Born on this day is former Sunderland fullback Phil Bardsley, who spent six years on Wearside. Bardsley was 22 years old when we signed him in January 2008, with manager Roy Keane making use of his connections with the Red Devils. Bardsley made his debut in a 2-0 win over Birmingham City, and played 11 times after signing in January. At the end of that season he had beaten relegation with us for the first time, but certainly not the last. The following season, the right back scored his first...

On this day in 2015, Sunderland secured survival with one of the best defensive displays the Emirates has ever seen. When Dick Advocaat came to Sunderland, he had nine games to avoid relegation from the Premier League and, with one game to spare, he did just that. In terms of actual chances, the game was pretty low in quality but it was such a tense game as the stakes were so high. Costel Pantilimon was outstanding in goal to deny the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, as Sunderland...

Ahead of our trip to the dark side on Sunday, we thought we'd look back at some of the famous victories Sunderland have had over Newcastle United in their own backyard. On 24th February 1979, Sunderland beat Newcastle 4-1 at St James’ Park, with Gary Rowell famously bagging a hat trick. Billy Elliott’s promotion-hunting Lads battered the Mags in their own backyard. Only five minutes into the game Rowell netted the first, when he ghosted between the Magpies centre backs and slotted it in....