Jack Colback believes the Stadium of Light will be "buzzing" for the first Tyne-Wear derby in eight years on Saturday but knows he would not be a popular presence at the fixture. The midfielder, now at QPR, jumped the divide when he left Sunderland for Newcastle on a free transfer in 2014, a move the Mackems described as leaving "a bitter taste in the mouth". As the teams prepare to do battle in the FA Cup, the 34-year-old admits the circumstances surrounding the move were not ideal but that he has great memories of representing both sides of the fence. Colback told LiveScore: "It's a fixture I can't compare to any other I've ever played in. "It was just intense and meant everything to both sets of fans. They will be buzzing. "Obviously it wasn't ideal scoring at St James' Park for Sunderland and then signing there that summer but that's football. It'll be a huge game.
"We [QPR] are playing but if we hadn't been this is a game I'd have loved to be in the stands for. "I don't think it would have gone down very well, though, so I'll just catch up with it on the telly!" The Newcastle of today is a different club to that which Colback represented 102 times between 2014 and 2017 before being frozen out under Rafa Benitez. And the midfielder believes the Magpies now have everything they need to become a powerful force in domestic and European football. He said: "It's completely different from when I was there. "They've got the investment and they've got all the power they need to get where they want to be. "Finishing in the top four last season was probably a bit ahead of schedule, it was a huge achievement. "The fans deserve it — and you can see from their reactions when they went out of the Champions League that they're not demanding too much. They were happy to be there for now and they believe more success will come. "Even when I was there, they were difficult times but the support was unbelievable. We'd have 5,000 or 6,000 fans for 300-400-mile away trips in the Championship on a Tuesday night.
"It's nice to see the mainstays at the top of the Premier League getting mixed up a bit." Colback never won the derby in black and white stripes with Newcastle failing to beat Sunderland in any of their last nine attempts, a run dating back to 2011. He expects Eddie Howe's side to take their chance on Saturday but acknowledges that a spicy home atmosphere will make things interesting. The QPR ace added: "I fancy Newcastle, the way they're going. Their form may not be great but as a club they are in a good place. "They will be up for it, particularly as they haven't got one over on Sunderland in years. "But you can't rule out Sunderland in front of their supporters. It's going to be a special game."
