Current:Home > MarketsSunderland apologizes to its fans for rebranding stadium bar in Newcastle colors for FA Cup game-LoTradeCoin
Sunderland apologizes to its fans for rebranding stadium bar in Newcastle colors for FA Cup game
View Date:2024-12-24 22:01:02
SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Sunderland scored a spectacular own-goal off the field well before its FA Cup showdown with archrival Newcastle.
The second-tier English soccer club apologized to fans after a bar at its Stadium of Light was rebranded in Newcastle colors and banners ahead of Saturday’s derby.
The Black Cats Bar will serve as a corporate hospitality suite for visiting fans, but Sunderland pledged to return the space to its original state after a fan backlash.
Sunderland apologized for “a serious error in judgment” and said it had “requested an immediate review is undertaken to determine how this process unfolded.”
Club owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus also apologized and said he was “disgusted and hurt” by the news.
“I take full responsibility for every decision that is taken by the employees of our club and you have my word that I will personally make sure that we make the necessary changes required to improve because it is clear that there are many areas where we need to be better,” the Frenchman said on his Instagram account.
Home fans were already tense after some season ticket holders were moved from their usual seats to accommodate 6,000 traveling Magpies supporters.
The gaffe threatened to overshadow the eagerly anticipated third-round cup match between the northeast neighbors. The teams haven’t squared off since a 1-1 Premier League draw in March 2016 at St. James’ Park.
Sunderland was relegated from the top flight after the 2016-17 season. The club then slipped down to League One the next campaign — all chronicled in the popular Netflix series “Sunderland ‘Til I Die.”
Sunderland returned to the Championship last season and was one game away from earning promotion to the Premier League. The club is currently sixth in the standings.
Newcastle has lost four straight games in all competitions and is 11 points away from the top four in the Premier League.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
veryGood! (5314)
Related
- Avril Lavigne’s Ex Mod Sun Is Dating Love Is Blind Star Brittany Wisniewski, Debuts Romance With a Kiss
- Rihanna Deserves a Round of Applause For Her Stylish New Maternity Line
- Inflation got a little higher in July as prices for rent and gas spiked
- New COVID vaccine and booster shots for this fall to be available by end of September
- Over 1.4 million Honda, Acura vehicles subject of US probe over potential engine failure
- Arizona Coyotes confirm attempt to purchase land for new arena in Mesa
- Robbie Robertson, lead guitarist and songwriter of The Band, dies at 80
- West African leaders plan to meet on Niger but options are few as a military junta defies mediation
- Beyoncé nominated for album of the year at Grammys — again. Will she finally win?
- Hall of Fame coach Dennis Erickson blames presidents' greed for Pac-12's downfall
Ranking
- Harriet Tubman posthumously honored as general in Veterans Day ceremony: 'Long overdue'
- 2 robotaxi services seeking to bypass safety concerns and expand in San Francisco face pivotal vote
- Stock market today: Global shares mostly rise as markets brace for US inflation report
- Travis Scott to perform in Houston for first time since Astroworld tragedy, mayor's office announces
- Noem’s Cabinet appointment will make a plain-spoken rancher South Dakota’s new governor
- Lincoln Center to present 60 performances in fall/winter season
- Mortgage rates just hit 7.09%, the highest since 2002. Will they ever come down?
- Man dies of heat stroke in Utah's Arches National Park while on a trip to spread his father's ashes, family says
Recommendation
-
Man charged with murder in fatal shooting of 2 workers at Chicago’s Navy Pier
-
RHOBH Alum Diana Jenkins Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby With Fiancé Asher Monroe
-
A yearlong slowdown in US inflation may have stalled in July
-
Chris Tucker announces 'Legend Tour,' his first stand-up comedy tour in over a decade
-
Firefighters make progress, but Southern California wildfire rages on
-
Hollywood strikes' economic impacts are hitting far beyond LA
-
Putin profits off global reliance on Russian nuclear fuel
-
Robert De Niro's Daughter Drena Slams Vicious, Inaccurate Reports About Son Leandro's Death