Newcastle told they should have the honour of being called United as they are currently better than Manchester United

Newcastle United should be referred to as 'United' going forward and not Manchester United, according to former England striker Chris Sutton.

There are a plethora of teams with United at the end of their name in English football, including West Ham United, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Carlisle United, Cambridge United, Peterborough United and Southend United.

But it's Manchester United, 13-time Premier League names, who are referred to their second name most commonly.

That's irritated plenty of other supporters over the years but Sutton, who won the Premier League with Blackburn, believes the highest-ranked team with United should get the moniker.

In the Premier League at the moment it's Eddie Howe's Newcastle, who are a point ahead of United and currently occupy fourth place.

Sutton announced his new rule on names in his Premier League prediction piece for BBC Sport.

“I annoyed a few Manchester United fans when I suggested to some callers on 606 last week that just referring to them as United is a bit disrespectful when there are so many other Uniteds out there,” Sutton wrote.

“Some of them were really nasty to me on Twitter.

“So I will refer to Manchester United in full here. As far as I am concerned, Newcastle United are above them in the table, so they are the ones who should just be known as United right now.”

However, there could be a switch in which United is leading the way after this weekend's result.

Image: Alamy

Newcastle, who have lost just once in the league this term, play Southampton away on Sunday. At the same time, United play Aston Villa in the first of two meetings in the same week.

There's only one point separating the two but free-scoring Newcastle are also a staggering 13 goals better off than United when it comes to goal difference.