Newcastle vs Sunderland in 2018
You can say what you like about Niall Quinn - and most of it will be good - but he never misses a trick does he? He is affable and charming, of course, but those endearing qualities are only part of the package.
In launching Sunderland's bid to become a host city for the 2018 World Cup - should England get the nod from Fifa which is far from a formality - Quinn has once again shown he is not only ambitious, but also sharp and clinical when he needs to be.
While Newcastle may also be in the race to become a host city, you won't have heard much about it. In fact, have you heard anything from any of the other 14 cities hoping to impress the FA in the coming weeks? I haven't.
But there was Quinn this week, sitting alongside the council leader Paul Watson at the Stadium of Light to ensure there was plenty of media coverage of Sunderland's bid, which included media packs in metal brief cases which looked alarmingly like the sort terrorists use to carry bombs in Hollywood movies.
There was also a DVD with lots of pictures on it, promoting famous Sunderland landmarks like the Penshaw Monument, Durham Cathedral and the erm, Millenium Bridge on the banks of the Tyne between Newcastle and Gateshead! Only 12 miles away of course, which is marginally closer than Bamburgh Castle, which was also used in the DVD.
On the face of things, Sunderland are fighting a losing battle. Whether you like it or not, Sunderland, as far as the rest of the country is concerned, is Newcastle's poor relation, its less attractive, less exciting cousin.
Look, don't shout at your computer screen, I'm just saying what most people in Britain think. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's how it is. Newcastle is the North East for many people because that is all they know and it is certainly seen as the leading city north of Leeds.
It is an established and extremely popular city tourist destination. It has glamour and kudos, it's fashionable and has a reputation - not always positive of course - around Europe for its nightlife, culture and so on.
And, although it may only be half empty next season, St James's Park is the third largest club ground in the country. 4,000 extra tickets equals more money and that will always talk loudest with Fifa/FA.
It also has its own international airport and regular trains to London and Edinburgh. As a result, it will be the automatic favourite to win the right to stage World Cup games in these parts.
Yet, Quinn knows this may even work to Sunderland's advantage. After all, if Sunderland get to host games, visitors can also enjoy the sights and sounds of their neighbours. They can even stay in one of its large hotels on the Quayside, but it will be the Stadium of Light and Sunderland which actually gets the World Cup!
Newcastle football club is in a mess, leaderless and clueless. Sunderland have also looked to take advantage of that, launching their bid with as much fuss and noise as they can to grab attention while their rivals plunge to new lows as Mike Ashley tries to find a buyer.
Newcastle might be the favourite to become a host city for all of the above, but its arrogance could be its downfall. Sunderland are trying to show they want it more and let's not forget, it was exactly that trick which Liverpool pulled off to become European Capital of Culture even though Newcastle's was the superior bid.
It is no coincidence that, just as I'm writing this blog, an email has arrived from a public relations company looking to promote the bid by Newcastle/Gateshead. Hmm, Sunderland have clearly rattled somebody's cage!
In an ideal world, Newcastle and Sunderland will both host games in 2018. It is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, particularly as two of the grounds which staged games in Euro 96 - Elland Roads in Leeds and Hillsborough in Sheffield - are increasingly old-fashioned and will need major investment to meet Fifa requirements.
That would be fantastic for the region, but can anyone see the North-East getting such an honour when London will have three stadiums - Wembley, Arsenal and Tottenham - with capacities above or around 60,000 and the likes of Sheffield and Leeds will still be desperate to be involved?
Personally, I think it will be or the other and whereas I would once have said Newcastle were a shoe in, is Sunderland's public relations drive and attempt to get public support behind them enough to pull off a surprise?
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
I don't think Tottenham's ground will ever be used, unless they are building a new one that I don't know about. The argument then is, there are 3 grounds very close to each other, so why can't we have 2 grounds here.
Liverpool and Manchester will both get games, so I believe Sheffield and Leeds won't have a look in.
Money talks and I think a city with a capacity of 52,000, rail links and its own airport, will be favoured above an ex-mining backwater slum. I may be wrong, but I doubt it, so you've got to give Niall Quinn credit for trying, but sit down and be quiet now, let the big, experienced players show you how it's done.
Although Sunderland is looked at as newcastle's poor cousin, our fans are more popular amongst the rest of the football world than the geordies. And if you would like to know why Mr Edwards its because of pompous stuck up comments like these. And before you go saying I am a leyton orient fan, you really should think about how you right a blog about the north east as YOU are pushing the perception of Geordie fans with other people much further.
Did you say Newcastle "has glamour and kudos"?
Clown!
At least you hooked a couple of Mackems Luke and, despite what they say,that pit village 15 miles south of Newcastle will always be second best.
Despite now being in the Championship the national papers and news of the North East is all about Newcastle United with the odd mention of the other lot down the road - don't kid yourselves Mackems you'll always be second best as a club and as an "honorary" city.
The last time England played in Sunderland was against the turks and if i remember correctly the game was marred by racist chanting. Cant believe the cheeky mackems trying to claim Bamburgh castle! I also think your comments are spot on about the European capital of culture Luke, how liverpool won it is anyones guess.
Can I just repeat this isn't my view, just an argument based on national perceptions and prejudices regarding the North East. It isn't just people from Newcastle who think more of Tyneside than Wearside in my experience, that's the whole point of what I'm saying. If you read it again, I actual say I want both cities to stage games.
Don't back down Luke! You're right Sunderland is a poor relation of the North East, on a par with Middlesbrough!
However I would prefer it if you wrote your blog about Newcastle being taken over by someone, Anyone!
It is an established and extremely popular city tourist destination. It has glamour and kudos, it's fashionable and has a reputation - not always positive of course - around Europe for its nightlife, culture and so on.
With this, I am gathering that you mean the world famous kebab shop munchies? Or the Pig and Whistle? If you ask anyone from scandinavia what newcastle is like they will tell you it's a crap hole! In fairness though if you ask them about sunderland they probably won't know where you are talking about!
If Sunderland does get some world cup games, does anybody think seriously that people are going to come and stay in Sunderland? People will attend the match in Sunderland but stay in Newcastle, spending their money in hotels, restaurants and bars. Newcastle businesses would make all of the money while Sunderland council taxpayers are landed with the policing bill.
An interesting piece Luke and pretty fair too. Much as I would like to join the other Sunderland lads in arguing with it that is how things are perceived here in the South. Increasingly "everyones favourite second team" has been viewed upon as "everyone's favourite joke" but as a city it is still known for the booming nightlife - if only for stag parties looking for roomfulls of half naked accomadating young ladies. I agree with you that the passion of the area for it's - admittedly bad - football means that there is a strong argument for both teams being selected though I agree with others that it is unlikely. I expect that the final decision will come down to whether Newcastle look like regaining their place in the PL or whether they continue to implode. I think if they carry on down towards division one then the silky tongued maestro Quinnie has a much greater chance of pursuading the suits at Soho Square that it should be Sunderland that gets the honour.
Dear Mackem
Your name just about sums up your stupidity.
My Grandfather and Father are both from Scandinavia and settled in Newcastle because they loved it. Our family are constantly flying here, to Newcastle International Airport, to visit the City. Never once have I heard any of them say "let's have a day trip to Sunderland."
Why can't you be a bit more balanced, Like Stuart?
Luke, Looking at headline Newcastle vs Sunderland in 2018 I thought your blog was going to predict the season in which NUFC will next get to visit premier league grounds. Instead it turned out to be another attempt at bolstering moral of Toon fans through silly our XXXX is bigger than your XXXX claims. Replacing the silly "we are a big club" claim with "we have a big ground” and “we have a big city" claims just makes people think there is no cure for people who have obviously gone mad on diet of excessive amounts of brown ale and pub banter!
By 2018 it is quite likely that no live games featuring NUFC will have been played on tv outside the UK in nearly a decade, the Stadium of Light will have been expanded to have a 60,000 plus capacity, and countries from around the globe will have players in the Sunderland squad. Leeds and Newcastle may be in the same division, but most people including their fans will not be quite sure which one that is.
It really would be better if Toon fans just kept their heads down for a few years, or concentrated on immediate things like the chants that fans in places like Scunthorpe will invent for a visiting team wearing those bunch of banana shirts.
Thanks for supplying yet another laugh!
I think it must just be me but I actually quite like the new Newcastle away kit! It's so bad it's good if you know what I mean. Away kits should be vile sometimes, a change from the norm.
Little boy Fauntleroy - you might like to take a more balanced view yourself and stop behaving like a small child describing neighbouring areas as "ex-mining backwater slums". There is only one big experienced man in Tyne/Wear football right now and that is Niall Quinn. That's why Steve Bruce the man with black and white blood through his veins realised that the Sunderland job is the big job he always wanted after having turned down Newcastle on more than one occasion. If I understood it right Luke's whole point about Newcastle was that they are in grave danger of complacency when it comes to who gets to host the World Cup games and it is myopic arrogant fans like you who epitomise the very core of what is wrong with Newcastle. Freddy Fletcher and Alan Sulky Shearer are the perfect combination to run your club.
LLF - I hate to say this but Stuart is right in part as least. Fans like you who chose to slag off other teams in the way you do just harm the reputation of our club and have turned fans who used to look favourably on NUFC into a club they enjoy laughing at. As for Freddy and Alan I can't say that I'm too excited about Freddy coming back and he's just the lesser of 2 evils. I'd have prefered a rich American meself with a bit of business acumin. Shearer though is definitely the man to take us forwardand I'm confident that if we get him in we will go up the season after next. Agree it would be good if sland and NUFC both host world cup games. For all we call each other names North East fans are the best in the country.
Luke - Good point of view as ever. It is good to see a regional bid being put together. Perhaps a joint bid from Newcastle and Sunderland would have a better chance.
But as you may have moved to the region only recently you may not know some history of the region while reporting on it ...
"It also has its own international airport and regular trains to London and Edinburgh. As a result, it will be the automatic favourite to win the right to stage World Cup games in these parts."
- Northumberland County Council, Durham County Council, plus Newcastle; South Tyneside; North Tyneside; Gateshead, and Sunderland jointly own 51% of Newcastle Airport and jointly paid for its recent redevelopment along with Copenhagen Airports. There were moves to change the name of the airport when it gained "regional airport" status to something that was more representative of the region than simply "Newcastle". I'm surprised the Newcastle & Gateshead advocates haven't tried to get Gateshead's name in the title.
- Grand Central run a direct train service from London to Sunderland ... and NXEC appears to be in a bit of trouble - no more trains to Newcastle from London?
- the Tyne AND WEAR Metro route from Newcastle Airport runs to ... Sunderland
Let's see both cities represented - and leave Middlesbrough to a Yorkshire-based bid?
Ok, this is getting ridiculous. As a Newcastle fan and resident I'm always going to Back the Newcastle/Gateshead bid, but looking at all the facts and measuring them up between Newcastle and Sunderland, all the people from Sunderland and who support Sunderland can not honestly say that they believe Sunderland is a better choice than Newcastle. I'm not trying to be immature or arrogant or in any way mocking Sunderland, (You see, I can't really because of the predicament we are in) but I am, just like Rafa, just Stating the facts!! Oh and by the way my sister works at Newcastle International at tells me that Sunderland City Council only own 2% of the airport. Sorry.
Newcastle does, in fairness, have everything going for it from the transport links such as the central station, the Metro,(Which, by the way, is owned by Newcastle city council, Sunderland was only added in the route in 2002) the Airport, the A1. We have got the bigger and better stadium, the better training facilities, the better nightlife, shopping facilities (Northumberland street in town, MetroCentre (biggest mall in the European Union, Eldon Square etc.) our fans are great, the people are friendly, fashion is better the city is bigger and more attractive, we have a very large tourism industry too with numerous luxurious hotels. Also, Northumberland is a very popular area and is part of Newcastle with 80% of NUFC's fans living there. So therefore Bamburgh Castleand other landmarks in the county, lol, is definitely all Newcastle and has absolutely nothing to do with Sunderland. Also, we can extend our stadium capacity to between 60 and 66 thousand in the future.
Lewis - missing the point a bit? or are you under 30? Keen on rewriting history and Geography?
The airport is a regional airport - and since the redevelopment Newcastle, like Sunderland are minority shareholders. The point is - it's a regional airport.
But the Metro ... whoa there ... "the Metro,(Which, by the way, is owned by Newcastle city council, Sunderland was only added in the route in 2002)" No - sorry - the Metro is owned and run by Nexus which is the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive and administers funds on behalf of the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority. TWPTE is the operations arm of the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority (TWITA). The ITA is made up of fifteen councillors from the county (Tyne and Wear - in case you were wondering)... four from each of Newcastle and Sunderland, with three from Gateshead, and two from each of North Tyneside and South Tyneside.
Opened in 1980 - it was in a large part funded by the council tax payers of Sunderland who had to wait until 2002 to get to use it.
Are you "just stating the facts" or just rewriting history to support your argument - which is
"We have got the bigger and better stadium" -Bigger yes.
"the better training facilities" - no
"the better nightlife" - which really matters in a world cup bid
"shopping facilities (Northumberland street in town" - see above
"MetroCentre" not in Newcastle but see above anyway
"our fans are great, the people are friendly, fashion is better the city is bigger and more attractive, we have a very large tourism industry too with numerous luxurious hotels." What is this?
"Also, Northumberland is a very popular area and is part of Newcastle" - BOOM! Northumberland is part of Newcastle .... Need we continue?
Let's make this a regional bid eh?
and have a look as to how confused Copenhagen Airports are who owns 51% of Newcastle Airport (see page 19)
http://www.cph.dk/NR/rdonlyres/D8B09874-3A18-4299-A32C-5AD7ECDC09E0/0/InternationalstrategyforCopenhagenAirports.pdf
lol