https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/jermain-defoe-one-one-i-regret-way-i-left-west-ham-i-did-something-wrong-hold-my-hands-and?page=0%2C2
....the Tyne-Wear derby is much bigger than football. During the lead-up to the game, people would come up to me while I was doing my shopping in the supermarket and say, “You have got to beat them. Whatever you do, win, please.”
When Gus Poyet signed me, he said some fans had told him, “We’d rather get relegated than lose to Newcastle. Beat Newcastle. That’s all we want.”