Champagne football sparks derby day joy

ROY Keane has hit a new high in his Sunderland career.

He has experienced a win in the Wear-Tyne derby and it tastes better than the most rump of steaks, the finest of wines and the biggest of cigars.

I have to say, the ridiculous amount of vodka I had after the game tasted just that little bit sweeter as well. And I wasn’t alone. The city was buzzing afterwards, as evening revellers and drunken football fans mingled as one to celebrate our first home win against the enemy for 28 years, without a hint of trouble.

Paddywhacks, Sunderland’s main Irish bar, is usually quite a reserved place, but it was overrun with delirious Mackems on Saturday night. Even the toilet attendant had picked up some Cisse aftershave, which he was doing a brisk trade in at £2 a squirt. For those not wanting a splash of Djibril, they could always take up his offer of “The smell of victory” for a pound.

Back in the bar, songs were sung loudly and proudly all night worshipping everyone and anyone red and white. Usually starting a football chant in a trendy bar will get you thrown out, but on Saturday you’d have been ejected if you didn’t join in. I even spotted one young lad so overcome with alcohol that he’d wet himself. Instead of horror on his face, there was simply a beaming smile that said we’d beaten the Mags.

It was almost surreal how comfortable the game was. We worked harder, we played better and the win was thoroughly deserved. Even towards the end we were piling men forward to try and get a third goal, rather than sitting back and trying to hold on. If you consider that we had at least €25million worth of talent not even playing, it shows you how strong our squad is now; the likes of Craig Gordon, Michael Chopra and Liam Miller were all missing.

It was nice to see Joey Barton talk to the press in the build-up to the game about how he was a changed man and he was looking to be a role model.

However, before he’d even got on the pitch he’d managed to cause a mini riot due to winding up our supporters whilst warming up. I find it disgusting that Newcastle fans could sing the bloke’s name in the stands.

The most amusing aspect is that the FA are looking at events that led to our supporters running onto the pitch at full time to celebrate, as if they’d came onto the field looking to fight, rather than simply hug their heroes.

Considering Barton has just got out of a six-month prison sentence, it’s hypocrisy at best that Newcastle are unhappy with our behaviour. We’ll not mention them invading the pitch in 1990 to try and get a play-off game against us abandoned whilst they were losing.

In the words of one unnamed prominent Irish writer, who sent me a text at full time, “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of tribalism.” The more we win against them the less we’ll aggravate them, but that was us getting 28 years of hurt out of our systems. Let’s look at it rationally though. Out of 48,000 fans there were only 29 arrests and whilst one officer was injured, no supporters were.

The buzz around the city now gives us an excellent platform to build on. In previous years, derby victories have given us the confidence to go on long winning runs and it’s vital we put on a good show at Stoke on Wednesday, with a trip to Stamford Bridge coming up this weekend. Prior to last week we’d beaten Chelsea home and away more recently than we had against Newcastle, so it’s not a game I fear, not after last weekend.

Most importantly we’ve shown the world what a packed Stadium of Light looks and sounds like with us winning big games with classy players, playing attractive, exciting football and providing the sort of intimidating atmosphere that can make our home a fortress.

If that’s not enough to convince Roy Keane to sign on the dotted line, I’ll bet any top manager watching us destroy the Magpies on Saturday would love to step into his shoes.

* Martyn McFadden www.a-love-supreme.com