Fans lost for words as Sunderland display Newcastle banners in bar at Stadium of Light

Fans have been lost for words as Sunderland bizarrely decide to display Newcastle banners in bar at the Stadium of Light this week.

The two sides get set to meet each other in the FA Cup Third Round with it set to be a hostile atmosphere as it’s the first time since they have faced off since 2016.

But it seems in days leading up to the fixture, they have managed to outrage fans in the most strange fashion as photos emerge online.

A post emerged on Twitter by Sunderland Echo journalist James Copley with the club seemingly ‘redecorating’ their bar.

James Copley said: “If Sunderland are redecorating their premium bar for home fans in the colours of Newcastle United on Derby Day then serious questions need to be asked of decision-makers. If the photos are genuine, it is an absolute disgrace.

“Have had it confirmed by volunteers helping in the SoL to set-up displays that this is in fact a genuine picture. I’m lost for words.”

It’s reported that 700 Newcastle fans, of the 6,000 travelling support that are expected in the stands for the game, are paying £600 a ticket for a hospitality seat in the Black Cats Bar, which is where they pictures are taken from.

Banners with ‘We are United’, ‘Keep the black and white flying high’ and a ‘Cheer up Peter Reid’ slogan on a screen behind the bar, sparking huge backlash against Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.

After huge anger, Roker Report write: “Being taken down now apparently. Too late, the damage is done. Shameful.”

CLUB STATEMENT:

Sunderland AFC acknowledges that a serious error in judgement was made in relation to Black Cats Bar earlier this afternoon.

We apologise to our fans for the understandable concern they have fairly voiced in response and this sentiment is shared by the Club’s Ownership Group and Board of Directors, who have requested an immediate review is undertaken to determine how this process unfolded.

A direct decision has also been taken by the Ownership Group and Board of Directors to return the space to its original state and we once again apologise to our supporters that this was not addressed sooner.

This cannot be real

— James Copley (@JamesCopley_) January 4, 2024

Season-ticket holder Joanne Youngson, who is a committee member of the supporters branch liaison council, said: “Crazy, fair enough, take anything red and white down to minimise any damage. But you don’t have to decorate the place for them.

“It’s just a real shame, their fans are going to be loving it – we would!

“This is why I questioned whether Kyril knows what it means to us. He doesn’t get us, or the region at all, in fact.”

Chris Weatherspoon, a member of the Wise Men Say podcast, said: “In 2007, Mike Ashley tried to wear black and white stripes in the Stadium of Light boardroom and was told where to go.

“The current hierarchy have handed over an entire end of the Stadium of Light and allowed the visitors to redecorate. They know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Michael Graham, an editor of Sunderland Nation, said: “Sunderland have had a total ‘mare over the handling of the derby and it’s important they realise it.”

As mentioned, fans are lost for words as Sunderland display Newcastle banners in a bar at Stadium of Light, this is what other Twitter users made of it…

@twangmackem: If this is true club do need to answer questions. Saudi blood money turns a lot of things mind. But I do still think this mag security guy has a lot to say in all this

@MichaelPotts_: I understand bringing down the SAFC merch and stripping back the BCB to a minimum for the day… but that is genuinely bewildering, if real.

@Do_Bronx_szn: Absolute joke. Unforgivable. #SAFC

@e_sunderland: I will judge KLD by what he does next. You’ve got a day and a half – take it down. Read the room @SunderlandAFC – get it taken down and issue an apology. It’s the only way you walk away from this with any decency intact. OK lets all CALM DOWN a second – They fucked this one up! They got it badly wrong. They’ve apparently taken it all down now, which – I can live with. Its understandable to be angry, personally I’m still fuming – but at least they’ve got it wrong, listened, and reacted. Let this be a MASSIVE wakeup call for KLD, Speakman, and the other top brass at @SunderlandAFC – too many things off the field are going to shit! We need to start acting like a big club and getting these things right first time! #SAFC

@StockoperatorX: They need to get the fuck out of this club. Sell up and get the fuck out @krespeakman @SunderlandAFC You’re a fucking embarrassment. It’ll never be forgotten for as long as you’re here. I’m a BCB season ticket holder and you can stick it right up your arse #SAFC #£500+VAT

@8_0_8mc: Fuck off out of my club KLD, Davison and the rest of the board, you absolute leeches @SunderlandAFC #SAFC

@Mark_Emmerson_: Horrendous from @SunderlandAFC – who the fuck thought that was a good idea, let alone sign it off – beyond belief man, fuck the mags #safc

@skennedy30: In a desperate bid to win back fan favour, the board have decided to take bold, drastic action and switch the power back on for all the hand dryers in the toilets on a match day #safc

@GaryClark21: If there was ever a more blatant statement that the hierarchy only care about making money this is it. The hierarchy has made a massive mistake, discounted, no sold the tradition of the Tyne Wear Derby. It’s the fans that suffer. #SAFC

@dazzasafc85: Surely even the biggest of happy clappers can’t condone that carry on it the black cats bar. Making it more black and white would have been bad, but actively taking the piss out of the fans that normally fill that space is shocking. #safc

@StephenStubbs5: Absolutely shocking, club have made a statement with this saying they don’t understand this club or fans at all. They can backtrack and take it down but the damage is done, couldn’t give a toss if they sold up tomorrow complete joke of a decision #SAFC

@SnowballSte: @SunderlandAFC you have made every single #safc supporter a laughing stock with your stunt today. All for a few quid. What a disgusting abhorrent thing to do. You’ve pissed in the face of the fans that line your pockets every week. Shame on you and whoever made the decision.

@hubber333: #SAFC need to make a statement sharpish. That said I’m not sure if anything that is said can undo that shitshow. #KLD might have just put an end to his own time with the Club. If you don’t get the area and its history, you get advisers who do….

@labpedro: As a Newcastle fan I find this both terrible and hilarious. I genuinely feel bad for the fans that have had to give up seats etc to accommodate and having this happen to your own ground is ludicrous. Had this happened to us there would be a meltdown. Still, he he and all that 🙂

@MontyMagic69: 🤩🤩 Beautiful…. How considerate of them.

@branalvere: Whoever signed this off needs to be sacked and this needs to be removed before Saturday. This is unacceptable

@_harr: Honestly i can’t get over this, my head would be absolutely gone if i was a sunderland fan. Hope this is mentioned in the team talk before the game, showing how they are already bowing to us and we need to take advantage.

@WormleightonSam: No understanding of history & rivalries. Taken down or not the damage is well and truly done. Shame on you @SunderlandAFC #SAFC

@skennedy30:
In preparation for the derby, #SAFC have:
Given an unprecedented away allocation
Relocated season ticket holders
Denied permission for an anti-sportswashing display
Given the mags access to Black Cats Bar
Stripped SAFC fittings and put up rival equivalent
Simply unforgivable

@Micky_A_Lawson: Unforgivable. An absolute disgrace. As if we have a chairman that thinks this is acceptable. I wonder what Bob Murray would think of this.

@jonnygr17: Heard it’s been taken down now – frankly too little too late by letting it get to this point. How the actual fuck did they think this would be accepted by an already frustrated and divided fan base? Outdone ourselves this time. Not divided anymore… @SunderlandAFC #SAFC

@CalixNUFC: Honestly they can have their shitty 6 in a row.. plastering BNW all over your home end. SLATING YOUR OWN LEGENDS 😂 filling a bar full of Newcastle slogans and chants, is by far and away more disgusting than any result. I’ll NEVER!!! Let them forget this me 💀 #NUFC #SAFC

@NUFCWill1892: Fair play to them, they’ve recognised that a bigger club is coming to town 👏

SEE MORE: Chris Sutton’s FA Cup Third Round score predictions