Mark Viduka played in the Old Firm games but he thinks there is little to choose between the Old Firm and Tyne-Wear rivalries.
The only difference ... ours is about FOOTBALL ... not a battle that took place in Ireland over 400 years ago!
The Newcastle striker is set to appear in his first derby game at St James's Park on Sunday.
Viduka: "The only thing I can really compare it to is the Celtic-Rangers games I was involved with in Scotland.
"They were big, big games and everybody talks about the depth of the Old Firm rivalry, but I honestly think Newcastle-Sunderland is right up there with it.
"In Scotland, everyone looks forward to the Old Firm games from the first weekend of the season. In the North East, it's the same with Newcastle against Sunderland.
"You play football for those sort of games and that sort of atmosphere. The rivalry spurs you on, it's what football should always be about.
"It's important to finish the season strongly.
"A month or so ago, we were struggling for confidence and some of the supporters were probably wondering where the next win was going to come from.
"That's changed now. We've picked things up and, especially at home, we've had some great performances and scored plenty of goals. We want to maintain that over the last four matches.
"Everybody wants to see Newcastle beating teams comfortably at home, and we want to see that as well. It's not always going to be a comfortable game, but as long as we play nice football and are resilient like we were against Portsmouth, we know we're on the right track.
"It's a massive game for us. I can assure you each and every member of the squad knows exactly what this means to the fans.
"We're going into it with a positive attitude because of the way the last month has gone.
"I've been in the North East long enough to know what this game is all about, and I played in the last derby and really enjoyed it.
"The result wasn't quite what we wanted, but everything else about the occasion was superb.
"It'll be even better now that we're at home.
"With 52,000 Geordies roaring us on, it's going to be something special."