Oh yes indeed there was the phone boxes smashed up after a loss at Wembley and the horse puncher incident which the mags try and defend saying “it was only one person” conveniently forgetting it was during the rioting of many hundreds .
This came up in my YouTube last night. Maybes one for our younger supporters but what a night to be there as a Sunderland supporter. Newcastle the best supporters? In the words of Jim Royale: my arse.
What an embarrassment for the 'Newcastle hooligans' They were full of bravado until their arses went at the 'halfway line force field' and saw who they were up against ... ... the Sunderland end would've gone through them like skittles. People didn't let their kids go to the away match and there were no families in that end, no one budged when the Mags launched their attack and the police couldn't have stopped them. They were simply too frightened to have a go. That remains one of my favourite away trips. After the game the Mags kept well away from Sunderland and smashed up their own town instead , pathetic behaviour.
I was in a box at St James that night and some of their supporters, grown men, were smashing their seats! You couldn't make it up. Idiots!
A fantastic night to be there for this Northumberland Mackem we drove though Newcastle after the match and it was fun.
And what the hell was Jim Smith trying to say, “Those who ran on the pitch were 12 and 13 years old.” As if hundreds of unaccompanied schoolchildren would’ve been allowed to go to a night time derby game then rampage through the streets putting policemen in hospital.
Smith might have known, as many had known, that such an invasion was planned in the event of defeat looking likely, and was trying to limit the punishment. It worked. It was only fifteen years after that tactic had worked against Forest in the cup. That sounds a long time, but it isn't really. It's fifteen years since Bruce was here, and everyone remembers that very clearly. I was told at the time by someone, ( his brother worked on the ground staff at Syd James' then) that when Courtney told the players in both dressing rooms that the game would be finished, behind closed doors at midnight if necessary, that Aitken and one or two others in that room were not happy at all. They knew too, and they thought they might get another go, as they had against Forest.
I think that is why Courtney was appointed. Top English matches, World Cups, Euro's, European finals. He wouldn't let a bunch of idiots from the Gallowgate End decide the outcome of a game of football he was in charge of
Top referee. I heard a story years ago from a mate who'd been to a talk in with Gatesy where he said Courtney came into the dressing room and told the the game was getting finished, with the line "don't worry lads, the Geordie bastards won't get away with it, even if we have to wait until midnight". He was in line for the world cup final at Italia 90 if England didn't get to the semis.
But it didn't happen! They got on the pitch to avoid a crush, like Hillsborough. Just like they didn't racially abuse Gary Bennett when he got sent off against them. Or they didn't racially abuse Andy Cole's parents in the directors box at Sid James when he played for them. Or they didn't chuck Mars bars wrappers filled with concrete at Gazza when he came back with Spurs. Or they didn't smash up their city centre after losing the league to Man U, causing away fans to be banned from the derbies the next season. Or that it wasn't thousands of them rioting after getting beat in 2014, just one man trying to hit a horse. It was those pesky mackems that did all that...
You forgot to mention that they didn't abuse Bobby Robson either when they didn't get what they wanted. So hypercritical to build a statue of him after he died
