Animosity endures despite diverging fortunes of Sunderland and Newcastle

AGE-OLD RIVALRY: Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio (c) celebrates with the team after the third Sunderland goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Newcastle United and Sunderland at St James' Park on April 14, 2013. Pic: Stu Forster/Getty Images

The San Siro-bound Milanese metro carriage was uncomfortably overcrowded and the handful of locals on board looked distinctly uneasy as visiting Newcastle fans chanted three words at full volume.

“We hate Sunderland,” they chorused with some emphasising the point by thumping empty beer bottles against the train’s ceiling. “Why?” a thoroughly bemused Italian eventually inquired.