'Disgraceful' 'Unthinkable' - Sunderland fan group to meet club over Newcastle ticketing & stadium bar fiasco

Sunderland supporters group the Red & White Army have announced they will meet with the club this month to discuss the handling of the Wear-Tyne derby - including the rebranding of the Black Cats Bar and Newcastle's ticket allocation.

RAWA members have been invited to attend an online meeting on January 11 to share their thoughts, ahead of a supporter collective meeting with the club later this month - with a date yet to be confirmed.

The RAWA criticised the club for a lack of dialogue concerning ticketing plans ahead of Saturday's FA Cup match against Newcastle at the Stadium of Light. Season card holders in the North Stand were displaced from their usual seats as it was decided the visitors would be handed an away allocation of 6,000 tickets.

Away fans were also given access to the Black Cats Bar, which was rebranded with Newcastle slogans. The bar was returned to its original state before Saturday's match, with the club admitting a 'serious error in judgement' was made.

The RAWA said they asked to be part of the ticketing process for the match but their offer was not taken up. The fan group also released a statement with a list of questions they had sent to the club following the ticket allocation announcement.

Sunderland responded to some of the questions publicly raised by the Red and White Army, saying that the decision to move home supporters was to avoid the two sets of fans meeting at the same entry points. The club stressed that Emirates FA Cup competition rules stipulate the visiting club shall have the right to claim up to 15 per cent of all seats for which tickets are issued.

In an email to members, RAWA said: "Of course one of the agenda items in the club meeting will be the disgraceful way that SAFC handled the Wear Tyne Derby, which included the unthinkable - branding the Black Cats Bar in NUFC colours and imagery. Unfortunately the club did not engage with any supporter group from the moment the fixture was announced. RAWA reached out to the club when rumours of the increased allocation emerged. The club said they would come back to us - they never did, so we took to social media to make all the points and ask questions that supporters were expressing to us directly and on various platforms"