Played For Both Newcastle and Sunderland – Top 10 Players
5. Barry Venison
Sunderland – 205 appearances
Newcastle – 134 appearances
Venison began his career with Sunderland and became the youngest-ever captain in a Wembley Cup Final when he captained the Black Cats in the 1985 League Cup defeat to Norwich. He made nearly 200 appearances on Wearside before Kenny Dalglish paid £250,000 for his services to bring him to Anfield. A huge vote of confidence considering the Reds had just achieved the Double that season.
He was sold to Newcastle in 1992 with two league titles and an FA Cup medal in his pocket. The Magpies were an up-and-coming side under Kevin Keegan’s stewardship and had come up from the Second Division.
Venison had by this point been transformed into a holding midfielder and his performances had caught the eye of England manager Terry Venables. Aged 30, he made his international bow against the USA in 1994 with a second and final appearance against Uruguay the following year.
Venison was instrumental in reviving Newcastle’s fortunes – in 1995 they qualified for Europe for the first time since the 1970s. After two seasons in the new Premier League, he broke the mould in England by sampling the European game, and most likely a bigger pay packet, when Galatasaray bought him in the summer of 1995.
4. Lee Clark
Newcastle – 265 appearances
Sunderland – 89 appearances
Clark came through the ranks at Newcastle in the early 90s and was a big part of the entertainers that were Premier League runners-up in 1996 and 1997. He had two seasons at Sunderland winning the First Division title in 1999.
The dynamic midfielder swapped Tyneside for Wearside in 1997 and enjoyed a hugely successful two years in Peter Reid’s team.
Days after clinching their Premier League return, Clark decided to travel to Wembley and support Newcastle in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United. He was seen wearing a t-shirt with a message derogatory towards Black Cats fans ahead of that game. He never played for Sunderland again.
Clark returned to St. James’ Park for a year in the 2004/05 campaign. With all the controversy aside, he is definitely among the best players to have played for both Newcastle and Sunderland.
3. Stan Anderson
Sunderland – 402 appearances
Newcastle – 81 appearances
It takes something pretty special to captain Newcastle United , Sunderland and Middlesbrough, which is why only Stan Anderson has done it. Charlie Hurley is widely regarded as Sunderland’s greatest player, but he is adamant Anderson was the best wing-half he played with.
In 1949 he came to Sunderland as an amateur, signing as a professional on his 17th birthday in 1951 and debuting in October 1952 at Roker Park against Portsmouth.
A rare homegrown player in the era of the ‘Bank of England’ side of the fifties, Stan scored the first of his 35 Sunderland goals against Newcastle.
He played in two FA Cup semi-finals, but his greatest day came in 1961 when he capped a fabulous display with both goals in a famous FA Cup win over Arsenal, which was watched by over 58,000.
He never wanted to leave Sunderland, but under pressure from manager Alan Brown, he left the club to join Newcastle United in 1963.
After captaining Newcastle to promotion, he completed his north-east hat-trick by playing for Middlesbrough who he later managed to promote.