WILSON'S WORLD: Rival Sunderland and Newcastle bosses have much in common ahead of 'Desperation Derby'

Ask Allardyce to choose his most disappointing moment in management, and he won’t select the same game. Instead, as his recently-released autobiography proves, he will refer to the moment in 2006 when the Football Association overlooked his claims to be England manager.  The man who got the job instead of him? McClaren.

The pair’s managerial history has already been massively intertwined. They have met on 12 previous occasions, and the statistics could hardly be more even. Four wins for McClaren, four for Allardyce, and four draws. Never, though, have they shared an experience like the one they are going to encounter on Sunday.

The ‘desperation derby’, the ‘North-East cup final’, the ‘game that defines a season’. However you want to describe it, there is no getting away from the fact that the twice-yearly meetings of Sunderland and Newcastle United have assumed an importance that far outweighs the achievements and national profile of the two teams contesting them.

It’s a sad reflection on the general state of North-East football, but the malaise on both Wearside and Tyneside is the key reason why the derby has attained so much significance in recent years. With nothing else to celebrate, a victory over the regional rivals becomes one of the few attainable targets at the start of each campaign.

Sunderland might have been battling against relegation for most of the last four years, but a couple of fans I was speaking to last week were still willing to describe the recent past as something of a ‘golden period’ simply because their side had recorded five straight wins over Newcastle.

From a fans’ perspective, what happens on Sunday will shape an entire year. From the point of view of the two people in the dug outs, this weekend’s events have the potential to make or break a managerial career.

Winning a derby might not guarantee job security – just ask Paolo Di Canio or Gustavo Poyet, both of whom secured convincing derby wins for Sunderland, only to be dismissed shortly after – but losing to the auld enemy has the potential to cause irreparable damage to a manager’s reputation.

Alan Pardew’s dreadful derby record was a key factor in his failure to win over a large section of Newcastle fans, who interpreted his teams’ limp displays against Sunderland as proof of a chronic inability to inspire passion and commitment in those under his control.

Steve Bruce has created a mythology about his time at the Stadium of Light, but while his constant insistence that Sunderland fans never took to him because of his ‘Geordie roots’ is an attempt to rewrite history, it is undeniable that his background became more of an issue after his side collapsed to a 5-1 defeat at St James’ Park.

With that in mind, it is easy to construct an argument that says Sunday’s game is much more important for Allardyce given his history as manager of the Magpies.

The 61-year-old’s time on Tyneside has barely been mentioned by Sunderland fans since his appointment, with most simply relieved they have an experienced figure leading their side’s survival bid. Would that still be the case if the Black Cats were to relinquish their regional supremacy on Sunday though?

Allardyce would have some serious explaining to do if he was to become the first Sunderland manager since Bruce to lose to Newcastle. His only Wear-Tyne derby as Magpies manager finished as a 1-1 draw, with James Milner cancelling out Danny Higginbotham’s opener, so he doesn’t really have any derby-day history to atone for in the eyes of the Black Cats fans.

Nevertheless, for all that has arrival has generally been well received, a derby defeat so early in his reign would put him onto the back foot from the off, particularly as a Sunderland reverse on Sunday would see them six points behind Newcastle and still rooted to the foot of the table.

A Sunderland win, however, would leave them level with the Magpies on points, and potentially even ahead of their rivals depending on goal difference. In terms of generating the kind of momentum that has eluded Sunderland so far, it’s hard to imagine a better way of providing a fillip.

Newcastle go into Sunday’s game with the wind in their sails thanks to last weekend’s six-goal romp against Norwich City, and with that in mind, it is tempting to conclude that McClaren’s need for a derby win is not as acute as Allardyce’s. Tempting, but wrong.

McClaren was treading on some very thin ice ahead of last weekend’s meeting with the Canaries, with Newcastle fans reacting furiously to his suggestion that the opening eight matches of the campaign had effectively been an “extended pre-season”.

His appointment was far from universally popular, and while Mike Ashley’s dislike of managerial upheaval means he will be afforded plenty of time no matter what happens this weekend, it is not hard to envisage a scenario where he is battling against the same level of supporter disquiet that ultimately persuaded Pardew to plot an escape route to Crystal Palace.

The record-breaking run of five successive derby defeats is regarded as an unacceptable level of torture by most Newcastle fans, and if that tally was to become six on Sunday, the fall out would be considerable. Any positivity generated by last weekend’s victory would vanish in an instant, and the Magpies would head into a key run of matches swept up in a maelstrom of anger and furious recrimination.

Win, however, and McClaren immediately has a positive derby record on his CV, something that has not been the case for a boss on Tyneside since the days of Chris Hughton. When it comes to immunising him against the negative effects of problems that might lie around the corner, it wouldn’t be a bad way to start.