Former Newcastle and Liverpool boss Graeme Souness expressed his desire to see Sunderland promoted back to the Premier League. Souness, speaking on TalkSPORT, emphasized that Sunderland is an enormous football club with strong support from the surrounding areas, including the villages in Durham. He believes that a club of Sunderland’s stature should be competing in the Premier League and considers them an asset to the football landscape.
Souness acknowledged that while Newcastle is the bigger city, Sunderland’s support extends from the smaller towns and villages in the region. He highlighted the significant fan base that Sunderland possesses, with the potential to draw 50,000 people to the stadium every week. Souness sees the prospect of having both Newcastle and Sunderland competing at a high level as beneficial for football in that part of the world.
The comments come in the context of Sunderland’s recent third-round FA Cup draw against Newcastle, a fixture that gained additional attention as Sunderland parted ways with head coach Tony Mowbray. As the search for Mowbray’s replacement continues, Sunderland faces upcoming matches against West Brom and Leeds, with first-team coach Mike Dodds set to take charge of the match against West Brom. The team is scheduled to play seven games in 24 days, leading up to a highly anticipated clash against Newcastle in the first Wear-Tyne derby since March 2016.
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