Benwell Lad

Yeah, a £40M team assembled by Keane and their arses fall out when they enter a hostile stadium. Keano there's only one Keano, Keano...............................

Was a big exodus after 2nd goal and seemed like some didn't return by empty seats 2nd half. Walking out of a derby at half time ? Sums them up.

I don't know enough about Jones to decide if he is a good player, but if he is I can't see him wanting to play in a team like that. Keane's team make Sam Allardyce look adventurous.

I'm a veteran of the covered Leazes End and back then the noise would burst your eardrums but today was the best/loudest for years. Don't know how they can say it was quiet. Would be great to get a regular atmosphere going again, a singing end should be seriously considered - everyone enjoys the match more when it's noisy.

Still the supreme motivator and you'd trust him to bring in quality motivated players too. With the structure of the team around him and above him there may be cause for a little bit of optimism.

He has very few excuses as his squad have virtually all been bought by him and are playing to his game plans. How he gets off so lightly in the press and still seems to be idolised by the SMBs is quite strange. Problem for them is the same as always - how can they attract players better than those they already have ? If you're a good player you'll have options. If you have options it's unlikely you'd choose Sunderland.

Why the hype about this bloke being a top manager. He's spent £45M and supposedly his best player is a reserve he's got on loan ! Peter Reid and Mick McCarthy put out better teams for a fraction of what he's spent. In fact Malcolm Crosby and Bobby Saxton had teams with more fight in them. Woeful.

They're gonna pack the midfield and try and kill the game. Keane is the new Allardyce of tactics. Best that can happen is we score early and they have to come out, then we'll score a hatful. Otherwhise we may have to depend on the dodgy Scots keeper to gift us a soft winner.

What he has said now is what he said when KK arrived. Why would he say anything supportive when his clubs biggest rivals are going through a tough time and they were catching them up? Every manager in the league had a polite soundbite about Keegan when he was appointed. Keane just followed suit. Defend him if you wish but I think he's a phoney who will get get his comeuppance. I'm not defending him, i just think its a bit silly to expect a local rivals manager to stick up for the other when fighting for premiership survival. It just somehow sounded like you were defending him. Silly ? No I neither expect nor want him to stick up for us at any time. Point is he didn't offer any support to Keegan when he was getting kicked around but now he wants to tell the press how good he is. He was entitled to be silent then and he should stay silent now. Phoney, country deserting tw@t. That's Keane. To be honest I'd say the reason he's come out with this about Keegan now is probably that we're about to play them. There's always a lot of build up of this match in the press, and some journalist has probably asked him about his opponents and their revival under KK. When Keegan was under pressure Keane had other things to be thinking about - ie the mackems were in just as much danger of going down as us. Its probably nowt more than that imo. That's a good answer - but far too calm and rational. I just hate the phoney, nation betraying pikey rat - thats all. He does have a bit of a pikey air to him like, doesn't he! I could just picture him mooching about in a caravan round the back of blaydon burn in another life! Now you mention it they reckon a lot of garden furniture has gone missing around Wearside in the last couple of years.

He deserted his country during a world cup. Any debate should have taken place after the tournament. He may not be lying, but that in no way excuses betraying your national team at such a crucial time. Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Phoney pikey tw@t.

What he has said now is what he said when KK arrived. Why would he say anything supportive when his clubs biggest rivals are going through a tough time and they were catching them up? Every manager in the league had a polite soundbite about Keegan when he was appointed. Keane just followed suit. Defend him if you wish but I think he's a phoney who will get get his comeuppance. I'm not defending him, i just think its a bit silly to expect a local rivals manager to stick up for the other when fighting for premiership survival. It just somehow sounded like you were defending him. Silly ? No I neither expect nor want him to stick up for us at any time. Point is he didn't offer any support to Keegan when he was getting kicked around but now he wants to tell the press how good he is. He was entitled to be silent then and he should stay silent now. Phoney, country deserting tw@t. That's Keane. To be honest I'd say the reason he's come out with this about Keegan now is probably that we're about to play them. There's always a lot of build up of this match in the press, and some journalist has probably asked him about his opponents and their revival under KK. When Keegan was under pressure Keane had other things to be thinking about - ie the mackems were in just as much danger of going down as us. Its probably nowt more than that imo. That's a good answer - but far too calm and rational. I just hate the phoney, nation betraying pikey rat - thats all.

Fack me they've got a glass centre and a swimming pool what more do they want ?

What he has said now is what he said when KK arrived. Why would he say anything supportive when his clubs biggest rivals are going through a tough time and they were catching them up? Every manager in the league had a polite soundbite about Keegan when he was appointed. Keane just followed suit. Defend him if you wish but I think he's a phoney who will get get his comeuppance. I'm not defending him, i just think its a bit silly to expect a local rivals manager to stick up for the other when fighting for premiership survival. It just somehow sounded like you were defending him. Silly ? No I neither expect nor want him to stick up for us at any time. Point is he didn't offer any support to Keegan when he was getting kicked around but now he wants to tell the press how good he is. He was entitled to be silent then and he should stay silent now. Phoney, country deserting tw@t. That's Keane.

What he has said now is what he said when KK arrived. Why would he say anything supportive when his clubs biggest rivals are going through a tough time and they were catching them up? Every manager in the league had a polite soundbite about Keegan when he was appointed. Keane just followed suit. Defend him if you wish but I think he's a phoney who will get get his comeuppance.

Keane is an arsehole of a man who puts on a good act and has had a couple of fortuitious seasons in management. I'm glad he found Wearside. He has a management style akin to Souness who played with a similar determination and level of success to Keane. He will ultimately fail as a manager. Shame he didn't back Keegan when the rest of the country was putting the boot in.

Indeed. Been very impressive since he joined them on loan, has got hardly any media recognition which works right into Sunderland's favour. Would be fantastic for them to get him on a permanent deal. Just another surplus manU reserve at the end of the day, should start calling themselves FC United of Sundireland Reserves or something.

Call it old hat but "yoo fat bassa" and "who ate all the pies" springs immediately to mind.

Some intelligent, witty and interesting pieces on True Faith about the town of Sunderland "What do you think about Sunderland ?" Particularly interesting to read how the cathedral cities of Newcastle and Durham were always the leading places in the region for commerce, industry and education. They shared resources, co-operated and stood together during historical conflicts while the people of Sunderland sided with those opposed to Newcastle/County Durham at those times. Blows the myth about Sunderland's being "the County Durham club" and explains why so many (possibly the majority ?) of people in County Durham have traditionally supported Newcastle.

Done a very good job and definitely one of the best English managers. Never really understood why he is so disliked by Newcastle fans - nufc.com seem to have a passionate loathing for him. He's a Geordie boy who's done well, he's proud of his roots and never hidden his accent (a la Dennis Tueart etc) or the fact he's a Newcastle supporter at heart. He has a soft spot for Manu - so what ? Personally I hate them but if I'd played for them in a championship winning side I dare say I'd have a soft spot too.

Lots of Newcastle fans from East Durham, South Durham, Durham City etc and lots of macums from Ashington, Morpeth and even North Tyneside etc so accents don't always tell the full story.

Twenty years ago when our city and their town were close in terms of economy and status and the football clubs were pretty equal too, they still had a chip on their shoulder about Newcastle being considered the regional capital. The last couple of decades has seen Newcastle's status soar to become a well known European centre, rated by many as England's best looking city and our football club (last couple of seasons apart) become a top English team with regular European football. Meanwhile their city is a dump which is rarely heard of nationwide unless some bright spark has been firing rockets out of his arse or something similar. At the same time their football club has been a laughing stock now given false hope by some faceless Irish "businessmen" of dubious credentials. It's little wonder that the jealousy and vitriol which always lingered is now raging towards insanity. The thread you mention from SMB could (should ?) be the subject of a whole psychiatric seminar.

There is enough material in there to keep a psychiatric ward busy for decades. They really do have a chip on their shoulders about us don't they ? Is it our fault that we live in a vibrant regional metroplolis and have become used to regular European football, while no one outside of England has ever heard of their team or the overgrown council estate they jokingly call a city ? But really is there any need for one of them to talk about his wish for a terrorist attack on Newcastle ? That SMB post should be made a sticky on here in case anyone wonders how pathetic macums REALLY are.

Batty is the toughest man I've ever seen on a (professional) football field. It was a very astute move by Keegan to have a player like Batty alongside the extremely skillful players he filled his team with just as he did with Bracewell before him. That's not to say they couldn't play a bit as well.

howay man, it was 3-3, we scored 2 late goals to draw and John Mc swung on the crossbar YOu must have been a bit pissed after [or before ] that one KK !!!! I remember the 0-3 defeat as well NE5, Niel Martin scored a great header for them. They won the return that season 3-0 as well, Bobby Kerr scored a couple that day. That 3-0 away defeat is an abiding memory, my dad went in another part of the ground and left me and my brother (bairns) to go in the Roker End with black and white scarfs, I remember abusing Kerr when he scored and being threatened (nothing more) by mackems. Somehow I don't think that would happen nowadays. Since then a lot of memories ecstasy (3-1 NYD, Dabizas etc etc) and agony (1-4 Rowell, play offs, 1-2 in the rain etc) Despite experiencing many I truly hate the derby matches, probably more so now we're expected to win them.

He was rumoured to have decked Vinny Jones while at Sheff Wed. Razor Ruddock was giving it big licks to the Sheff Utd players & so Billy who wasn't playing went & saw Ruddock & said "I want no funny business or I will see you afterwards" needless to say Razor didn't whack anyone during the game. Do you remember when Vinny Jones was doing weights when Newcastle turned up at Elland Rd & Budgie went across pulled the pin out & put it in the heaviest weight & started doing pull downs, Vinny f***** off in the huff. Budgie was a HARD man and a fukin nutcase as well.