Not quite the Newcastle United 11 in a row for Sunderland | OneFootball

I have been intrigued to listen to some comments made over the last couple of weeks, comparing the unbeaten Sunderland start to their current Championship season, with Newcastle United’s spectacular unbeaten run at the beginning of the 1992/93 season.

Newcastle won their first 11 games of the season 32 years ago, culminating in a 2-1 win against the mackems at Roker Park.

The 1992/93 season saw the conception of the Premier League, so the Tyne and Wear rivals were playing in what had become the new First Division.

With Sunderland winning their first four league games this season, I got the impression that some of the more gullible Wearside support were getting a little bit carried away.

This weekend’s 3-2 defeat against Wayne Rooney’s lowly Plymouth Argyle at Home Park may just give some of their dreamers some food for thought.

When Kevin Keegan took the reins at St James’ Park in the dark days of the 1991/92 Second Division campaign, he inherited a squad from Ossie Ardiles that was packed with youngsters.

After somehow rescuing United from hurtling into the old Third Division in our centenary year, Keegan went about bringing in experienced players for the following campaign.

The likes of Brian Kilcline and Kevin Sheedy had already been signed during the recent emotional relegation dog-fight.

In pre-season KK brought Barry Venison back to the North East from Liverpool, plus signed John Beresford from Portsmouth.

He also managed to snaffle Sunderland’s skipper Paul Bracewell on a free transfer, which didn’t go down well on the Wear.

These players would shortly be followed by the capture of Rob Lee from Charlton Athletic for a substantial fee. Newcastle United had been brave and were definitely not frightened to splash the cash, in order to hopefully soon join in with the Premier League jamboree.

So what I’m trying to get at here, is that by the time we were on that magical carpet ride at the beginning of the 1992/93 season, we had some real experience in our ranks.

Combining the likes of Venison, Sheedy, Lee, O’Brien, Bracewell and Brock, with the youthful exuberance of the likes of Lee Clark and Steve Howey was the ideal formula that got Newcastle off to an incredible start to the season.

Newcastle also had an excellent goalscoring centre forward in David Kelly, not to forget his admirable sidekick Gavin Peacock. We never looked back as we stormed into the Premier League in 1993 as First Division Champions.

Do I think Newcastle United will ever win our opening 11 league fixtures ever again? Probably not.

I’ll no doubt be having a pint soon in Tynemouth Club with my octogenarian Sunderland season ticket holding pal Ralphy. I know he had been excited by their start but I told him that the lack of experience in their ranks was there for all to see.

To guarantee success at that level you must have experience blended with an element of youth. It goes without saying that you also need a proper centre forward.

As it happens, along with the 1983/84 season, 1992/93 was the most memorable in my lifetime. Both played in the second tier.

Now the game has changed so much and the only place to be is in the Premier League