With Sunderland seemingly destined to drop into England's third tier the Wearside club has had to take measures to avoid Newcastle fans turning up to their final two home fixtures in order to celebrate their rival's likely relegation.
Sunderland currently lie second from bottom in the Championship, six points from safety with four games left to play and the club have made the decision to not open their cash turnstiles, making supporters buy tickets from the ticket office in order to block Newcastle fans looking to take pleasure in their neighbours' demise.
The move is predicated on the club trying to avoid a similar situation to that which happened in 1987, when Sunderland were demoted to the third division and over 1,000 Newcastle supporters turned up to Roker Park to see Gillingham defeat the Mackems, consigning them to relegation.
While the relationship between the two sets of fans has been relatively amicable as of late there was trouble from Newcastle fans last month when they ripped up seats in the Stadium Of Light during an U-23 match but with match attendances falling, the club's decision is likely to see even less seats at their remaining home fixtures against Burton Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
If Sunderland were to go down this season, it would be their second successive relegation, having left the Premier League elite under David Moyes in the 2016/17 season. Manager Chris Coleman recently bemoaned their current position, arguing that the club could have won their last four fixtures which would have seen them climb out of the relegation zone:
I’m really disappointed for the players because that is four games running where they have absolutely given everything they have got. It’s been open in every game because we have been going for it, but we could have been sitting here with 12 points because we’ve done enough to win games.
