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Sunderland will mark their first foray into European football for more than half a century with something “truly, truly memorable” before kick-off.

Details of the Black Cats’ display before Wednesday night’s visit of AZ Alkmaar are being kept under wraps because Sunderland officials want to retain an element of surprise, but there is genuine excitement at something insiders feel is “unique and hasn’t been done before”.

“There is [going to be] a very specific and special moment that will connect us with our past and shine us into the future,” Sunderland chief executive Tom Burwell tells The i Paper of a “fan experience” that has required multiple Uefa sign-offs and a whole heap of supporter group “buy-in” to pull it together.

The club getting into Europe just four years after they were playing in League One fully justifies attempting something spectacular inside the Stadium of Light this week.

It also reflects the feeling internally that this European campaign is a chance to “take Sunderland to the world”.

Both the club and the city have undergone rapid regeneration in the last decade but still battle tired preconceptions.

Sunderland fans urged to ‘showcase club’

Take a walk through Sunderland city centre this week and you can’t help but feel the excitement about the AZ game.

The Roker Report website called Europe a “new chapter” in the club’s history in an editorial on Monday and hailed it as the “biggest, most meaningful step towards realising the club’s potential in 90 years”.

It is a sentiment that is shared in the Sunderland hierarchy.

Qualifying for Europe has already certainly helped propel the club forward.

The chance to play in the Europa League featured heavily in the sales pitch to summer signings Malick Fofana and Dayann Methalie and has enabled them to strike some lucrative sponsorship deals this summer.

The i Paper can reveal Sunderland raked in £1m on the opening day that the club’s new Hummel home shirt went on sale.

It is a club record and only two other Premier League clubs are believed to have ever topped that figure – and both were coming off the back of Champions League wins.

That feelgood factor is something Sunderland’s hierarchy are desperate to tap into this week.

“This is the first time for a generation [in Europe] and I keep saying to supporters ‘Don’t just enjoy it, come along and play your part’,” Burwell says.

“I talk a lot about exporting Sunderland to the world and the opening commentary on Match of the Day on Saturday talked of the Stadium of Light being a cauldron. It’s hugely important European commentators are saying the same after the four games we have here and I think they will be.

“I don’t think there was an arena in the Premier League like ours this past weekend. Arsenal and their players and coaching staff thought they’d done very well to get a win because the Stadium of Light was our 12th man. So there is a big calling to our fans – let’s represent the city, play the role we can play and roar our players on to success this week.”

‘No ceiling’ for Sunderland’s ambition

His promise is that their efforts are being matched by a club whose mantra is “no limits, no ceiling”.

That motto is meant to do two things: firstly, not over-promise to an “honest, hard-working fanbase” who have grown weary of false dawns in recent years.

Secondly it recognises “the size of Sunderland football club and the opportunity that brings”.

Burwell says: “There’s never going to be massive declarations of success from us, but there’s a very clear mantra that we’re here, we want to be a Premier League side and represent the city in every competition we’re playing in.”

A new banner declaring “this is just the beginning” – a nod to Granit Xhaka’s on-field speech after the final day of the season promising more to come – also now hangs proudly at the Stadium of Light.

Can Sunderland win the Europa League? English clubs have triumphed in each of the last two seasons and Nottingham Forest made the semi-finals last year while embroiled in a relegation fight.

The Black Cats are sure to face “challenges”, Burwell admits, with the club required to play a minimum of 50 fixtures as they fight on four fronts for the first time since 1973.

European qualification also requires the club to meet Uefa’s more stringent financial fair play rules that limit a club to spending 70 per cent of their revenue.

Burwell says they will “fall into line accordingly” but adds of hitting Premier League and Uefa squad cost ratio rules: “It’s not something we need to talk overtly about”.

Stadium expansion off the agenda for now

He is also realistic about the possibility of stadium expansion as Sunderland – who regularly sell out their 49,000-seater stadium – continue to grow.

“You have to be really careful with that,” Burwell says.

“Of course we’ve always got an eye on how we improve the stadium experience for everyone.

“How do we ensure, for example, that as many people in the city are getting in to access an appropriate ticket and getting value for money?

“That’s whether they’re joining us for our double Michelin star restaurant Banks on the Wear or whether they’re a general admission season-ticket holder.

“I recognise some of the challenges we have with inventory and a stadium that was built 30 years ago but we also have to recognise we’re in year two of the Premier League.

“There’s a reality that comes with that so you look at things over the short, medium and long-term and do so via the lens of not only where you are but where you’re going.

“We also have to recognise this is the Premier League, the hardest league in the world, and there are challenges that come with that as well as opportunities.”

Read more

• The Journeyman: AFC Wimbledon and the fear of losing their soul
• Big read: Retro kits and sales in Mexico – how Hummel plans to take Sunderland global

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus ‘committed’ to Sunderland

Investment from an ownership group led by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus will continue.

“If you stand still in the Premier League, you fall behind so we know we’ve got to keep pushing and chasing,” Burwell says.

“We have to trust the decisions that we’re taking and the vision of the ownership that has got us here.

“That vision is very demanding and it is also to be here for the long-term.” 

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The dreaded apology didn’t go far enough. The body representing officials, Pro Ref, owes the whole game an apology, not just a mealy-mouthed mea culpa to Manchester United.

The goal that won the Manchester derby was the result of devastating human incompetence that hangs over every match, and it’s coming for your team next.

In this age of AI overreach, with some predicting mass extinction inside a decade, it beggars belief that VAR is still subject to human involvement in the best league in the world.

Surely there is an algorithm out there capable of removing Michael Oliver and the lads at Stockley Park from the stage, the only sapiens on earth unable to spot the illegal agency of the flying Enzo Fernandez on Sunday.

When the statement dropped some hours after the match, it was the kind of half-arsed “If I caused any offence, I’m sorry” effort that reframed the cock-up as a protocol error.

The mistake was not failing to refer Oliver to the screen for review, as they suggested, but failing to recognise in the first place the explicit actions of Fernandez, who so obviously met the condition of being involved in the play.

#MUNMCI – 59’ VAR OVERTURN

VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal for offside – and determined that Haaland was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded.

The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball. pic.twitter.com/TyTip3ACIh

— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 13, 2026

In all of this it was hard to avoid the sense that Oliver is drawn to drama like the crew on Below Deck Mediterranean, the game face he presents the result of hours in front of a mirror perfecting that “look”.

There was a degree of sympathy for Oliver in the first VAR episode to scar the contest, the Phil Foden red card. This had more to do with the manipulation of officials via simulation.

Video analysis struggles to get to the truth of events that require human interpretation rather than measurable elements. Bruno Fernandes reacted to Foden’s boot as if kicked in the goolies by a mule.

Before that, Foden made the most of the contact offered by Fernandes in the “tackle”. The inverted commas are necessary here because Fernandes thinks tackle is solely related to fishing.

The “kick” on Foden had very little force, handbags really, more performative to suggest big man vibes on derby day. Slow motion always makes it look worse.

Foden jumped out of the initial contact, going to ground as if clobbered by a removal lorry. That was the first simulation. If he stands his ground instead of eating it, the escalation doesn’t happen.

Read more

• Pete Hall: Michael Carrick has blown his big chance at Man Utd
• The Score: Man Utd’s Achilles heel, Liverpool are jumpy and Palace’s big problem

But, like they all do, he is looking for the free-kick, and invites Fernandes to respond in kind. Fernandes obliges theatrically, going full diva to con the ref. Only the fake blood was missing.

Foden was done not in the tackle, but in the con. It was hardly attempted murder, but there has to be some sympathy for Oliver having to pick apart an aggressive action in real time from a single viewpoint.

The point is VAR is not helpful in this type of example because the force involved can’t be measured by video. The visual impression created by the reaction of Fernandes was enough to persuade Oliver of Foden’s guilt. VAR actually did its job with the goal, but the humans failed it.

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This is The Score with Daniel Storey, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.

Hello and welcome back to The Score, my weekly column on the biggest talking points of the Premier League weekend. For the new season, we’ve given it a little revamp – with a new structure and some shiny bells and whistles at the end. Please let me know your (positive) thoughts on social media: @danielstorey85

The theme of this Premier League weekend was undoubtedly the failings of rebuilt attacks at clubs with significant expectations and recent silverware. Between them, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham scored once. None of them won and all three fanbases are getting a little jumpy.

The general point, I think, is to see the sheer amount of change. Look at a list of starters and used substitutes by those three clubs this weekend – Victor Munoz, Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak, Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo for Liverpool, Savio, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke, Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison for Spurs and Nicolas Jackson, George Hemmings, John McGinn, Tammy Abraham, Ibrahim Mbaye and Johan Manzambi for Villa.

That group includes seven new signings. It also includes two teenage academy graduates and five further players who started fewer than 14 league games last season due to either form or fitness. The nine starters shared 49 Premier League starts for the same club last season and McGinn accounted for 28 of those.

All three managers (one new, one fairly new and one established) are in different stages of their tenures, but all have had to reconstruct front threes and thus all their attacking patterns. The lack of fluidity and understanding has knock-on effects on the midfield balance and how much the full-backs have to push on to create overlaps.

What exacerbates the problem is the individual wastefulness of each team. Liverpool rank in the bottom half for converting shots to goals. Villa and Tottenham rank 18th and 20th respectively with a combined one goal from 81 attempts. Managers need quick wins when there is uncertainty and have been let down by wastefulness above and beyond the tactical unfamiliarity.

This all takes time. You can feasibly plug in and play one forward, but it is unusual to do so quickly with many. The problem? You don’t really get time any more, or at least not without putting yourself behind the eight ball. Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham were all odds-on to finish in the Premier League’s top seven and have won one of their combined 12 league games (Liverpool at Ipswich).

Is fun enough for Chelsea this season?

Chelsea’s four Premier League matches have involved 19 goals, so you can’t say that supporters aren’t being entertained. Xabi Alonso has one of the best front threes in Europe and the lack of midweek football means that he can let them off the leash each weekend. And maybe for one season, that’s enough.

But Chelsea have spent comfortably over a billion pounds on transfer fees since June 2023. For them to be starting Jorrel Hato (as an out-of-position central defender) and Wesley Fofana (who has had injuries but never been good enough at Chelsea) in a system that needs wing-backs, but has Pedro Neto on the right and Malo Gusto on the left is extraordinary. These are square pegs in round holes and it makes Chelsea look constantly vulnerable in defence.

Chelsea’s problem last season was an overreliance on Joao Pedro and a bluntness thanks to Cole Palmer’s form, but they also conceded 25 home league goals – more than all but six teams in the Premier League. That demanded improvement and Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last 270 minutes at Stamford Bridge.

Man Utd’s Achilles heel

A manager is judged by how they solve problems and Michael Carrick failed that task spectacularly. But managers need leaders on the pitch and Manchester United’s full-backs at the example that every other club should not follow.

The failure of this club to invest in its future was protested before kick-off in the Manchester derby. It too is epitomised by Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu starting a fixture of this importance. When a team has an extra man, it needs to stretch the pitch wide and that means the full-backs helping out.

Can either of this pair overlap at pace? No. OK, but can they cross dangerously? Also no. Sure, but presumably they are solid defensively? Absolutely not. Safe in possession? Not really, nope. What a useful combination that is. At least Luke Shaw will definitely stay fit all season.

Sage must sort out Palace’s defensive organisation

Crystal Palace alleviated any early crisis talk with their away win at Fulham last weekend, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be worried about their defensive numbers.

Last season, only five of the Big Six plus Brighton allowed fewer shots than Palace (and Brighton only allowed one fewer) and 13 clubs allowed a higher xG per game figure against their goal. It’s a small sample size, but Palace are currently conceding more shots on target per game than any other team and only Newcastle have faced more shots. Palace have faced Ipswich, Fulham and Everton in three of their four league games.

Again considering the relatively gentle fixture list, Palace have allowed an xG of 8.1. If that stays above 2.0 per game, they will absolutely be in relegation trouble.

Gameweek 4 highlights

Player of the weekend – Mohamed Belloumi (Hull City)

The Premier League does a decent line in left-footed right wingers and Belloumi is leading them all. He scored twice at Stamford Bridge, continually cut inside with the ball, but also made penalty box runs that created space and caused panic. The flicked touch for Lewie Coyle in between his two goals was sumptuous.

Goal of the weekend – Lewis Dunk (Brighton)

"An absolute WORLDIE from range!"

Lewis Dunk scores a contender for goal of the season pic.twitter.com/m5bPzm5Wm3

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 13, 2026

Nominations for both Forest goals at Villa Park and I’d actually filed this section with Bruno Guimaraes taking the award, but then Lewis Dunk thonked a ball from 25 yards into the corner of the goal where the spiders live and made Coventry City feel a lot more glum. Dunk gave the game away by looking so shocked.

Mistake of the weekend – Omar Marmoush (Tottenham)

Because we don’t have to restrict ourselves to errors that cause goals to be scored or missed. Not when a pass is this bad.

Statistic of the week

In Premier League history, only Erling Haaland, Robin van Persie and Andy Cole have enjoyed longer runs of either scoring or assisting goals in away matches than Morgan Gibbs-White’s eight.

Those eight opponents: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea, Sunderland, Tottenham, Manchester City and Brighton.

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Man Utd 0-1 Man City (Foden red card 23′, Haaland 60′)

OLD TRAFFORD — In terms of era determination, this was as important a Manchester derby as we have had in a decade.

Back in 2016, a fresh-faced Pep Guardiola was pitted against his old adversary Jose Mourinho in England, knowing that asserting power in Manchester is as important to supporters as any league title.

A comfortable 2-1 win at Old Trafford set the tone for the dominance that was to come from Guardiola’s side. And if you can keep United operating in the shadows, then trophy-laden supremacy is sure to follow.

Back then, while United were beginning their steady fall from grace, the Sir Alex Ferguson glory years were still fresh in the memory, so their place as kings of Manchester, albeit insecurely, was still intact.

#MUNMCI – 59’ VAR OVERTURN

VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal for offside – and determined that Haaland was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded.

The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball. pic.twitter.com/TyTip3ACIh

— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 13, 2026

Michael Carrick faced the task that Guardiola was presented with on Sunday, in the first non-Pep derby in that time, given how the roles have completely reversed since. And in his lack of bravery over team selection and in-game inflexibility, he blew his golden chance to prove the naysayers, who believe he is out of his depth at this level, wrong.

There was angst in the air ahead of kick-off as hundreds of United supporters gathered for an angry protest against the current ownership. Perhaps the most impactful act came inside the ground. In front of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the lesser spotted Glazer brothers Joel and Avram, the Stretford End, normally awash with flags and banners, was empty, other than one, hard-hitting riposte: “The way you treat us is a disgrace”.

As has been the hope among the powers that be every time the ownership get a strategic call wrong, it was on the players to quickly shift the mood. Phil Foden provided the hosts with an almighty leg-up, falling for Bruno Fernandes’ attempts to get under his skin, kicking out at the United skipper and becoming only the second City player to be sent off in the Premier League against their great rivals.

You would have needed an abacus to realise either side was down to 10 men, however, with United unable to make their numerical superiority count.

Refereeing decisions nonetheless remained front and centre of the action. Even as Erling Haaland wheeled away to celebrate firing home on the hour mark, he barely mustered a smile, feeling, as all true strikers sense, that he was offside. All of which made City’s celebrations more euphoric as the goal was given after a VAR review, Patrick Dorgu’s foot adjudged to have kept Haaland onside.

Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Marcus Rashford were getting nowhere up front before the opener and even less so after it, with space closed up. And yet, no changes were forthcoming.

Benjamin Sesko should have started the game. In two substitute appearances so far, he is the club’s top goalscorer, but it is the ability to actually give defenders something to think about that makes the Slovenian such a weapon of choice.

Cunha, for all his talent, is not a false nine. To get almost a full game against 10-man City and offer so little is inexcusable, and a damning indictment on a manager who refused to budge.

Sesko was introduced too late, in the 67th minute, and not for Cunha or the equally ineffective Mbeumo, but for Youri Tielemans, thus shifting Fernandes, a player light years ahead of anyone else in terms of creativity, back into a deeper, unfamiliar position.

The famous Clive Tyldesley line lingers in United supporters’ heads whenever they go behind. Except, these days, they don’t always score.

Read more

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• Julian Taylor: Tottenham are nowhere near £350m better off

Carrick’s record since taking over from Ruben Amorim at the start of the year is impressive, but it is in these moments the top managers come to the fore. Enzo Maresca was making changes at half-time, as it wasn’t working. Carrick should have been thinking the same.

Even with 10 men, Maresca was able to change the game with one substitution. Iliman Ndiaye gave City a different dimension.

When Old Trafford was in the middle of losing its mind in 2013 as Nani was sent off against Real Madrid, Mourinho was already making two substutions that won Real Madrid the match. In the biggest moments, elite managers act, those on the outside looking in wait for things to happen.

Four points from four games is exactly the start the United hierarchy didn’t need, after taking the risk in backing Carrick for the next two years.

As many predicted, Carrick was left staring at a City away end “Poznan”, as the chasm between the two rivals remains as wide as ever.

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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Four games in and tetchy Tottenham are still keeping their supporters waiting for a first Premier League goal of the season.

In the build up before Everton’s visit to N17, a few Spurs fans, laden with enviable optimism, dared to suggest that one of these days the club will get a return on its investment.

The recent transfer window is yet to prove an exact science for Tottenham: around £350m spent as a reward of sorts for Roberto de Zerbi keeping the Championship waves from lapping at a complacent club’s feet.

Spurs’ inability to score was not a mystery on this occasion, the fourth attempt at securing full league points. Their fluffy fare drew a few boos at the end.

Manager De Zerbi’s insistence that this is a better squad than last season remains tricky to digest. How else could it be, considering the north Londoners had yet to even find the net ahead of the Toffees’ clash – a Carabao cup win over Charlton doesn’t factor in this context – although he could not reasonably say anything else, in light of the summer’s free flowing expenditure.

The paucity of defeat at Brentford on the opening day of the season, a skittish home loss to Newcastle United and single points, eked out at Nottingham Forest last week and on Saturday against Everton, is the sum total of these Tottenham labours. Here, though, was the exact fixture you imagine De Zerbi needed.

A new-look rearguard needs time to settle, admittedly, and the fact that Everton flip-flopped around the thin end of transfer window and came to the capital with sparse choice of attacking options should, theoretically, have set the scene for a belated spark to this campaign.

Beyond the exasperation of seeking points, De Zerbi’s off-season powers of persuasion in regard to Lucas Bergvall and Sandro Tonali needed to be proven the right decision quickly.

First it was “want-away” Bergvall, then it was a new contract for the Swede. The midfielder was on the bench, before a 62nd minute introduction. A long-range effort turned away by Everton keeper Jordan Pickford was as close as Tottenham came to a winner.

How about Tonali, and all £100m of him? The Italian international and De Zerbi’s Brescia backstory helped secure the mercurial playmaker’s services, which should really augur so well for Spurs.

The early, awkward Tottenham stats may suggest otherwise, but there is at least some reassurance with Tonali’s presence. Unhurried and gambolling, so much of the hosts’ play was funnelled through their record signing. He forces patience, borne of experience, across the team. Sometimes, though, you just know the Tottenham faithful crave a dash of sheer, almost irresponsible, elan. Presumably this is why Savio – who flattered to deceive, like the team – was brought to the club.

For De Zerbi and his players, it was not just about a standard-issue league game here. This is undoubtedly the beginning of a big week for Tottenham, and one which can uplift or slant their season. A visit to Anfield in midweek in the Carabao Cup is one in which the ex-Brighton boss is obliged to field his strongest team, with Liverpool’s weightier responsibilities including the Champions League and an actual title challenge.

Moreover, by the time Spurs host Aston Villa next Saturday the concern is that further setbacks could cause intense navel gazing for De Zerbi across a long fortnight.

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Meanwhile, Everton’s early reticence and vulnerability to the odd through-ball by Tonali turned into decent work rate. Despite all Tottenham’s probing and releasing James Maddison for Omar Marmoush late on, De Zerbi continues to oversee little incision in 2026-27. “Put the ball in!” was one such plea from a frustrated Spurs fan.

At least drama has accompanied the Toffees already this season, and not just the vocal outrage from fans directing their ire on a range of pressing matters. Discontent at owners, the Friedkin Group, for a lack of joined-up transfer thinking. Discontent at Moyes’ ultra conservatism.

The Scottish manager may not be every fan’s cup of tea, even now, but few are as adept in gathering something when needs must. Another point, via unfashionable organisation and discipline, is ultimately better received for the Blues than for the proverbially shot-shy Spurs and De Zerbi.

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Perhaps it was inevitable, given the way the game is going. Football is starting to eat itself with its soaring transfer expenditure and rocketing wage bills. The balance sheet has never looked so off-kilter.

To pay for all the outlay, it is the bottom of the food chain who suffer as usual. Supporters at the majority of top clubs have had to endure plenty of ticket price rises over the past few years, with the focus more than ever placed upon corporate customers over regular, local match-goers.

This summer, discontent has continued to grow, nowhere more so than at Manchester United. A controversial crackdown on ticket touts, which led to many longstanding supporters receiving bans, has brought an already fractious relationship between the club and its supporters to breaking point.

Supporter group The 1958 have announced that this Sunday there will be another protest. And rather than the usual generic fan angst towards wealthy and unscrupulous owners, this will focus on the ticket touting clampdown.

The i Paper has spoken to numerous supporters close to the club to find out why the dark clouds will not shift above Old Trafford anytime soon.

United ‘have stopped engaging’

Luca Black recently resigned as U21 representative of the Manchester United Fans’ Forum. “I applied when I was 14, and then in my first meeting Joel Glazer was there,” he tells The i Paper.

“[Former CEO] Richard Arnold was there too. I left that first meeting feeling great hope about how the club treated its fans. Things started to go downhill since Ineos came in.

“They’ve got worse and worse with the installation of digital ticketing, up to the awful way they went about this latest season ticket issue. They say they trust the Fans’ Advisory Board (FAB) and Fans’ Forum, but they are no longer willing to engage with us all. The trust between club and fans has gone.

“These Fans’ Advisory Board meetings are supposed to give us a greater voice, but we aren’t even told who all the people on the board are, they have to sign non-disclosure agreements, and the meetings are not minuted.”

There are some at United who believe the club has a much better system for engaging with supporters than others. In the aftermath of the European Super League debacle, each Premier League club set up a Fans’ Advisory Board to give supporters direct access to senior figures.

Some used that as an opportunity to put existing fan forums out to pasture. United still keep an active FAB and Fans’ Forum. United chief executive, Omar Berrada, co-chairs FAB meetings.

FAB meetings are more streamlined, less of a “shouting match”, with non-disclosure agreements in place so proper discussions can happen without fear of leaks. While meetings are not minuted, there are forum representatives present to relay information.

The war on touts

That has made United’s war on alleged touts all the more disappointing to fans. Just like with the £66 ticket price rises in mid-season in 2024, neither the FAB or Fans’ Forum were consulted before the club announced the crackdown.

Supporters were stunned to receive emails out of the blue asking them to prove they had not done anything wrong.

“We really let our feelings be known in the last Fans’ Forum meeting,” one member told The i Paper. “The tone was so aggressive, assuming guilt before seeing proof, with some deeply affected by the accusations.

“It was so easily avoidable if they had consulted us. I am always telling the club, ‘allow us to help you, let us walk you through it’. Then they run ahead and do it anyway. They never seem to learn… That is why we are where we are, and another protest is ahead of us.”

Last week a message was shared on social media by a supporter who had signed up for a cup scheme and not purchased a ticket when they needed to. The club texted them saying: “You don’t have a ticket for the Sabah game on Thursday, please do not come to Old Trafford.” A link to buy tickets followed, along with the threat of further sanctions.

Ratcliffe’s cuts

Many supporters are growing tired of never-ending protests. Last season’s demonstrations before February’s Fulham clash drew much smaller numbers than anticipated. Those involved this time hope that targeting a protest at one specific thing will encourage numbers to swell once more.

“It is just the tip of the iceberg, really,” one of the organisers, who wished to remain anonymous, tells The i Paper. “After Ratcliffe made all the job cuts, raised ticket prices, moved long-standing supporters from their seats to make way for more corporate seats, this is the final straw.

“Most got them got any bans overturned, but I know some still can’t get in. It’s a joke.”

The Independent Football Ombudsman is reviewing many bans. United, coincidentally, released figures from their completed touting crackdown on Friday. It has resulted in 685 account holders being banned from Old Trafford. There were 468 cases resolved satisfactorily, while 226 supporters have been given a final warning.

Read more

• Kevin Garside: Man Utd’s very own Erling Haaland might just save Michael Carrick
• Man Utd: Fans should be concerned by Michael Carrick’s reaction to Everton draw

United weren’t the only club to target ticket touts this summer, with officials insisting they needed to address such a stain on the game. Real supporters, by and large, agree.

Yet others insist it is part of a wider attempt to force season-ticket holders out in favour of attracting tourists, who spend much more money on matchday than regulars.

United remain adamant that any banned season-ticket holder will be replaced by another season ticket holder, and no financial gain is to be had from all of this. There will nevertheless be plenty of critics on the picket line on Sunday.

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On the Saturday night after Newcastle’s hard-fought draw with Bournemouth, Matthias Jaissle and his coaching staff decided to head out to a city centre Italian restaurant for dinner.

The group were “mobbed” by well-wishers and selfie-hunters and Jaissle and his team were taken aback by the affection coming their way.

He had done his research on Newcastle as a club and place before accepting the task of succeeding Eddie Howe in the summer, but the reverence with which he’s been treated since taking over has “touched” Jaissle, who feels a duty to repay it by delivering a team the supporters can be proud of.

One thing that was imprinted on the minds of Jaissle and his coaching staff after a long match day was the banner that was unfurled in the Gallowgate End by the Wor Flags tifo group that read: “Matty Jaissle’s Black and White Army”. After just a few weeks as manager, it was way more than he expected.

An emotional character

Jaissle may not appear it in press conferences, where he tends to deliver fairly succinct, direct answers, but he is an emotional character as well as an “absolute workaholic”. His ability to “connect” with the players – at 38, he is only a few years older than the senior members of the dressing room – is one thing that has been noted by Newcastle insiders.

He is a believer in regular and honest communication with the squad and Jaissle has been impressed at the character of the dressing room he has inherited. There’s been a willingness to embrace new ideas and he is convinced that with more time on the training ground – which will come as Premier League rivals embark on draining European campaigns into the autumn and winter – this Newcastle team will go from strength to strength.

But there is an acknowledgement that they are far from the finished article, with plenty of room for improvement. Team meetings have focused on chance creation and “dominating” in the final third this week, both areas Jaissle feels they are underperforming in.

If the size of the job is considerable, he has the energy to match it and it is a measure of the man that on Saturday night, after the coaching staff returned to the upmarket hotel that is serving as Jaissle’s base while he house hunts in the North East, he popped open his laptop and started to analyse the 2-2 draw that maintained Newcastle’s impressive unbeaten record.

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Jaissle, whose working days begin at 7.30am and extend into the early evenings.

In touch with Shearer and Howe

Forays into the city have been rare – that will change during the upcoming international break – although he did enjoy a “relaxed” meal on Tynemouth beach midweek after the stress of a “full-on” transfer window.

He’s also taken time to pick the brains of Newcastle’s all-time record goalscorer Alan Shearer, a conversation that he found particularly enlightening.

Ultimately his life has been made easier by a winning start, with five points from three tough opening Premier League fixtures an impressive return for a new-look team getting to grips with a tweaked style.

Is it sustainable? That has been the narrative on Tyneside this week and Opta’s “expected points” table has Newcastle sitting in 19th, below Coventry City and Fulham. Results are out-performing the underlying metrics.

Jaissle spoke of seeing the “bigger picture” when quizzed about that on Thursday. “We have played some strong teams,” he pointed out, reasonably. And the internal feeling is that when Will Osula returns after the international break – and “crucial” new signing Matias Fernandez-Pardo beds in – they will have the speed to capitalise on the quick breaks and “diagonal” football that are going to be central to Jaissle’s plan.

His promise to staff

There should be encouragement about the way his in-game changes are improving Newcastle. That was identified in the club’s managerial due diligence as a strength of the German’s and so it is proving. Character references they took have also proved prescient.

Because there have been some really nice touches on the quiet. He wrote a letter to all of the club staff before the opening game of the season noting how many of them were Newcastle fans and promising to deliver a team that represented them.

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In midweek he sought out Fabian Schar to emphasise how important he is to him. With his three “captains” – Dan Burn, Joelinton and Malick Thiaw – missing Yoane Wissa was made skipper against Millwall to reflect his hard work behind the scenes.

Jaissle has also talked with Howe, thanking him for what he has inherited at Newcastle. While he believes there is a bright future for the club, Jaissle was mightily impressed in his first few days by the physical condition of the players. It has allowed players like Wissa and Anthony Elanga to hit the ground running in a new way of playing.

Leeds on Monday represents another stiff test for a developing Newcastle side but Jaissle has seen plenty of reasons for confidence. “The unbeaten start is not normal after such a small time together – but we want to continue this journey,” he said.

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