Sandro Tonali surprise as Newcastle United CEO delivers update from Japan

A Newcastle United Supporter Engagement Event took place at Batur Tokyo on Thursday evening. After an initially low turnout from the club’s overseas supporters as they were consulted about what Newcastle can do to help make them feel more connected to the club, the conference room steadily filled up ahead of the main event.

Newcastle chief executive Darren Eales and chief commercial officer Peter Silverstone were in attendance at the event - and they would later be joined by four first-team players. Sean Longstaff, Mark Gillespie, Lewis Hall and Sandro Tonali individually addressed the supporters at the exclusive event.

The Italian spoke about putting last season behind him and having a fresh start at the club for the 2024-25 campaign with his 10-month betting ban set to expire at the end of the month. Tonali’s first game back available is set to be the Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park on September 1.

After a brief Q&A session with the quartet, goalkeeper Gillespie got the party started by signing ‘We are the Geordies, the Geordie boot boys’ as a supporter karaoke followed in typical Japanese fashion. Newcastle chief Darren Eales also got involved singing along with The Magpies fans as they taunted rivals Sunderland from the Far East.

It wouldn’t be the first time Eales has mocked Sunderland as he stated after Newcastle were drawn against AC Milan in the Champions League last year: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Mackem in Milan.”

During the event, Eales said: “Obviously it’s something we try to do when we go into a new market. It’s about how we can help get that connection because it’s a different fan in Japan, watching games at midnight or three in the morning so how can we help make you feel more connected to the club? Obviously we got some great ideas from that but then the players came which was a bit of a surprise.

“What it shows is that whenever we go somewhere new, you realise Newcastle United, what we can be.”

Newcastle’s players had a break on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s match against Yokohama F. Marinos at the Japan National Stadium (11am kick-off BST/7pm local time).