Sunderland’s return to the Premier League means the Wear-Tyne derby will return to the top flight next season.
The Magpies were relegated into the Championship at the end of the same season as a Sam Allardyce-inspired Black Cats side memorably preserved their Premier League status at the expense of their local rivals. Sunderland were relegated into the second tier of the English game at the end of the following season and suffered successive relegations 12 months later as they dropped into League One for only the second time in the club’s history.
Slowly but surely, the Black Cats have clawed their way back into the elite and will now renew their rivalry with Newcastle when the new season gets underway in August - and Magpies star Dan Burn is relishing the prospect of finally facing Sunderland in the top flight.
Burn was not named in the Fulham matchday squad for either of their Premier League clashes with the Black Cats during the 2011/12 season and was also absent when Sunderland claimed a 4-1 win at Craven Cottage in January 2014. The former Darlington defender remained on the bench when the two sides battled to a goalless draw in the fourth round of the FA Cup during the same season and was an unused substitute as Gustavo Poyet’s side emerged victorious in the replay with a 3-1 win in West London.
However, the Blyth-born defender belatedly met the Black Cats when Newcastle claimed a 3-0 win at the Stadium of Light in an FA Cup third round tie in January last year - and Burn has admitted he is ‘really excited’ about the return of Wear-Tyne Premier League derbies next season after Sunderland claimed a 2-1 win against Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final.
Speaking after the Magpies ended their season with a home defeat against Jordan Pickford’s Everton, the once-capped England international said: "I want to play against the best teams, so I'd love to play against Real Madrid, Barcelona. That's why you want to play Champions League football - it'll be exciting.
“It'll be good to even see Sunderland getting back to the Premier League. It's such a weird thing because I'm really excited about it. I shouldn't be, but those were the games when I was a kid. The derby days were the first fixtures I'd look for when they came out, so I wouldn't say that I'm happy for them coming up but I am happy that we get the derbies back."
“I will probably get pelters”
Sunderland celebrate their Championship play-off final win. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Sunderland celebrate their Championship play-off final win. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Sunderland celebrate their Championship play-off final win. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It is not the first time Burn has discussed Sunderland’s potential return to the Premier League after he admitted it would be ‘great’ to see the Black Cats back in the Premier League in the aftermath of the Magpies FA Cup win on Wearside 18 months ago.
He said: “The atmosphere was class and it makes me want to play them even more. This was the first meeting for eight years, Newcastle’s first win in the game for 13 years. I will probably get pelters for saying it but I’d like them to come up. It would be nice because those are the games, as a kid, I wanted to see. It would be great for them to come up and we could do it more often. It’s been such a long time and it was a special day.”
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