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We catch up with the man who started the infamous Tyne-Wear derby of '99 ahead of Alan Shearer.

At St James Park on 25th August 1999, the stormy weather acted as a pathetic fallacy to Ruud Gullit's Geordie nightmare. On the pitch, there was a Sunderland fan living the dream in a Newcastle United shirt. Paul Robinson, a Sunderland-born striker, began his career at Division Three side Darlington and despite having only really made substitute appearances, was snapped up by Kenny Dalglish in March 1998 in a deal that also saw James Coppinger join the Magpies. Robinson bode his time in the reserves as he was forced to wait for a competitive first-team appearance, something which never arrived whilst under Dalglish's guidance. After a year of impressing in the second string his opportunity arrived in August 1999 thanks to the Scot's successor, Gullit. Robinson featured in the first three games of the 1999/00 season, all as a late substitute and all finishing in defeat for the Magpies. Despite featuring in these losses, Robinson did enough to persuade manager Gullit that he could be relied upon to lead the line on 21st August at home to Wimbledon, taking the place of Alan Shearer who was suspended. It wouldn't be the last time. A 3-3 thriller ensued and Robinson was at the heart of Newcastle's ultimately forlorn attempts at "sexy football", contributing to Gary Speed, Didier Domi and Nolberto Solano's goals. Newcastle held a 3-1 lead but a late Gareth Ainsworth double drew the game level, denying the Magpies their first win of the season and in the process heaping further pressure on Gullit. Robinson felt no pressure. Gullit neither. Never a man to knowingly shirk a possible confrontation, Gullit stuck true to the old adage of 'play well, keep your shirt' as he informed Robinson he would start the next game. A fully-fit, available-again Shearer was told to bring a cushion for the Tyne-Wear derby. The Geordie faithful could not have been less amused had the Bigg Market announced a ban on ale of the brown variety. "I was quite a cocky, arrogant fella at the time. I wouldn't say I expected to be in the line-up, but because I had played well against Wimbledon, I knew I would be in contention," Robinson told Sky Sports when we caught up with him this week. Gullit's decision to stick with him looked to be inspired, as the nippy 20-year-old sliced open the Sunderland back four to set Kieron Dyer free, whose strike meant Newcastle went into the half-time interval leading. Whisper it quietly, but some members of the Gallowgate were wondering what all the Shearer-fuss was about. Could a Sunderland fan celebrate a Newcastle goal? "I went absolutely nuts. I'd done an interview for the matchday programme and they'd labelled me as half red-and-white and half black-and-white," adds Robinson. "I was getting booed by a section of Newcastle fans and obviously by the whole Sunderland section. It doesn't matter who you support, because when your team scores a goal you should celebrate." Despite being brought up as a devout Sunderland fan, Robinson didn't suffer from divided loyalties during the game in the rain. "All I wanted to do was win, I wasn't bothered about who I was playing. When you play against your local rivals, points go out the window. It's all about pride. You need to win that game, you need to win over your rivals." It's been lost in the subsequent back story but when Robinson was substituted on the hour mark, Newcastle were still leading. The crowd's cries for Shearer weren't