The Stadium of Light bar had banners with the slogans “Keep the Black and White Flying High” and was decked out in black and white.
Before Saturday’s FA Cup clash against Newcastle, a bar at the Stadium of Light was decked out in the colors of the team’s bitter rivals. Sunderland officials, looking red in the face, issued an apology for a “serious error in judgement.”
On Thursday, pictures of the Black Cats Bar at the Wearside venue surfaced on social media. The pictures featured banners with the slogans “Keep the Black and White Flying High” and “We are United,” replacing Sunderland’s red motto “Ha’way the lads” with the black Geordie spelling “Howay.” The images infuriated the fans.
The bar will function as a corporate hospitality area for visiting spectators, and the Championship club later released a statement indicating that it will be repainted in its original livery prior to the third-round match. The statement also announced an immediate review.
The statement read, “Sunderland AFC acknowledges that a serious error in judgment was made earlier this afternoon in relation to Black Cats Bar.”
“The club’s ownership group and board of directors share our apology to the fans for the reasonable concerns they have expressed in response, and they have asked that an immediate investigation be conducted to ascertain how this process transpired.
After some season ticket holders were reassigned from their regular seats to make room for 6,000 traveling Magpies supporters in the stadium’s North Stand, tensions among Black Cats supporters were already running high.
The club was accused of putting up a welcome mat for their Tyneside rivals, which incited further outrage over the most recent development.
A Love Supreme, a long-running fanzine, posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying that it was at a loss for words. How in the world is the club operating?
“Hopefully, unlike the club, the players won’t roll over and let the Mags tickle their stomach.
“I doubt the club realizes how much of a mistake it is to decorate the stadium with items from Newcastle.” Any positive momentum they’ve gained from our on-field performance and our return to the Championship may really be lost, particularly if we lose on Saturday.