Savage fist fights, a poke in the eye and a kick in the head (and that's just the players)... it's the first Wear-Tyne derby for eight years - stand by for more fire and fury

Paul Hardyman once kicked Newcastle keeper John Burridge in the head after missing a penalty in a Wear-Tyne derby and was sent off.

But it is two stories he tells about policemen that better capture the hostility of the fixture.

‘I signed for Sunderland in 1989 from Portsmouth,’ the former left back begins. ‘We were on the coach to my first away derby and Gordon Armstrong (Newcastle born) asked what was the biggest I’d played in. I told him Portsmouth v Southampton. He said, “That’s nothing compared to this, this is horrific.