Premier League rules force Newcastle United to make unpopular change v Sunderland - supporters will hate this
Sunderland v Newcastle United: The derby returns to the Premier League this afternoon.
After almost a decade away, Sunderland will host Newcastle United back in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick-off).
Ever since Sunderland secured promotion back to the Premier League in May, this fixture has been on the minds of Geordies and Mackems everywhere.
While Newcastle have had the distraction of Champions League football in the week building up to the derby match, Sunderland have spent the week on the training ground as they aim to continue their unbeaten home start to the Premier League season at the Stadium of Light.
Newcastle won the last encounter between the sides in the FA Cup third round back in 2024, securing a 3-0 victory. But The Magpies have not won any of their last nine league encounters against their fierce rivals.
The last Premier League win for Newcastle came in a 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light in 2011, thanks to a Ryan Taylor free-kick.
The Gazette has launched a new WhatsApp NUFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our NUFC WhatsApp channel.
Newcastle United tease controversial change for derby clash
Ahead of the match, Newcastle teased the derby on social media with an image of midfielder Jacob Ramsey wearing the club’s blue and orange third kit.
Newcastle debuted the kit in their 4-0 pre-season defeat at Celtic in July, and it hasn’t brought them much good luck since. The Magpies have worn the kit for the 2-2 draw against Espanyol in pre-season, as well as the 0-0 draw at Leeds and 3-1 loss at Brentford in the Premier League.
Their last outing in the kit came in the Champions League as they were beaten 2-1 at Marseille last month. Heading into Sunday’s match, Harvey Barnes is the only Newcastle player to have scored a competitive goal in the third kit as the side remain winless while wearing it.
But there would be no better time to buck that trend than against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Newcastle’s last visit to the Stadium of Light in the FA Cup saw both sides wear their home kits, though Newcastle wore white shorts instead of their usual black.
The last Premier League meeting between the sides in March 2016 at St James’ Park saw Sunderland wear a green away kit while Newcastle were in black and white. Newcastle’s previous two Premier League visits to the Stadium of Light have seen them wear an away kit.
The last time Newcastle wore black and white for a Premier League match at the Stadium of Light came back in 2013. And their last derby win not wearing black and white came at Roker Park in 1996 thanks to goals from Peter Beardsley and Les Ferdinand.
Newcastle fans were banned from attending the final derby at Sunderland’s old ground due to crowd trouble concerns.
The Magpies also previously beat Sunderland 2-1 at Roker Park in 1992 thanks to a Liam O’Brien free-kick. Newcastle’s bright yellow away kit for that game saw O’Brien nicknamed ‘Zico’ by manager Kevin Keegan as a comparison to the legendary Brazilian footballer famous for his free-kick ability while wearing the iconic yellow shirt of his nation.
The switch to a third kit for the derby is a controversial change in the eyes of supporters, but ultimately an expected one given the striped kit clash.
When Newcastle played in black and white in the FA Cup against Sunderland, some viewers complained about the ‘horrible’ kit clash between the sides that made it difficult to differentiate between the teams while watching on television.
Premier League rules force change
While Newcastle could get away with wearing black and white shirts in the FA Cup with white shorts, it is different in the Premier League, where clubs must adhere to Premier League rule M22.
The rule states: “When playing in league matches the players of each participating club shall wear a strip which differs visibly from and contrasts with one another to ensure that match officials, players, spectators and television viewers (including those with colour vision deficiency) will be able to distinguish clearly between the two teams.”
Given that Newcastle United and Sunderland’s home kits both feature white stripes in the design, the rules prevent both sides from wearing their home shirts in a Premier League fixture. Sunderland will be forced to wear an away or third kit for the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park later in the season.
Football is BACK - subscribe to our Newcastle United newsletter for all the news straight to your inbox
Eddie Howe previews derby clash against Sunderland
Newcastle’s shortest away trip of the season will see the players travel exclusively by coach to Sunderland, opposed to their usual method of flying via Newcastle Airport.
“I think that [bus ride to the stadium] is part of it, it’s all part of the game,” Howe admitted. “It’s part of what we have to manage, but we’ve seen all that before many times.
“It’s part of the excitement of the games. 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. You need cool heads, but you also need to have the fire in there. If the fire’s not there in this type of game then you’re not going to perform either. It’s a balancing act of trying to get the players in the right frame of mind.
“I think if you gave me a week to prepare for any game, that would be better from my perspective. You want to really focus with time on the training pitch, but we haven’t really had that for a long time.