An infamous night on Tyneside when Newcastle's then manager Ruud Gullit dropped Alan Shearer, talisman and idol of The Toon Army, and Duncan Ferguson. Instead, Gullit preferred 20-year-old striker Paul Robinson - a former Sunderland season ticket holder - to his established strike duo.
We asked our chief football writer Phil McNulty to give his most memorable derbies between Newcastle and Sunderland.
Read on to find out which ones he chose.
Newcastle United 1 Sunderland 2 – 25 August 1999
An infamous night on Tyneside when Newcastle's then manager Ruud Gullit dropped Alan Shearer, talisman and idol of The Toon Army, and Duncan Ferguson. Instead, Gullit preferred 20-year-old striker Paul Robinson - a former Sunderland season ticket holder - to his established strike duo.
It was a desperate throw of the dice by a manager whose hopes to bring 'sexy football' to Newcastle were fading. In fact, it was the decision that effectively ended Gullit's reign.
On a rain-lashed night, Kieron Dyer gave Newcastle a first-half lead, but Niall Quinn's header brought The Black Cats level after the interval.
Shearer was eventually brought on as a substitute with the score still level, but the momentum was now with Sunderland. Kevin Phillips scoring what turned out to be the winner.
The fall-out for Gullit and Newcastle was inevitable.
"I went barging into Ruud Gullit's office the following morning," recalled Shearer, "but Big Dunc had already beaten me to it and was tearing the paint off the walls."
Gullit, knowing the writing was on the wall, quit within days.
Category: General Sports
