Sunderland boss Roy Keane will be hoping to persuade Michael Chopra to join the Mackems today, much to the anger of many fans over at the Stadium of Light. But is it such a big deal?
Personally I'm more upset Freddy Shepherd didn't have the brain cells to add a move-on clause in the contract so the Magpies could get some of the money!
Is Chopra Move Such A Big Deal?
By Nu Mad
Updated Thursday, 12th July 2007
But the fans on Wearside seem to have long memories, and how can they forget Lee Clark and THAT T-shirt? That obviously sticks in the thoat.
And if anyone is visiting Durham City, pop up Crossgate bank to a pub called 'The Angel'. You will be greeted by an autographed shirt as soon as you walk through the door, and that shirt has caused a mountain of controversy in that bar for years.
It is Lee Clark's number 10 ... but actually a Sunderland shirt! The Mags hate it because it is red and white; the Mackems hate it because it is Lee Clark. But that is what happens when players cross the 'Great Divide'.
Chopra, who moved to Ninian Park for £500,000 from Newcastle last summer, could earn the Welsh side 10 times that figure if he agrees personal terms and passes a medical with the Wearsiders.
Cardiff boss Dave Jones: "I am sorry to see him go, everybody in the camp is. But at the end of the day there is a price for every player. The money could go on to make us stronger.
Chopra is expected on Wearside this morning to undergo a medical examination after agreeing to become Roy Keane's third summer signing.
The 23-year-old instructed his representatives to conclude the deal on his behalf having decided that the chance to continue his career in the Premier League was too good to turn down.
The former England Under-21 international remains unproven in top-flight football and has scored just once in the Premier League - ironically, against Sunderland in the last Wear-Tyne derby 15 months ago.
No less than 30 players have signed for both clubs since the war, although not all have played for them both. Lionel Perez never played a first team match for Newcastle although he was on the books, and Alan Brown and Howard Gayle were only on loan.
But big name players have done it without too much fuss. It boils down to ability, and both sets of fans were happy to have the likes of Bob Moncur, Stan Anderson, Paul Bracewell, Alan Foggon, David Kelly, Alan Kennedy, Tommy Gibb, Pop Robson, Len Shackleton, Barry Venison and Chris Waddle.
Some have left making 'parting shots', but it depends how deep they feel about their roots. Bracewell wanted a two-year contract, Sunderland wouldn't give him one (but Newcastle would) so he was quick to pass comments on a "club with no ambition". It had nothing to do with any Geordie/Mackem roots, just a problem over a contract.
But it's when supporters of one club move on that you have problems. Len Shackleton and Chris Waddle were die-hard Sunderland fans. Lee Clark, Robbie Elliott, Michael Bridges and MICHAEL CHOPRA born and bred Geordies.
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