So are City! This one team in on Tyneside stuff is bullshit.
The Newcastle Metropolitan area (Tyne-Wear) includes Gateshead, North Shields, South Shields, and Sunderland.
Gateshead was traditionally Sunderland oriented as was South Shields while North Shields was mixed. Even areas like Durham and Chester-le-Street were very Sunderland back in the day.
Now out-migration from Newcastle has changed some of these patterns. I recall having a long talk with a Sunderland supporter after the League Cup Final. He was from Durham and bemoaning the impact of Newcastle supporters moving in.
I’m sorry like, but that’s pure fucking horseshit.
I live in North Shields, my mam and my stepdad are from North Shields, they both grew up on what later became the notorious Meadowell estate.
North Shields has never ever in its entire history been a mixed area for our supporters.
North of the Tyne as I have said in a previous post is full Newcastle United. The vast majority of South Tyneside is Newcastle United, except for a small area that includes Boldon, and Whitburn which are right next to Sunderland, even then they both still have significant Newcastle United fans.
South Shields is probably about 40/40 with 20 floating.
Washington despite being under control of Sunderland council is about 50/50 due to how historically it was easier to get a bus from Washington to Newcastle, then it was to get one to Sunderland. A lot of Washington is actually closer to Tyneside than it is to Sunderland, and it’s a new town, so filled with Tyneside overspill.
Areas of Durham has always seen significant Newcastle fans, fun fact, Sir Bobby Robson was from Durham. Chester-Le-Street is actually exactly the same distance between Newcastle, Sunderland, and Durham, though it is significantly faster to travel to Newcastle and Durham from it. It also has a railway line taking you directly to Newcastle and Durham.
Northern Durham areas like Stanley is actually on the Tyne valley, you actually get a pretty good picture SJP from areas such as Burnopfield.
Sunderland fans like to say that Durham was always 100% red & white, and call the Newcastle United fans who live there 92’s because according to them they never supported us until the Premier League came about in 1992, the irony is that Newcastle United were not in the Premier League in it’s formative year.