The Tyne-Wear derby is one of the biggest highlights in the season for a Sunderland or Newcastle supporter. And on the 10th of November it is time for yet another derby as the teams will run out on the pitch at the Stadium of Light. Who will get the mocking rights until the next derby, and who will be the ones to be mocked? We will find out tomorrow, and on that note, even though there is probably no supporter of either team that does not know much of each others history, just who the f*** are Sunderland?

On the 17th of October 1879, the Glasgow born Sunderland-based teacher, James Allan, started the “Sunderland and District Teachers Association Football Club”. Though, 364 days later, on the 16th of October 1880, the club changed its name to “Sunderland Teachers Association football Club” ie the Teachers bit remained, but the statement which announced this indicated that the club opened its membership to all in order to relax financial troubles and increase the pool of players available to it. Sunderland Teachers AFC became Sunderland AFC on limited company status. Though, Sunderland enjoyed an extremely “unhealthy” rivalry with Sunderland Albion F.C. until their demise in the early part of the 20th century.

Sunderland were admitted into The Football League for the 1890-91 season, replacing Stoke. It was the first time a new club had joined the league since its inauguration in 1889. During the late 19th century the club were still famously declared as the “Team of All Talents” by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 6 - 1 win over Aston Villa at Perry Barr. And between 1892 and 1902 the team won the league three times and were runners-up in the league a further three times.

In 1913 the club won the league again and lost their first FA Cup final against Aston Villa 1-0. It was the closest the club has ever gotten to The Double.

The club’s sixth, and to this day last, league championship came in the 1935-36 season, only to be followed up by their first FA Cup victory the following season after a 3 - 1 win against Preston North End at the Wembley Stadium.

Following WW2, the club suffered a downturn in their fortunes, despite breaking a number of transfer records and being nicknamed “The Bank of England Club” because of this. In 1957 the club were implicated in a major financial scandal, the second one in the club’s history. Whereas the first was the Andrew MacCombie scandal in 1904. This resulted in an unprecedented fine of £5000 and the suspension of the club chair and three directors. In 1958 Sunderland were relegated from the top-flight for the first time in the clubs 68-year league history.

Sunderland won their last major trophy in the 1972-73 season after they won the FA Cup Final 1-0 over Leeds United. Sunderland, a second division club at the time, won the game thanks to an amazing double save by Jimmy Motgomery to deny Peter Lorimer, a save to this day still described by many as the greatest save at Wembley, and by some as the greatest save of all time. Since 1973 only two other clubs, Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980, have equalled Sunderland’s achievement of lifting the FA Cup whilst playing outside the top tier of English football.

In 1985, Sunderland appeared in their first and only League Cup final, which they would eventually lose 1-0 to Norwich City. Two years later though, the club saw one of its lowest points as Sunderland were relegated to the third division of the English league for the first and only time in their history.

Under new chairman Bob Murray and new manager Denis Smith, the club were promoted as champions in the following season. And in 1990 they were promoted back into the top flight even though they lost to Swindon Town in the play off final. This came as a reaction to Swindon Town being found guilty of financial irregularities and their victory was revoked. The club stayed up for one season before they were relegated on the final day of the season.

Sunderland’s last major final came in 1992 when they returned to the FA Cup Final, yet again as a second division club. Though there would be no repeat of their 1973 win as they went on to lose 2-0 to Liverpool.

The early 1990s was a turbulent period for the club. in 1995, they faced the possibility of returning to the third-tier of English football once again. Peter Reid was brought in as new manager, and quickly turned things around for the club. Reid’s time in charge of the club had a stabilising effect; he remain manager for a consecutive seven years, one of the longest manager tenures in the history of Sunderland AFC.

1997 saw Sunderland leave their home for 99 years, Roker Park. They moved to the Stadium of Light, a 42 000-seat arena that, at the time, was the biggest stadium to be built in England since WW2. The move saw a renaissance at the club, as attendances jumped dramatically. The capacity of the Stadium of Light was later increased to 49 000.

Sunderland returned to the top-flight as Championship champions in 1999 with a then record points total of 105. Two consecutive seventh place finishes in the Premier League were followed by two by far less successful seasons, seeing them getting relegated to the second-tier once again with a record low points total of 19 in 2003.

This saw former Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy, take over the manager chair at the club. And in 2005 he took Sunderland up to the Premiership once again as champions, and for the third time in under ten years. However, the following season was a disaster worse than the 2002-03 season, seeing Sunderland finishing bottom of the Premiership with a new record low points total of 15. McCarthy left the club in mid-season and was temporarily replaced by Kevin Ball, a former footballer.

Following their relegation new hope was given to the club by ex-player Niall Quinn, as he along with the Irish Drumaville Consortium, successfully launched a bid to buy out former chairman Bob Murray in July 2006. The consortium appointed the former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, a former international team mate of the clubs new chairman, Niall Quinn, ad their new manager. Quinn had been in charge for the first few games of the season that had seen the club get a disastrous start. However, under new manager Keane, the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of seventeen games from the start of 2007. Along with Birmingham City FC, Sunderland gained promotion to the Premiership for the upcoming 2007-08 season, following Derby County’s defeat to Crystal Palace on April 29th. Gaffer Roy Keane was informed via a text message that Sunderland had gained promotion while he was out walking his dog Triggs. And on May 6th 2007, Sunderland were crowned winners of the the Championship after they had won 5-0 over Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

Potential Threats/Star Players

Name: Craig Gordon
Age: 24
Position: Goalkeeper
Nation: Scotland

Craig Gordon attended Balerno Community High School from 1994-2000, and has been known as a Heart of Midlothian F.C. supporter since his time there. He is a graduate of Heart’s youth development programme. He is regarded by many as possessing great agility, shot-stopping reflexes and secure handling, he is also considered to be comfortable with the ball at feet in back pass situations. Though criticism has been raised at his decision-making, while detractors have also suggested that he does not command his penalty area as authoritatively as his tall stature suggests he should. However, his relative youthfulness affords him ample time to improve in these areas as he matures.

He got 139 games for Hearts before he was signed by Sunderland on August 8th, he signed a 5 year contract and his move could in the future break the British record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, with £7 Million paid up front and £2 Million based on appearances. Should the fee reach £9 Million it would surpass the £7.8 Million paid by Manchester United for Fabien Barthez.

He is regarded by some as being one of the best goalkeepers in the British footballing leagues, and it demands a strike at the ball of good quality to get the ball past Gordon.

Name: Kieran Richardson
Age: 23
Position: Midfielder
Nation: England

Known as a hard-working footballer already in his early footballer days, Richardson began playing football at Parkwood Primary School and his talent was very apparent at this young age, he was made captain of his school team and was invited to train with Arsenal.

He then moved to West Ham United where he would begin training professionally. However, before he made his debut for the Londoners, he was signed by Manchester United in 2001.

He made 41 appearances for United’s first team before he was signed by Sunderland for an undisclosed fee reported to be around £5.5 Million. He is an offensive threat as well as a good defensive player, and is going to be giving any opposition team a hard time.