First of all a disclaimer: this article is not about Harold Bishop, Toadfish Rebecci or any of those Antipodean soap opera characters. We’re talking about football neighbours here and we are going to focus our attention on not one neighbour but four of them. The Lads have three league sides as comparative neighbours, and a few more too in non-league such as Super Kev’s South Shields, and what a job he’s done there. Side note, I still can’t get used to him and also Fleetwood Town’s Scott Brown with a full blown stylish haircut having seen them for seasons on end with a shaved short hairstyle. But I digress further.
Obviously; we will start with the Barcodes up the road. Are we jealous of what they are doing? Only a select few of us will openly admit the Lads are just that, and I’m not one of those. This is despite them having a bit of a ride on the Saudi money. But I’m convinced, like most things in life, that nothing lasts forever and a day and eventually it’s going to all blow up and go wrong. Sure the Cartoon fans, including the three I work with, refuse to believe this. But Blackburn under Sir Jack Walker had a similar ambition in the mid 90s didn’t they; and we all know how that turned out. We will always have the last laugh like.
Let’s head down the A19 next and consider the Smoggies as our second port of call in this article. Sure they’ve enjoyed a ride of their own since Carrick was appointed. One minute they were flirting with a drop, the next they’re pushing Sheffield United for that second automatic spot behind Burnley. Granted Carrick has galvanised them but are they really the real deal? Considering what we have to deal with all season, I do think we are very much on a par with them and would be just as decent if we had had a settled line up to call on. I’m sure they’ll be reliant on Stevie Gibson to bankroll some serious transfer cash if they do go up.
Now onto the lesser neighbourly lights who have had many a connection with the Lads.
I’m going to talk about Hartlepool first, the town I was born in and home to a team that I always look out for after the Lads results come in. Pools are at the moment, facing a battle to stay in the league for the second time in less than ten seasons and at the moment: it looks pretty bleak unless they defeat Crawley this Saturday in the proverbial six pointer at the Vic. Lose that and they’re pretty much down. Pools have over the years played the Lads in friendlies pre-season and had many a SAFC youth on loan or former Lads player don the blue and white. Which can also be said for...
Darlington. The Quakers have had their fair share of connections too, and players such as Brian Atkinson, Martin Gray, Super Marco, Gary Bennett and Craig Russell have all starred for the Lads and latterly also in the Darlo black and white. Some could argue that Darlo is like an end of career stop off point for former Lads players than anywhere else. And it’s not hard to agree with that sentiment either. Not content with that, it’s worth noting that fabled chairman George Reynolds, you know the former safe cracker turned chipboard magnate turned criminal again, was born in Sunderland and was a Lads fan as a boy.
The good thing about all these connections with all the aforementioned is that it creates a buzz especially when the Lads are taking on one of them. We all know what Tyne-Wear derbies are like, and anyone who can’t get motivated for one of them needs to give their head a wobble. Wear-Tees derbies are intense but not on the same scale as if we are playing the Barcodes. But outside these derbies, I must admit the FA Cup tie between the Lads and Pools in 2004 was an incredible atmosphere especially with 9109 away fans making such a noise that even some Premier League sides could be shown up by.
Long may the neighbours stay alive, without them we would miss the rivalry and full blooded encounters where no quarter is given. Just remember they do actually think the same about the Lads really, sometimes they hide it carefully but it’s there. Football is nothing without a bit of bragging rights being at stake, in fact it’s probably why we follow the Lads home and away for nine or ten months of the year. And that’s something that’s in our DNA from an early age. Embrace it.
