people will still assume we should have such a run reasonably frequently. There is nothing other than the past that can justify such an assumption. There are towns bigger than Middlesbrough that have never even had a football league team. History does determine “bigness” at least some extent.

 

[TheHolgate]

True I think we are probably aligned in thinking mostly. We are more realistic than they are. But we still want more based on our history. People do still comment on the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth and point out that they have come from nowhere. But they are bigger towns with more wealth. Our only claim to be above them is the past or in our supporter base. Exactly what they bang on about.

A run in the top division is something we have only had twice in 70 years, and one of those was distorted by Gibson throwing money at it. Yet people will still assume we should have such a run reasonably frequently. There is nothing other than the past that can justify such an assumption. There are towns bigger than Middlesbrough that have never even had a football league team. History does determine “bigness” at least some extent.

If in 70 years Bournemouth and Brighton have consistently matched us I would hope we would take it better than Sunderland have and not bang on about a league cup or a European final from 90 years ago. Maybe not having a potential Saudi super power as our biggest rivals would ensure that. We will never know.

 

[NorthumberlandBoro]

Bit Harsh
Sunderland are a better supported side than us. The last time Boro had 40,000 at our home game was 1963. Let thank sink in 1963 - Ironically against Sunderland.

The reason they have bigger crowds is that they have double our catchment. They don't have double our crowds.
We had several 40k crowds under Jack Charlton in the mid 70's. After that our capacity was gradually reduced down to about 25k.

 

[North22]

They are funny though. One fan says they should go for Graham Potter. Another says he'd rather have Brian Potter than Beale. Another posts they've more chance of getting Harry Potter than Graham.