After Newcastle United secured promotion to the Premier League and Sunderland AFC were relegated, one cheeky Toon fan couldn’t resist getting revenge.
Darren Curry, 49, from Heaton started fundraising to pay for a banner to be flown over the Stadium of Light in retaliation to Black Cats fans’ ‘Auf Wiedersehen Prem’ message last year.
With the tables turned the Toon Army fan wanted to get a cheeky dig in to the Mackems but after backlash on social media the stunt became a charity fundraiser.
When will the banner be flown over?
The plane pulling the banner will fly over the Stadium of Light on Saturday May 13 for the Sunderland vs Swansea City match - the final home game of the season.
What time will the plane take off?
The plane will take off ten minutes after kick off - at 3:10pm from Peterlee or Fishburn air base and fly up over the stadium which should only take a few minutes.
It all depends on the weather though and the take off could be delayed.
Where will I be able to see it?
The plane will fly up from east Durham over Easington and along the coast towards the Stadium of Light before the plane will make a lap of the city of Sunderland and head back to the airfield.
Anyone in or around the Stadium of Light and south of Sunderland should be able to catch a glimpse of the banner.
What will the banner say?
This was a point of much contention and organiser Darren ended up putting the slogan out to a public vote.
The banner will read: “UNITED BY CANCER, DIVIDED BY LEAGUES” after it got 29.7% of the social media vote.
Other options had included “BL HF FS CANCER HAS NO COLOURS” which got 28.1% of the vote, “SMB ENJOY THE CHAMPIONSHIP WE DID” which got 27.9% of the vote and “KARMA’S A B**** ENJOY BURTON LALAS” which got 14.3% of the vote.
Why is it being done?
Initially the plan had been for Toon fans to get revenge on the Mackems however the stunt has turned into a charity appeal.
Although there is still a dig at the Wearsiders contained in the message, Darren says it is primarily meant as a message of support to young cancer-battlers Bradley Lowery, five, Hope Feeney, five, and Frankie Sherwood, three.
The three children, all football-mad, are battling the same form of rare cancer, neuroblastoma.
So far £4,700 has been raised, with £960 to go towards paying for the banner and the remainder to be split between appeals for Hope, Frankie and Bradley.