I've seen that article before, and the point of it was about the low attendances at Roker Park, and he is quoted as saying 'I wish we had fans like Newcastle', and its in reference to us getting over 30,000 in the Second division, while Sunderland fans weren't attending First Division matches.
So I think this must have been 1983/84 ish.
Edit: just seen cp40's reply above.
looks like they are worried about banks of empty seats live on saturday on TV
http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=673310