McCarthy respects blood and thunder of derby day

The Wearsiders' boss revealed, ahead of the 125th league meeting between the fierce rivals, that he enjoys a healthy relationship with the supporters of his Tyneside counterparts.

"The banter is always very good with the Newcastle fans," admitted McCarthy, who is looking to bounce back from last week's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.

"I have had no trouble at all, but when the game comes round I fully understand they might give me grief, which is par for the course, it goes hand in hand in football," said McCarthy.

"I have to be honest, I have had nothing but respect from Newcastle fans and I have always appreciated that.

"I get well treated by them wherever I go in Newcastle, at St James' (Park) or reserve games.

"They can give me all they want on Sunday, but afterwards I would like to think I will still get some respect from them and that they are fine with me."

There's no doubt McCarthy and his side will enter the St James' Park arena to a cauldron of hate, aside from the 3,000 travelling Black Cats' fans.

There's no deeper rivalry between two sets of supporters in the English game.

McCarthy says he expects a different atmosphere to the subdued one at the Stadium of Light in the first and only time he took charge of a Sunderland side in a Tyne and Wear derby - a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a Nolberto Solano penalty.

"The club was despondent last time," reflected McCarthy. "We were going down, there was apathy surrounding the place and that was the case with the performance and it was difficult.

"It was a very benign atmosphere and the game was ordinary. This will be different, I hope it is. A game like Sunderland v Newcastle should have an atmosphere befitting of it, that one wasn't."

Manchester United supporters provided a little taster of what McCarthy might expect when they barracked him throughout last weekend's Premiership clash at the Stadium of Light.

The Sunderland boss mischievously says he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.

"I am a former blue and I scored against Man United with a great diving header, an equaliser after Frank Stapleton had scored. I can't imagine any other reason why Man U fans would give me stick," said the Black Cats' boss, conveniently ignoring his spat with Roy Keane at the 2002 World Cup while he was Republic of Ireland boss.

McCarthy also revealed how he could have tasted Tyne and Wear derby clashes at first hand as a player, had a move to the North-East not fallen through.

Former Magpies boss Arthur Cox pursued McCarthy while he was a Barnsley player in the early 1980s but could not raise the cash to secure his services.

"Newcastle phoned me up a lot. I don't think any fan can prejudice me for that," revealed McCarthy.

"I was 22, at Barnsley and they wanted to sign me, so of course I was absolutely thrilled at that point in my career.

"At the time Arthur Cox came in for me and wanted to sign me but it didn't happen and I went to Man City."

Sunderland skipper Gary Breen reassured fans that he and his teammates are fully aware of what is at stake tomorrow when he said that not many derbys 'compare' to a Tyne and Wear clash.

He said: "When I was at Coventry, Aston Villa was the derby game because Birmingham were in the lower leagues.

"But that was nothing compared to this one.

"I don't think there are many derbies that do compare to Sunderland versus Newcastle.

"People talk about the Manchester and the Liverpool derbies, but they all grow up and work together in the same cities. It's different here, it's really tribal so they are massive occasions.

"I knew all about them before I came here because there were lads in the Irish squad who had played in them. I'm yet to play in one, but it should be good and I'm looking forward to it.

"Once you've played for Sunderland for any length of time, it becomes painfully obvious how much it means to both sets of supporters.

"If you talk to Sunderland fans, the Middlesbrough game doesn't compare to this one."

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