In this week's helping of the North-East digest, our writers Scott Wilson and Dominic Shaw bring you the latest developments and behind the scenes insight from Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland:

One deal Sunderland won't be able to revisit

Sunderland did plenty of good work in the January transfer window, the highlight being the capture of Joe Gelhardt, the talented Leeds United forward who was wanted by plenty of Championship clubs. Kristjaan Speakman this week said it was the most "competitive" battle for a loan player he's ever been involved in.

While Sunderland came out on top in the battle to sign Gelhardt, they missed out another young frontman.

"We worked really hard for a considerable amount of time to bring in another 18-year-old striker with huge potential," said Mowbray in his press conference on Friday.

"That didn't quite fall our way as well."

Asked whether that's a deal that could be revisited in the summer, Mowbray said: "No...he's gone somewhere else."

Shearer's shouts

Long after Newcastle's jubilant fans had left St James' Park on Tuesday night, the Sky cameras were still rolling, with host Mark Chapman and guest pundits David Ginola and Shay Given pitchside analysing the game for those watching from the comfort of their sofa at home.

And Given did a sterling job of keeping a straight face considering what was happening out of shot. From way up high just in front of the executive boxes at the top of the main stand, one Newcastle supporter, wearing a black and white scarf, repeatedly bellowed down to the former keeper and roared his name.

If Given thought he recognised the voice he'd have been right, for the fella shouting down was none other than Alan Shearer!

Dubravka medal quirk

Martin Dubravka could claim a Carabao Cup winners’ medal at the end of the month – if Manchester United beat Newcastle United in the final.

Dubravka returned to Tyneside when Newcastle cut short his loan deal with Manchester United earlier this month, and is expected to be on the bench when the Magpies host West Ham in the Premier League this afternoon.

However, he is ineligible for Newcastle’s Carabao Cup matches as he has already played for Manchester United in this season’s competition. The Slovakian was between the sticks when Manchester United claimed a 4-2 win over Aston Villa in November, and also started the Red Devils’ quarter-final victory over Burnley the following month.

There are 19 medals available for the 18 matchday squad members and manager of the winners of this month’s Wembley final – with the EFL providing another 11 medals that the winning club can distribute to the players and staff who have been involved in their successful cup run.

Dubravka would not be expected to receive a medal from Newcastle as he has not featured in any of the Magpies’ matchday squads in this season’s competition.

However, in a strange quirk, he might well be handed a winners’ medal if Manchester United triumph at Wembley to acknowledge his two appearances for Erik ten Hag’s side in this season’s Carabao Cup.

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Matthew Hoppe's 'interesting' loan

Middlesbrough striker Matthew Hoppe is hoping for some much-needed football in the second half of the season after joining Hibs on loan late on deadline day.

Hoppe has played just 62 minutes for Boro this season and hardly featured for Real Mallorca the year previous.

Hibs identified Hoppe as a target as they searched for a striker to take the pressure off their main man Kevin Nisbet, though boss Lee Johnson admits it's hard to know what to expect of the Boro loanee.

He told the Edinburgh News: “Matthew is not as advanced as the others (forwards) in terms of his exposure, even though he’s had international football.

“I think that one will be interesting. He will either take hold and take the challenge and perform well or it could be difficult because this is a tough league."

Wilder on the lookout for a job

Former Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder is on the lookout for a new job.

He's been priced up by the bookies as favourite for several vacancies since his Boro departure - from Portsmouth to Aberdeen - but is so far still without work.

In an interview with the Telegraph this week, Wilder pushed his sales pitch to clubs that could soon be on the lookout for new managers.

He believes he gets pigeonholed as a "northerner in a tracksuit who’s aggressive" but claims he's a "much better manager" now than when he won the LMA Manager of the Year award in 2019.

And he reckons that in time he'll be judged for his "body of work" rather than the way it ended at Boro.

Wilder does, however, accept that he badly dealt with the speculation linking him with Burnley when he was Boro boss.

“Looking back, I should have shut it down, I accept that,” he said.

“But I think it’s quite lazy to say that I took my eye off the ball or anything like that. It’s bull----. Ask those players if I took my foot off the gas in pre-season or in that changing room. We had a difficult summer window, but in my opinion the team was playing OK and everything was telling me results would turn.

“Michael Carrick will get recognition for the job he is doing now and quite rightly so. But I think we left the team in a good place for him. We had a brilliant cup run last season, beating Man United and Tottenham and, a bit like Michael got 25 points in his first 12 games, we took 24 points from our first 12 games.”

It's what happened after those 12 games that was the problem for Wilder. It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for the former Boro boss.