United Manager Chris Hughton said:

"It's difficult to pick out one player on a day which was very special for the team. It would have been special for the back four and keeper to come away with a clean sheet but Sunderland are a handful up front and we defended well.

"The crowd chanting is a nice feeling - they're a fantastic crowd. Anybody who hasn't been to St James' before now, knows what it's like now. It means a lot. The most important thing is we have a quality group of lads, the best feeling is to see them doing well.

"When you see the stadium and the support we have, and the reaction from them, that is what it is all about. It is three points, against our local rivals and we have not had a derby for a couple of years. It was a wonderful team performance and some outstanding individual performances.

"They (Newcastle players) are a spirited group. It will take us so far, and quality will take us the rest. It has been a good day, a tough week, but a tough day.

"This is a massive game around these parts. Kevin's hat -trick is special. He was immense. To get three from a midfield position, a deeper role is outstanding. He is a big player. He is part of a team."

On his contractual situation:

"All of those decisions on the timing of the contract talk will be by the club. On a day like this all those things go out of the window. I will enjoy today with the players and the supporters.

"My remit is to do my best job. I am proud of players who made a difficult game comfortable. After the first goal they made a decision they wanted more and the pressed and pressed and we had some really good performances.

"My remit is to do the best job I can. I am incredibly proud of this group of players. The supporters liked what they saw and what they saw was a committed team take the game by the scruff of the neck.

"My position is no different this week to what it was last week and the week before. I'm very proud to be manager of this football club and endeavouring to get the best results possible."

On his search for a new assistant:

"At this moment it is my decision on who comes in as my No 2 and all I am doing is making sure that I do the correct homework that I need to do. It is something that I want to do as soon as possible but I also need to bring in the right person. That will be my decision.

Kevin Nolan commented:

"We have worked so hard this week and it has paid off, it is unbelievable. To score a hat-trick will live with me for ever. I am delighted for the fans and for Chris. He deserves it after what he has been through this week.

"In the majority of games we have not got what we have deserved but we feel we have made progress under Chris. He has been fantastic and hope we can keep believing, everyone stays on side and the fans understand what we are all about and we go in the right direction. 

"We have made progress under Chris. Chris is a fantastic man, a gentleman who gets his point across believe me he is a manager, I have played for a lot of managers and he is good one.

"I am delighted he made me captain and hopefully I can repay his faith in me. But you could see how much victory meant to all us and shut people up who are saying stupid stuff.

"To get three goals is really special - it's not really sunk in and probably won't for couple of days. We were fantastic and executed the plan to perfection.

"In derby games you know it is going to be tough for 20 minutes the first goal settled us down and we were delighted with the way we did control it and hopefully we can go on from this.

"You could see by celebrations among all the lads we were all delighted. The fans will enjoy it and I hope they do because we want to show them the faith they have given us and re-pay them."

Shola Ameobi added:

"We understand that we need to keep on winning to help Chris retain his job As players we knew the importance of us winning that game and what it does for the fans, the city, the club and the management. 

"All the stuff that has been going on around Chris is nonsense. It shouldn't even be being spoken about but, as players, we proved how much we are behind him with that victory. After all the speculation over Chris, that was for him.

"It was a great feeling again to score another brace against Sunderland – it just seems like every time I play against them I score and long may it continue!

"We don't want to be going again not winning a game at home. We knew the importance of it against Sunderland - this can galvanise our season at home.

"We showed every bit of effort, every bit of quality as well, which was pleasing. In derby games, sometimes there is no quality in there, but we really showed what we are about and it was just a fantastic day for us all round."

Rabble rouser Steve Bruce commented:

"It is difficult, very, very difficult and it will take some repairing. 

"All I can do is apologise when you get beaten as badly as that, here of all places, will take a lot of recovering from. As manager I take full responsibility. It is difficult to take and everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, from red cards to mistakes.

"It is very, very painful. We have all had beatings before but how you recover is what makes you what you are. We can talk about tactics until we're blue in the face. I have been saying all week that we must handle the occasion but from the off, we didn't and we got blown away by a far superior team on the day.

"We were playing a big derby game and we had three or four players. To win it, you need seven or eight - that's what Newcastle had and we didn't have enough and we got our backsides kicked."

After troubling the courts and the constabulary in recent weeks with their actions, the behaviour of Newcastle's players managed to cause further problems for the local police on Sunday

No, it wasn't a post-match refuelling session that got out of hand, rather their collective on-field actions during a 20 minute period of the first half that gave Operation Jerrettspass an unforeseen problem - that of mackems clamouring to be allowed to leave SJP rather than witnessing further punishment.

Hat trick hero Kevin Nolan in particular couldn't have done more to drive the mackems single-handedly out of Tyneside if he'd taken the wheel of the lead bus in their fan convoy. And the rest of his players played their part in rubbing Steve Bruce's pink dial in the Gallowgate clarts - only metaphorically, unfortunately.

The cliche of the side that wanted it more was never better illustrated than here, as a side unbeaten in seven matches were ruthlessly and gleefully dismantled. After conceding just four goals away from home in as many matches this season, that tally had been matched with twenty minutes left and such was the abjectness of the mackems' wilting, that thoughts were turning towards a score of monstrous proportions.

In the event it proved to be five and out, with a late lapse giving the visitors a goal that few of their fans saw live and won't care to seek out. However that was quickly forgotten amid the resulting celebrations, as was the midweek misadventure against Arsenal - that loss a small price to pay for this astounding afternoon

No wonder Chris Hughton was beaming - this was the exactly the sort of conviction he'd sought from his squad and repayment for his fielding two genuine strikers and setting about teams at SJP. His opposite number meanwhile had ripped up his plan A before half time and reluctantly paired his forwards - and at a £23m combined fee, that's roughly £23m more than our local pair, who were both simply inspirational.

We can't replay those games against Blackpool, Stoke and Wigan but in the imminent arrival here of Blackburn and Fulham there's an opportunity to further right some of the wrongs of the earlier part of the season. But it's not just the heartening sight of a full side giving their all to keep this club in the top flight that gives rise to hopes that we're collectively learning from our mistakes - at least on the field.

Never mind the look on people's faces, the stats are also starting to bring comfort - not least last week's West Ham win that matched our away victory tally in the whole of 2008/09. Similarly, Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins topped United's Premier League scoring charts two seasons ago with a miserable 8 goals apiece. Kevin Nolan has 7 already this time round - four in a week reward for playing in his proper position.

And the spirit and volume of the crowd was another welcome experience - as well as the harrying of Carroll and Co. a major part of what spooked Bruce's side was the vocal backing evident from all around SJP. That level of support has been routinely lacking since Lord knows when - it's a long time since the place went as collectively barmy as it did when "Pogo if you love the toon" swept round here (the Andy Cole song v Leicester, Howay 5-0 and the Barcelona Tino night perhaps - certainly not last season.)

The dismissal of Bramble added another layer of joy to what was a momentous performance and a fabulous scoreline - thousands waving the lumbering fool off following his premature ejection. And of course the look on the face of the opposition manager was utterly priceless. We'll now admit to a nightmarish vision in recent nights of his smug, self-satisfied gurning visage wobbling out on every TV screen in the region. Urrghhh.

The grand folly of Bruce is now exposed - misleading the mackems into believing he'd created a great team, only to see them serve up the most weak-willed performance possible in the game that really, really matters. We know that, because he spent most of last week waffling on about it - and supplying media-friendly soundbites about poor Chris Hughton etc., He really should leave the blarney to Niall Quinn. 

Hilariously of course, while the clowns down the road will take umbrage against him (and old boy Titus) for those magpie tendencies, those of us here in the civilised world know that deep down Bruce's heart lies at Old Trafford. Where he goes from here we neither know or care, as long as its nowhere near Barrack Road.

For all the gloating that goes on after these occasions, reality does have to intrude at some point (usually when the towels are on the pumps) and those mythical bragging rights don't as yet result in any extra points or European placings. It may be played out before a global audience, this local spat remains a mid-table encounter of limited significance to the rest of the season anywhere else. 

For all his attempts to minimise the ongoing fuss over his future, the body language of Chris Hughton during the game betrayed how important this result was to him - and how satisfying/reassuring to him the demonstrations of vocal support (even a "Hughton Is A Geordie" banner in the Gallowgate End) were. 

At every opportunity afforded to him, he was up and applauding the fans as requested - and although renditions of "walking in a Hughton wonderland" may have provided apparent confirmation that the pubs had been open since dawn, the fervour of the fans was excusable.

After all, this was a result that the combined powers of messrs Harvey, Keegan, Robson etc. never managed to achieve during their tenure here. If Hughton were to leave before we played another match, then his place in our history is assured for positive reasons.

For whatever reason, his face seems to fit in the dressing room and that's no mean feat, given that the main body of those who sealed relegation and early exit for Shearer and Dowie still present in the squad. Almost the only thing that all parties seem to agree on is that a lack of stability cost us our place in this division last time round - even if we can't subscribe to the theory that JFK would have kept us up had he not been forced to step down.

For the owner to then disrupt the equilibrium that seems to now exist would seem to be a strange policy, but to even contemplate bringing in someone else with the same salary and staffing expectations and lack of transfer budgetary demands is surely both a) pointless b) virtually impossible.

Attempting to be clever by not handing Hughton an elongated deal so as to minimise future possible costs only works if his successor is cut from the same cloth - anyone else vaguely credible will demand that big bucks contract just for walking across Old Milburn Reception.

What would of course shaft the current regime is if Hughton followed the example of his former assistant Colin Calderwood and exited from SJP in search of contractual contentment. Newcastle United may be the "biggest" club Chris ever manages, but will his current boss be the best he serves? Highly debatable.

Hughton's current performance and promotion success have made him a commodity and a realistic candidate for the next managerial vacancy to come along in the top two divisions (except maybe Manchester City...).

If he didn't know before, then he's finding out that there is a world beyond SJP, even if it doesn't seem like it on days like these.

Biffa