Topics: Newcastle United, Sunderland, Premier League, Football, Eddie Howe
Newcastle United staff have set the tone ahead of the Premier League clash with Sunderland with a clever three-word banner in their changing room.
On May 24, Sunderland secured promotion to the Premier League with an injury-time winner to beat Sheffield United in the play-off final.
It marks the first time that the Black Cats return to the English top flight since their relegation in 2017, which then led to a four-season-long stint in League One.
Of course, as soon as their promotion was secured, fans started looking ahead to one Premier League meeting in particular, the Tyne–Wear derby against history rivals Newcastle United.
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The two rivals will meet for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon and ahead of the clash, Newcastle staff have got their players amped up with a banner in the away changing room.
In their last meeting during an FA Cup cup clash in January 2024, Sunderland's corporate staff infuriated their own fanbase with 'Howay the Lads' banners seen in the Newcastle areas of the Stadium of Light.
Ahead of their next meeting on Sunday, the Newcastle staff have insured that their players have a similar level of motivation, pinning up massive banner of the club badge ahead of their team's arrival at Sunderland's home ground.
But it's not just club badges that the staff have hung up inside the away changing room, as pictures posted on social media have revealed they've also put a sign saying 'Get into them' right above the door out of the changing room.
This means that the motivating three-word message will be the last thing that Newcastle's players see before they step out into what will undoubtedly be an incredibly hostile atmosphere on the pitch.
Speaking about how he plans to address the brutal atmosphere inside the Stadium of the Light, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: "You want to be the ones that go there and impose yourself on the game and quieten the crowd, use the crowd to our advantage.
"All these things we’ll look to do. If you don’t get the arousal levels right, if you hype the players up too much, then you can go out and not perform because you’re overthinking things, you’re not playing the game, you’re playing the atmosphere."
In their last meeting in January 2024, Newcastle came out on top, however, they haven't won in the league at the Stadium of Light since 2011.
