Sunderland are languishing in the Championship relegation zone, while the Magpies have made a solid start to the Premier League season.
One year ago, Sunderland were a Premier League side while Newcastle were among the early pace-setters in the Championship. Now however, the two sides have reversed roles and then some.
Rafa Benitez’s men are sitting in mid-table in the top flight while the Black Cats find themselves in the bottom three in the Championship having won just one of their opening 10 games under Simon Grayson, months after they were relegated from the Premier League in extremely abject fashion.
In truth, even when Sunderland were in the higher division, it appeared that Newcastle were still in the better position. So HITC Sport went to find out whether the Black Cats fans are at all envious of the Magpies, and, interestingly, the reaction was mixed.
“The start of the season, they were playing quite hard teams when they picked up their losses. Now they’ve played people, apart from Stoke, that are not very good and they have been getting results. Once they play the big lads or any team that’s half-decent they’ll struggle and they’ll soon drop off,” one fan told HITC Sport.
“No, never envious of that team, bunch of has-beens.”
“Well, you do get envious really but it would be better if all the North-East clubs were up there,” another suggested.
“Newcastle have done well. I think they’re doing well in the Premier League. I don’t like Newcastle but good on them,” a supporter, reluctantly, admitted.
While much of the praise for Newcastle was spoken through gritted teeth, there was one fan who was full of admiration for the job that Benitez has done at St James’ Park.
“Very, very envious. They’ve got a manager who’s a Champions League winner, he’s a very good manager. It took some balls for him to go to Newcastle and then to stay there when they were in the Championship. And now, he’s doing really well with them, even with the lack of investment in the summer.”
Based on some of the responses, it would not be a surprise if the majority of Sunderland fans would not mind seeing Newcastle’s stay in the top flight last just one year. But one supporter backed the Magpies to book another at the highest level – just.
“Probably around 15th-17th I would say, that’s probably realistic,” the fan said when asked where they expect Newcastle to finish.
But while they may be in different divisions, could Sunderland supporters see Grayson’s men claim a positive result if they were to come up against Newcastle with their current squads?
Unfortunately for the Black Cats, the majority of the answers were not optimistic.
“I don’t think they’ve [Newcastle] got the better team. We are about equal. Their team on paper isn’t good enough for the Premier League,” a supporter optimistically stated.
“No I think we’d get hammered,” one fan said, while another replied: “They’d beat us, no problem.”
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