I saw the poll on The Mag on Wednesday, asking Newcastle United fans: Would you rather beat Barcelona and lose to Sunderland, or beat Sunderland and lose to Barcelona?
I can’t believe this is even a question. Especially this season.
Win against Barcelona and you get money, fame and power.
Win against Sunderland and you get nowt.
Bragging rights are worth less than nowt given they’ve had a far better Premier League season than us, as a newly promoted team no less. Probably won’t even go above them in the table, since they will probably beat Brighton up here, and we’ll probably lose to Chelsea down there. And who cares if we did? It’s literally mid-table.
Any self-respecting NUFC fan has surely just been ignoring that lot down the road since the first derby, leaving them to have an open top bus parade for finding the most unconvincing way to win their first home league derby in yonks.
A most unconvincing reply to their previous hilarious performance, where they literally sold their grannies to us in their desperation to get back to the Premier League, for exactly that opportunity to prove they could mix it with us at our level, and got what they deserved when local pride (and a cup) was at stake. Nowt. Ignoring them while we turn our attention to things that big clubs concern themselves with. Regional powerhouses. Defending trophies, trying to win more trophies, and playing the best Europe has to offer.
Reframe the question this way. Irrespective of the time or score, how hard would you cheer a goal on Wednesday, compared to Sunday. There’s only one right answer imho. The bigger the opponent, the greater the stakes, the bigger the joy of seeing a player in black and white smashing one in.
There’s no doubt about how to rank Newcastle United, Barcelona and Sunderland in terms of who is the bigger club. So let them win five nil for all I care, it will surely only happen because of something we didn’t do right, rather than something they did right. Just like last time. I’ll certainly take that all day if it comes with us beating Barcelona five nil at the Camp Nou. On the day of their presidential election no less.
Can’t believe it’s even a question, I honestly can’t.
The derby is fun, important, the only thing I’ll be thinking about on Sunday AND Monday, but if your sole focus as a Newcastle United fan is about that result and nothing else, well, I feel sorry for you. How have you even coped, given our horrendous recent record against them? Far more embarrassing defeats than being beaten when they’re actually, literally, on merit, above us in the table.
The reaction to being beaten last time was, in my view, only as muted as it was compared to past derbies, precisely because most fans, especially mackems, now realise we have far bigger fish to fry, in pursuit of far higher emotional highs. We all saw the price of treating that lot as if they were remotely important. We lost Big Dan Burn for several matches.
I care so little about the result of the last derby, I had to check to remind myself we actually lost, rather than drew. I couldn’t care less, this season, compared to the absolute gut punch it was to see us snatch a draw from the jaws of victory against a team that truly matters.
Reframe it this way too. Which result demands more of an answer from this current group of players? As a stand alone game even, parking the benefits of a win. Which has the better potential to prove our credentials?
Everyone knows we can beat Sunderland on our best day. Ten times out of ten. Some people still might be unsure about whether we can do the same to Barca even once. We can. So there is no realistic choice here, if we’re only allowed to prove one of those things is true.