In the run-up to the first Tyne-Wear derby in eight years, a Sunderland fan sought to incite Newcastle fans by targeting Alan Shearer’s statue.
Newcastle United will face Sunderland in an FA Cup third round tie at lunchtime on Saturday.
It is a match that both clubs’ fans have been looking forward to, with their last encounter ending in a 1-1 draw in March 2016.
A Sunderland supporter traveled to St James’ Park ahead of Saturday’s game to make a video outside the stadium near Shearer’s statue.
The fan wore a Sunderland shirt and danced in front of Shearer’s statue while zooming in on the kit.
He captioned the video, ‘Do a dumb dance if Sunderland are going to win on Saturday.’
Sunderland supporters welcomed his efforts with one writing: ‘What a f***ing beauty shearer with a Sunderland top,’ while another tweeted: ‘This is great, well done lad.
Newcastle fans, on the other hand, were quick to respond, with one writing: ‘They only wanted to see what a world class striker looked like in a Sunderland shirt. God bless them. I would not mind, but that statue in the penalty area would almost certainly score more goals than the strikers they have on their roster.’
Over a decade at his boyhood club, Shearer scored 206 goals in 405 games. Six of the goals were scored against Sunderland, a team he faced 11 times.
Meanwhile, enraged Sunderland fans turned on their owner, questioning whether he knows the magnitude of Saturday’s Wear-Tyne derby after black and white signage was erected at the Stadium of Light, prompting the club to back down.
Over 700 of Newcastle’s 6,000 visiting fans have paid £600 for a hospitality seat in the Black Cats Bar.
However, photographs of the apartment being decked with black and white banners reading ‘We are United’ and ‘Keep the black and white flying high’ surfaced on Thursday.
On the eve of the FA Cup third round, it has sparked a backlash against French-Swiss owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and the club’s administration.
Sunderland eventually apologized and admitted to a’serious error of judgement’ before removing the signage.
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