A year on the Wear:As tight as a clenched fist. That is the mood, the feeling gripping everyone all week and last night as the seconds peeled off towards the final countdown. Twelve miles separate Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne and there are sweaty palms being scratched each and every step of the way. Neither side is confident, neither set of supporters convinced by their team's form. In the case of Newcastle United, their fans may be closer than Sunderland's to abusing their players and manager Sam Allardyce if today brings a defeat, but a home loss and Roy Keane may discover for the first time the fearsome volatility of Wearside.
This is a place where the dugout becomes a target for ripped-up season tickets and thrown-away scarves, where the proximity of expensive seats offers the home bench no protection from foul, hurtful language. Looking on at the contorted intensity of it all, there have been times when previous Sunderland managers have appeared to be under siege from their own. Derby-day on Wearside is no place to bring your auntie. Or logic.
It has not been comfortable for locals for some time. Keane was an eight-year-old boy in Cork the last time Sunderland beat Newcastle at home. It was April 1980 and a sign of the times was that both clubs were in the old second division. Keane could try mentioning that if Sunderland lose today, or where the club were on this weekend a year ago, 19th in what remains England's second division.
Ears will be deaf to such perspective. Speak to seasoned watchers of this derby and they will tell you that for Sunderland this is the most anticipated derby at home since the play-offs in 1990. Sunderland won that on aggregate but the second leg at St James' Park was held up for 20 minutes because of crowd trouble spilling onto the pitch. By 1997 fans would be banned by the police from visiting each other's grounds.
Matters have calmed since but that does not mean the tension will not be great and hostile this lunchtime. Some neutrals might consider the fact that both clubs are not in one city dilutes the rivalry but Keane offered an example of why that view is not rounded.
"Manchester United and Liverpool," he said. "The people in those cities don't particularly like each other and football is a great chance for it to come out and be shown. It can add to it that they are not from the same city. When you know football and speak to other people, they do tell you what games mean to them. I know lads from Sunderland and Newcastle who would always talk about that game. You have to respect that and United-City, Celtic-Rangers, Arsenal-Tottenham, Liverpool-Everton - this game is up there in terms of rivalry with the fans.
"But until you come you are not really aware of what it means to the punters and I am under no illusion about what this means to the fans. People show it in different ways, sometimes they just say: 'You just have to go out and beat them', or 'You have to beat that lot'. Sometimes it's a bit more aggressive than that. And that's just from the directors."
Keane went to St James' last Saturday to watch Newcastle lose 4-1 at home to Portsmouth. He did not think Newcastle were as poor as the scoreline suggests and said the reception he was given by Newcastle supporters was neither "threatening" nor "humorous". Today, however, Keane is likely to be baited endlessly by the visitors, especially if Newcastle are winning. He will definitely not find it amusing.
"I know it's a cliché but this is a cup final," said Michael Bolam in an effort to explain the sentiment locally today and historically. Bolam is the author of The Newcastle Miscellany and runs the fan website NUFC.com. He could be said to be partial.
"The difference is that it is a cup final Sunderland and Newcastle can win. That is not something we've done since 1955, Sunderland since 1973. Newcastle have reached three FA Cup finals since then, Sunderland one, and unless you were terminally daft not one fan of either club thought they'd win at Wembley. And they didn't.
"But we can win this. It's like a World Series involving only us and while you might not get a trophy, you get everything else. Post-match, you do get out-on-the-street celebrations here. In Sunderland sales of the Echo will soar if they win. It means everything. It's not sectarian, not religious, though there are some who go back to the English Civil War to see the origins of the rivalry.
"More recently, politically, there has been the Metro system - the fact that it took years to reach Sunderland - the fact the region was called Tyne and Wear in the local government re-organisation, and there is resentment on their part that they have to go somewhere called Newcastle airport to get on a plane. They feel injustices, they feel Newcastle are the Fat Cats. In turn we feel they are Hillbillies, and now they've gone all Ballykissangel."
Bolam noted that when Newcastle were thrilling under Kevin Keegan, they collected lots of Irish support along the way. "Now they're with Sunderland. We look upon the whole Irish thing with amused bewilderment."
The atmosphere inside the Stadium of Light - Newcastle fans traditionally get up early on these mornings to doctor those road signs - Bolam expects to be "energy-charged, but better than 10 years ago, though there will be people in there who would happily murder each other."
Deep down, he said, there is "a grudging acknowledgement on both sides that these are two clubs with great support who under-achieve. Sunderland were once the Bank of England club, Newcastle were famed cup fighters."
Following the Portsmouth embarrassment, which came a week after a loss at Reading - meaning Newcastle have not won away from home since the opening day of the season - Bolam said Newcastle fans are approaching today "with apprehension".
He clearly smells danger in Michael Chopra, who scored for Newcastle the last time these two met here in April of last year.
Apprehension also features highly in the chat of Sunderland fans. There may be underlying appreciation of where the club is compared to two years ago but it is seven games stretching back over nearly two months since they saw their team win.
"The way Sam and Newcastle play, they will put you under pressure," Keane said, "we need leaders and warriors to say 'I can handle tackles but also handle the ball'. It is our job to get that right.
"From my past experience I am not expert at drawing the line, but it is getting the balance right and staying focused. You have to ignore the media and the punters, but appreciate what it means to the fans and to wear your own jersey giving your all. But we will have to produce quality.
"At a club like Sunderland every game seems like a must-win, every game there is something at stake. That is the edge I like and one of the attractions of coming here. Newcastle will put us under pressure, they won't be playing too much pretty stuff particularly in their own half. They will be wanting us to play in our own half and we will need leaders and warriors to step up."
