I've been saying for a while that i'll post my mates dad's theory that a lot of the current mag behaviour goes back to T Dan Smith in the 60s, so finally I've got round to do it now. I apologise now that it's a long read, it covers a few things, politics, history, economics and the media, but it makes sense as one of the building blocks to what they are now, attitude wise. Basically, there wasn't much difference between Sunderland and Newcastle in the long past, both in terms of cities and football teams. Cities of similar sized populations, similar people living in them and a common enough local identity that "Geordie" was almost a generic term for someone from the north east. My dad was like many from up here that as a young un he'd go to Roker one week and the skunks the next. He even told me about an edition of Football Monthly in the 50s that had picture of Shack and Jackie Millburn on the cover under the heading "no means rivals", there wasn't any real hatred between the teams. But that began to change by the 1960s. And this is where my mate's dad's theory comes in. Despite the term "the Newcastle blitz", Newcastle got off relatively lightly during the war. A lot of the bombing was the result of the Luftwaffe going after targets outside Newcastle, such as the Duston coal staithes or the Wallsend ship yards and missing their primary targets. Newcastle city wasn't that strategically important. Sunderland was. Sunderland accounted for a quarter of the UKs' merchant shipping, a major commercial port, the numerous coal mines in and surrounding the city, plus the Pyrex glassworks, which made amongst other things the lenses for searchlights. Sunderland accounted for the most civilian deaths and injuries due to bombing raids during the blitz in the north east and an estimated 90% of the cities housing suffered some form of damage. Sunderland also lost a large number of it's grand buildings, such as the old winter gardens and the Victoria Hall. I bet most people have seen the iconic picture of the train wheels that went through the roof of Joseph's toy shop after the old railway station was hit. As a result, after the war Sunderland needed massively rebuilding, especially housing, which is where estates like Farringdon were built. Newcastle needed rebuilding itself, but not as extensively and this is where T Dan Smith comes in. During the 50s he built himself a powerbase in Newcastle, eventually becoming the council leader. He has the ambition of making Newcastle the "capital of the north" and modelled the rebuilding of Newcastle on Brasilia. Because of the influence and control he had, he was able to push through stuff that others couldn't stop and even after leaving the council he still has massive influence on it because of his patronage. He became "Mr Newcastle" and there's even a BBC documentary called "Dan's Castle" from the mid 60s about him (on YouTube if anyone is interested). Because of his power and a pliant local media he began to push Newcastle as the best place in the country and the only place in the north east that mattered. He left the council in 1965 but still held a lot of influence through patronage until his downfall for corruption in the early 70's. But for a while under him, Newcastle was seen as a progressive and dynamic place, leading to the sense of Geordie superiority as other parts of the north east, Sunderland in particular, were struggling to pull themselves together. This got worse when the metropolitan council of Tyne and Wear was introduced. Pretty much everything was Newcastle orientated and if it didn't benefit Newcastle, it wouldn't go ahead. Sunderland didn't help itself at the same time, the council made some hideous mistakes, but it was very much "what Newcastle wants, Newcastle gets". When shipbuilding and coal mining began to decline in Sunderland in the 1970s, it hit Sunderland hard and this also coincided with Tyne and Wear council coming into being, which drained even more money away from Sunderland towards Newcastle. The metro was actually supposed to have been in Sunderland by 1990, though it was dropped quietly a few years after it had as introduced. Other development schemes were either knocked back or scaled down in favour of Newcastle, such as the Quayside being redeveloped. Even after T&W council was abolished, it still carried on. Years ago I spoke to a frustrated businessman from Washington who said that the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation initials really stood for "The Wear Doesn't Count". The result is a lot of people from Newcastle and north Tyneside who've been told for years that Newcastle is "special" the most important place in the north, the only place that matters. You see it in the media, when Nissan does well it's great for the north east and a north east success story. Nissan gets in trouble and it's "troubled Sunderland car plant". When Swan Hunters was doing well it was "Tyneside ship building giant", before it collapsed it was a "disaster for the region". It's an easy step when you're told that Newcastle city is so brilliant and important and everywhere else locally is the poor relation to slide across to have the same view about the football teams, especially in a one team city. And when the media is based there and has over 60 years of being pliant and not criticising the city, it's hard to hear a dissenting voice. So you get the basic building blocks if why mags are the way they are, the football club is an extension of the city, because they're told Newcastle is the best place in the country (certainly locally) and they don't travel far outside, they believe it and put other places and by extension football teams down and they've had over 60 years of hearing it, so it must be true.
