Tomorrow (Sun, Jan 16) will see three of the biggest English derby games played, in a day which has been billed as the ultimate 'Super Sunday.'
Brummies like to think Birmingham is England's second city and they say that Aston Villa against Birmingham is the most important game in the calender.
In the North East, where the locals' love for foootball is as strong as the Geordie accent (for evidence think of Gazza's magical command of English), Sunderland host Newcastle and are hoping to make amends for the five nil drubbing the Magpies dished out to the Black Cats earlier in the season.
Over in Liverpool, in the port city which backs on to the Irish Sea in the west of the country, David Moyes' Everton will make the short walk across Stanley Park - a sort of grassy Scouse no mans land - from Goodison Park to Anfield. They are aiming to inflict a third straight defeat on Reds' folk hero Kenny Dalglish, who has been parachuted into the club's hot-seat following the untimely departure of Roy Hodgson.
Aside from the desperate need to win to grant their fans' bragging rights for the rest of the year, each club is experiencing a mini-crisis of its own.
Birmingham are one point off the relegation zone. Their boss Alex McLeish has just picked up the underperforming David Beckham-alike David Bentley from Spurs on a six-month loan deal and, from the same club, aging Irish striker Robbie Keane for £6 million.
Aston Villa are routed in the bottom three and in a transition period with new manager Gerard Houllier struggling to steady a ship still rocking after the departure of the best young British manager right now, Martin O'Neill.
On Wearside (Sunderland is on the River Wear) a minor miracle is happening. Former Manchester United striker Steve Bruce has only been in the job a couple of years but has taken the club to the brink of a European place and assembled a young, overperforming squad, helped in part by some clever loan deals, including Danny Welbeck from his old boss in Manchester, Alex Ferguson. Bruce is also getting the best out of the club's elder players such as Darren Bent and promoting local talent from the region such as dynamic midfielder Jordan Henderson.
Newcastle, on the other hand, are a club at the mercy of a ruthless owner: businessman Mike Ashley, who is the owner of Sports International. He is a man who made his money buying brands (namely high street sports shops) and turning their fortunes around. Try as he might, Ashley's shrewd business approach has so far not paid dividends at Newcastle United. He is mainly to blame.
He sacked one of the most promising young English managers only a few weeks a ago, Chris Hughton - despite the Londoner having turned the club into a solid top ten team - and replaced him with Alan Pardew, the former Charlton Athletic boss who, most recently, was sacked by Southampton for failing to take The Saints up to The Championship from the Division 1.
Yet is it in Merseyside (Liverpool is on the River Mersey) where things are really afoot. 20 years after he was last in charge at Anfield, when he won the old first Division (and Liverpool last won the title), Kenny Dalglish is back at the helm. He had visions of being Roy Hodgson's long-term replacement but after two games and two losses there is discontent behind the scenes.
Ironicallly, it was a dramatic 4-4 draw with Everton in the Merseyside derby in 1991 which spelt the end for the Scot last time. That game is remembered as one of the greatest derby matches ever played, because Tony Cottee scored two late goals to help Everton hold their rivals to a draw after extra-time in a fifth-round FA Cup replay at Goodison Park.
Pundits say the immense strain occasioned first by the Heysel disaster, which was compounded by the Hillsborough disaster a short while later, finally told on the man.
Characterised by kamikaze defending, Liverpool threw away a seemingly unassailable lead and, a few days later, in February 1991, the stress Dalglish had been internalising for far too long prompted his resignation.
The question on everyone's lips now is, with shear survival at stake, might the same happen again?
Watch the clip of Everton v Liverpool in 1991 - http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt616hEtp38&feature=related - with Ian Rush, Peter Beardsley and Neville Southall, true greats 90s, and ask yourself: Was That the best derby ever played?
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