- Sunderland host Newcastle in the first Tyne-Wear derby since 2016 on Saturday
- A Black Cats fan has attempted to rile up the opposition in the build-up
- It’s about survival! FA Cup replays must remain for the good of English football – It’s All Kicking Off
A Sunderland fan has attempted to rile up Newcastle supporters by targeting Alan Shearer’s statue in the build-up to the first Tyne-Wear derby in eight years.
Newcastle travel to Championship side Sunderland in a lunch-time kick-off on Saturday in a FA Cup third round tie.
It is a match that fans of both clubs have been eagerly awaiting, with their last meeting being a 1-1 draw back in March 2016.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, a Sunderland fan took the trip to St James’ Park to film a video outside the ground by Shearer’s statue.
The fan put a Sunderland shirt on Shearer’s statue and danced by it while zooming in on the kit.
A Sunderland fan put their kit on Alan Shearer’s statue outside St James’ Park
The fan was trying to rile up Newcastle supporters – with Shearer arguably their greatest icon
He captioned the video: ‘Do a stupid dance if Sunderland are going to win on Saturday.’
Sunderland fans appreciated his efforts with one writing: ‘What a f***ing beauty shearer in a Sunderland top,’ while another tweeted: ‘This is brilliant, well done lad.’
Newcastle fans were eager to fire back though with one writing: ‘They only wanted to see what a world class striker looks like in a Sunderland shirt. Bless them. I wouldn’t care but that statue parked in the penalty area would probably still score more than the strikers they have on their books.’
Shearer scored 206 goals in 405 games for his boyhood club over a decade-long spell. Six of those goals came against Sunderland, who he faced 11 times.
Meanwhile, furious Sunderland supporters turned on their owner and questioned whether he understands the enormity of Saturday’s Wear-Tyne derby after black and white signage was unveiled at the Stadium of Light, forcing the club into a climbdown.
More than 700 of Newcastle’s 6,000 travelling fans are paying £600 a ticket for a hospitality seat in the Black Cats Bar.
However, images emerged on Thursday of the suite being decorated with black and white banners, including ‘We are United’ and ‘Keep the black and white flying high’.
The fan also stood on the pedestal of Shearer’s statue and danced by it in a video in which he showed off the Magpies legend wearing the Sunderland kit
It has caused a backlash against French-Swiss owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and the club’s hierarchy on the eve of the FA Cup third round tie.
Sunderland later apologised and admitted to a ‘serious error of judgement’ before removing the signage.
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