Beale reckons derbies with both sets of fans are what ‘keeps football going’ as he aimed a veiled dig at Rangers and Celtic.
Michael Beale took a veiled dig at Rangers and Celtic over the ongoing away allocation deadlock, with a pop at derbies that ‘don’t let the fans in.’
Beale bounced back from his sacking at Ibrox to swiftly land the Sunderland job and it’s been a rocky start for him at the Stadium of Light. He was in the dugout for Saturday’s heavily anticipated Tyne-Wear derby with Newcastle in the FA Cup, with the Magpies running out comfortable 3-0 winners.
The atmosphere was electric as 6,000 Geordies sat in the away section and made their voices head in the 49,000 sellout crowd. And it was something Beale was keen to celebrate despite his side’s disappointing defeat. Beale was in the dugout for six Old Firm derbies during his time in Glasgow but only two of them, at Hampden, had a significant number of both sets of fans in attendance. That’s because of the ongoing feud between Rangers and Celtic with neither club currently allowing away supporters in at Ibrox or Parkhead.
And that wasn’t lost on Beale as he told beIN Sports after the game: “The noise in the stadium today was absolutely fantastic. Some derbies, we don’t allow the fans in, and I’ve had that both in Brazil and Scotland. So to have the derby with some opponents’ fans in and the fans working off each other, that’s what keeps football going.”
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