'Brilliant' - Eddie Howe reacts to classy Newcastle United gesture after £25m deal

Newcastle United’s 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park was made extra special by Sela’s ‘Unsilence the Crowd’ campaign.

The Magpies’ convincing win came following a partnership with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), which replaced Sela as the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor for the match. The campaign, launched by Sela in partnership with the charity, introduced groundbreaking haptic shirts that enabled deaf fans to feel the atmosphere of the crowd. And they did just that with an Alexander Isak brace and goals from Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar seeing Newcastle claim their joint biggest home win of the season at St James’ Park.

The haptic shirts transform the noise of the stadium into real-time touch sensation. After Newcastle took the lead through Isak’s goal on the half-hour mark, defender Dan Burn turned to the television cameras and used BSL to sign: “Love the fans.”

After the match, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe praised Burn and Sela’s groundbreaking initiative. “A brilliant thing from Dan,” Howe said. “He went during the week and did a bit of sign language. Typical Dan, he didn't just learn and forget about it, he used it at a really valuable time to say thank you to the people that he met and really encourage their support.

“A brilliant gesture by Sela today, to give their shirt sponsor to a brilliant charity. It speaks a lot about them as well.” 

Sela were introduced as Newcastle’s new front of shirt sponsor last summer in a multi-year deal worth £25million-per-season.