I've always found Sunderland fans fawning worship their owners/chairmen/managers to be quite unusual, almost unique and certainly in direct contrast to the way Newcastle fans view theirs.
Even after ditching Wearside legend Quinn, Short's popularity remains intact. It's not like he's moved the club forward since.
It might be because we had a chairman like Sir John Hall and so we know what it's like to live ambition to the full so we know full well when our current owner isn't pulling his (substantial) weight.