I I think you have framed your argument for a Makem club identity quite well but to be honest what you say is moot as our club and its identity dates back to the late eighteen hundreds when most if not all fans/supporters would have been classed as geordies and there accents and dialects would not have mattered one jot as at that time anybody north of York were then generalised as Geordies. I don't need or even feel like we have to have a Makem nation or identity as being who we are at the moment is more than enough for me. We have a distinguished and proud history to look back on and a hopefully bright future ahead but you seem to want to ostracised people base on whether they class themselves as a Geordie or not and that does not sit well with me as I would probably class myself as a Geordie but my club is Sunderland (till I die) wherever I may roam. I have mates who are Geordies and mates who are Makems and I personally think our club is more inclusive than the camel staggers up the road but please don't ask for our fine club to try and follow some crap ideological identity shyte because you want to be more like them.
I said that would happen at the time of the draw tbh. The Newcastle players know they're capable of losing and they'll never live it down if they do ... ... Sunderland have nothing to lose, Newcastle are a CL team who were recent finalists. All the pressure is on them and their supporters. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/dec/27/newcastle-eddie-howe-premier-league-losses Newcastle’s recent slump leaves Eddie Howe in a precarious position With four defeats in their last five league games, numerous injuries and a tough schedule, the manager is in a tricky position. They have lost eight of their last 12 games, going out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup. There were a smattering of boos after Tuesday’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest, a team who had previously won one away game all season. It is not quite a crisis yet but there is definitely potential crisis in the air. The next three games feel key. In the league, Newcastle face Liverpool away and Manchester City at home, two fixtures that would be daunting even if they were in form. In between those matches, on the first Saturday of the new year, they travel to Sunderland in the FA Cup. The FA Cup would, anyway, present a dilemma for Newcastle; the league, and securing Champions League qualification again, is obviously the priority, but the Cup is the one opportunity they have left for a trophy this season, their only chance to end a drought that stretches back to 1969. But far more important than that, it is against Sunderland, their local rivals, whom they have not played since 2016 and have not beaten since 2011. It is an awful tie for them. If they win, even if they win fairly comfortably, that is simply what they should do; Sunderland are a Championship side and have not been inflated by Saudi millions. But if Newcastle lose, it will be a derby that will echo through the generations. It is probably the biggest Tyne-Wear derby since the Division Two playoff semi-final of 1990 – and yet for Newcastle it comes with very little potential upside. None of that is Eddie Howe’s fault. But it could be a game that haunts him. Quite apart from the ramifications of potential defeat, he cannot afford to field a weakened team. Every decision will be minutely scrutinised. Ruud Gullit’s time as Newcastle manager came to an end after “the derby in the rain” in which he left out Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson (even though it was only after Ferguson came off the bench that Sunderland equalised and only after Shearer came on that they scored a winner). These are games in which everything is inflated and exaggerated and that have their own logical pull as a result. Howe would presumably like nothing more than to play a string of reserves. His team look exhausted. Although their injury crisis is easing, they have seven players out, plus Sandro Tonali suspended after breaching gambling regulations. Poor Kieran Trippier, the captain, who for a year or so had been consistently excellent, has slumped into a run of miserable form that has cost goals against Everton, Tottenham and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup. But he is just the one who has made the most eye-catching errors; there has been a drop-off all over the pitch. Newcastle were insipid in losing 1-0 at City in their first away game of the season and have not really recovered. Their only away win in the league this season came at Sheffield United. Even in November, when they lost at Bournemouth, there was a robust exchange between a dissatisfied away fan and Trippier. The pattern against Forest was similar: Newcastle, or at least this fatigued Newcastle, struggle to deal with pace in wide areas and, when the energy of their press dips, they lack creativity through the centre. The history of wealthy owners suggests that if these next three games go badly, they will be asking whether Howe is really the manager to turn their investment into trophies.
It just can not happen. The RIchest and best supported Team in THE WORLD, lose to a Championship side. Can you imagine IF it did though. All those coaches returning to The Scrapyard, disgorging their disgruntled hoard so that they could rampage through their City Centre, destroying everything in sight, AGAIN. As Dave Stewart might say, 'Sweet Dreams are made of This'
I'm sick of hearing about how many injuries they have. How many of those injured players would be starters? We went at least half a season without a striker last season! Down to your coaching team to sort them out
Whatever team they put our will be valued at ten times what ours is ... ... but, according to the media, they'll be ten times more tired
Players must be less fitter than their counterparts that played in the 80s. They played roughly the same amount of games as they do now and you never once heard how knackered they were
I'm just surprised they didn’t invade the pitch when they were losing to Forest ... ... they did it the last time
