Reid divides Sunderland fans as Boro fall back

When Peter Reid walked down to the touchline at Ewood Park 20 minutes into Sunderland's opening game of the season, he received an ovation from his supporters. In virtually no other club would this be worthy of comment; but there are few where the relationship between fans and manager is so obviously strained as on the Wear.

After a pre-season in which Reid had famously suffered lager being thrown into his face and been told that a majority at the Stadium of Light wanted the chairman, Bob Murray, to sack him, a gutsy, goalless draw that succeeded in keeping the attacking talents of Damien Duff, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole at bay would have been greeted with the same kind of relief with which John Mills tasted his ice-cold beer in Alexandria.

"When we went forward the fans were superb," said the Sunderland captain, Michael Gray. "We could hear them above the Blackburn fans all game. When we saw the manager afterwards, they had put a smile back on his face."

Reid still insists that only a minority of fans want him removed from a post he has held since the bleak March of 1995 when Sunderland faced relegation to the old Third Division, although the evidence is to the contrary. They were, however, not as united as Gray might have thought.

Peter Deaykin, editor of the Sunderland fanzine, Sex and Chocolate, described the atmosphere among Sunderland fans at Ewood as: "Awful, with people fighting among each other all over the ground. They were more supportive [of Reid] than in pre-season because you had a big first-day ticket allocation, the performance was quite good and those that support the club on pre-season tours tend to be different – die-hards who have been to every game and feel very let down.

"Ever since we went to Liverpool [in November] the atmosphere has been terrible between the pro-Reid and the anti-Reid factions. At Blackburn, I saw some lads with T-shirts saying "Save our Sunderland – Murray Out, Reid Out" confronted by about 15 pro-Reid supporters which very nearly came to blows."

Nevertheless, most would have returned to Wearside satisfied with the performance, especially that by the highly regarded Stephen Wright, signed from Liverpool for £3m. Should Reid finally persuade Tore Andre Flo to leave Rangers for Sunderland, the optimism might last. The main stumbling blocks appear to be the reluctance of Flo's wife to leave Glasgow and his insistence on some kind of loyalty payment. However, sources at Ibrox and the Stadium of Light are confident the deal will be done before the transfer window closes a the end of the month, which should appease those fans who turned on Reid in greater numbers when the deal to sign Robbie Keane fell through.

Thirty miles down the North Sea coast, they are contemplating another goalless draw which Middlesbrough would have found rather more disappointing than their neighbours. It was not just that Steve McClaren has spent £20m in the summer, but a feeling that, after making a solid recovery from the worst excesses of Bryan Robson's regime which ended with 54 players on the books, Boro could prove very sleek dark horses.

Instead, they failed to muster a single shot at Southampton's net and nobody disappointed more than Massimo Maccarone, who scored a dazzling individual goal to overcome England at Elland Road last season and on whom McClaren had invested £8m. McClaren, who saw his 18-year-old left-back, David Murphy, taken off on a stretcher, also witnessed an anonymous debut by Geremi, brought in on loan from Real Madrid.

Maccarone's debut did not compare with the last Italian striker to be brought to the Riverside. Fabrizio Ravanelli hit a hat-trick in his first game against Liverpool in 1996 and had the pedigree of being part of the Juventus side which had just lifted the European Cup. Maccarone, by contrast, is very young and unproven, having played his club football so far for Empoli in Serie B. As Graeme Souness discovered when lavishing £6m of Blackburn's money on the misfiring Corrado Grabbi, players from Italy's second tier are not guaranteed to prosper in the Premiership.

The Italian appeared to need the support of a target man and may eventually prosper once Alen Boksic is fully fit. As it was, a calf strain meant that the injury-prone Croatian was allowed just a quarter of an hour at St Mary's.

What might have happened had Juninho been available is a matter for conjecture. The Brazilian, on his third tour of duty on Teesside, had looked wonderfully impressive in the friendly victory over Alaves until tearing his cruciate ligaments against Modena.

"What was obvious from this game was that minus Juninho's influence, it will take longer for the new arrivals to fully find their feet," wrote Rob Nichols, editor of the Boro fanzine, Fly Me to the Moon. Time and patience are commodities Middlesbrough fans are, however, prepared to extend to their manager. Whether that is true at Sunderland will be discovered 20 minutes into Saturday's game with Everton.