Newcastle United derby match against Sunderland to be postponed?

I am really hoping this derby match between Newcastle United and Sunderland will be postponed.

Running scared?

No, not at all, I can guarantee you that I am not having sleepless nights at the thought of playing the Mackems.

Of course, the nerves will kick in ahead of a derby match, but that is the same with any game that I really want Newcastle United to win. Which is basically, all of them!

As for potentially seeing a derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland getting postponed.

Let me explain.

I am messing with you a little bit as I am not talking about the derby match on Wearside, it is the Tyneside one I am thinking of.

A lot of talk ahead of Sunday’s game, about how important this match is. Is it the most important game of the season for the fans of both clubs?

A daft question in my opinion, as how do you know what is to be put in front of us in the next five months or so?

Am I desperate to see Newcastle United repeat the easy 3-0 win over Sunderland that we all enjoyed 23 months ago? Absolutely.

Would it mean more than any other Newcastle win this season? Maybe.

Having ventured occasionally in recent times onto Sunderland media and fan opinion, the general feeling is that Mackems would absolutely do a deal with the devil if this season they were guaranteed to beat Newcastle United and simply survive in the Premier League. Indeed, there are definitely some of them that would take relegation, if the deal included beating Newcastle, especially if it was winning both derbies this season.

Of course I would love it if Newcastle United won the derbies this season BUT it doesn’t solely define me as a fan.

Going to an extreme, if Eddie Howe and his players lost twice to Sunderland BUT won every other single match in all four competitions, would you really be spending your summer holidays agonising over the Mackems having their open top bus celebration for doing the derby double?

Which brings me back to postponing the derby…

It is surely meant to be, it is written in the stars, that the timing of the derby match on Tyneside has fallen so.

Imagine the scene.

Imagine it gets towards March 2026 and Newcastle United fans saying to Sunderland fans; “Sorry, we are too busy with more important stuff, this derby is postponed as we are heading to our third Wembley final in four seasons and looking to make it trophy wins in consecutive seasons…”

Yes, by a potentially glorious twist of fate, the weekend in March when Newcastle United are set to host Sunderland, is also the weekend when the Carabao Cup final will be played.

If Eddie Howe’s side win on Wednesday at home to Fulham, Newcastle United will be once again only a two-legged semi-final away from another cup final.

This is where we get to the crux of how important is it to beat Sunderland?

It is very important BUT think back to 16 March 2025 and how you felt at the final whistle. If on 22 March 2026, the final whistle goes and you have just watched Newcastle United win ANOTHER trophy, where would that rank compared to what happens in tomorrow’s match, or indeed, whenever that home derby is played at St James’ Park, once we have all eventually sobered up.

When the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool have won the Champions League and Premier League titles, are their fans thinking; “Yes, but what about when whatever happened the derby…”

In simple terms, of course we would rather win against Sunderland in a match, as compared to any other opponent, in a match that meant the same (three points, or progress in a cup competition) regardless of the opponent.

I am not saying that Sunderland are small fry BUT here’s hoping we have bigger fish to fry this season and that as well as dreaming of winning more silverware, that when the Newcastle v Sunderland derby is eventually played at St James’ Park, the big thing will be that beating the mackems has helped us qualify for the Champions League, for a third time in four seasons…