Newcastle United fans shared their joy at St James’ Park in front of arch-rivals Sunderland on derby day in front of a record attendance.
A crowd of 38,502 were present to see the clash against the Wearsiders with long queues at St James’ Park ahead of kick off. The attendance was the highest ever in the second flight of women’s football.
On a day in which the Carabao Cup was paraded publicly for the first time, the event did not go down well with the travelling fans.
But one week on from the Magpies’ historic win over Liverpool at Wembley, the trophy had its first public airing at St James’ Park. Club performance director James Bunce and CEO Darren Eales were interested spectators in the Barclays Women’s Championship clash.
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The first major trophy outing of any type at St James’ Park since 1969 took place in front of an impressive crowd. In front of a full East Stand, Milburn Stand, Gallowgate End and Leazes End the trophy was roared on to the field with Eales and Fairs Cup legend Bob Moncur taking delight in the gesture.
Newcastle needed to open Level 7 to cater for the walk up crowd at St James’ Park. In a typical derby atmosphere Sunderland fans did not take long to get into the swing of things with a chant of: “Six in a row” in reference to the run of Premier League victories during the Wearside club’s successful run of derbies during their time as a top-flight side.
Moncur told Chronicle Live: “The fans wanted to win something, and the Carabao Cup was it. It’s the first step and hopefully the first of many. It was an honour to show the fans.”
The 800 fans from Sunderland fans present chanted ‘stand up if you hate the Mags’ from the away section in the Leazes End. But there was a quick response from the Newcastle faithful who taunted back, ‘Stand up if you’ve won the cup’.
At half-time Moncur and Eales made their way on to the pitch with the CEO with the Carabao Cup and were afforded a rapturous round of applause. An emotional Moncur, now 80, said: “I am glad I’m here to see it.”
