Former Sunderland manager Gus Poyet reveals what life was like in the north-east pressure cooker and tells of one bizarre incident with a Newcastle United fan.

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Newcastle and Sunderland mix like oil and water. So as Sunderland manager I knew that there was a risk when I went to Newcastle for a meal or to do some shopping.

I did it many times. It’s a fine city and despite my Sunderland team beating them three times in three games, I never had any problems. Apart from once.



I’d just left a restaurant and was walking back to my car when I saw a man change direction and walk across me.

“Wrong city, tw*t,” he said. He didn’t even think I was worth looking at as he walked off. I didn’t say a word, but I knew where he was coming from. I quite liked his style. He was so passionate about Newcastle that he didn’t think that the Sunderland manager should be able to walk the streets of his city. I’m sure the manager of Newcastle would have encountered similar in Sunderland.

I’ve lived in many big football cities around the world, but none where football matters quite as much as in Sunderland and Newcastle.

When I became Sunderland manager, I chose to live there. I knew some players lived further away or in Durham, but I wanted to be close to the training ground and not detached from the city where I worked. There was a big job to do at a club which had won one point from seven games.

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My family stayed at home near London as that was where their life was. I tried to live normally. It was impossible, but in a good way. In London, a trip to the bank takes ten minutes. In Sunderland, a trip took an hour of smiling for photos.

I had a problem with my knee and needed to cycle with the goalkeeping coach. We’d ride our bikes along the beautiful seafront by the North Sea and cars would be beeping me, people would be waving and wishing me well for the next game. I felt like a rider in a mountain stage on the Tour de France!

I’d only been there a week when I was asked to switch the city’s Christmas lights on. I was reluctant, I was new and the team hadn’t been playing well. I didn’t want to be booed straight away. But wins against Newcastle and – luckily - Man City lifted the mood. When I got on the stage to pull a big gold ball on the end of a lever, I felt like a pop star. There were 20,000 people there in the freezing cold and the mayor said they wanted to say hello to me. Incredible.

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