Sunderland fans told Newcastle United supporters to ‘enjoy Burton’ in May 2016.
The Mackems surviving in the Premier League at the expense of the Magpies, with Championship football awaiting Rafa Benitez, his team and the fans.
Coming from the other direction, Burton were at the same time getting promoted from League One. The minnows having enjoyed a remarkable rise from non-league to become arguably the smallest club to ever compete in the second tier of English football.
The mighty Newcastle United having to play Burton Albion in the same league, absolutely hilarious and the Sunderland fans milked it.
Newcastle fans did indeed enjoy Burton, beating them home and away, to pick up six points on the way to finishing as champions in May 2017.
Rafa’s excellent job in taking Newcastle up as champions was met with derision from many Mackems that he hadn’t done it even easier fashion, one infamous comment declaring: ‘If we were playing the likes of Burton Albion every week, we would be top of the league as well.’
It is funny how quickly things can change…and Sunderland fans did indeed get a very rapid opportunity to play and beat ‘the likes of Burton Albion’ every week.
As Newcastle finished top of the Championship in 2016/17, Sunderland were busy ending up rock bottom of the Premier League.
In that Championship season of 2017/18, Sunderland fans did indeed ‘enjoy’ playing Burton Albion, at least for the first 90 minutes.
The Mackems winning their first ever league meeting with Burton 2-0 away from home on 25 November 2017. The only problem was that this was their first win in 17 Championship games and only their second in the opening 19 league matches.
Moving swiftly forward to 21 April 2018 and Sunderland had only managed four more wins in their next 24 games after beating Burton.
With three games remaining, Sunderland faced Nigel Clough’s team at the Stadium of Light.
Defeat for either would effectively mean relegation, whilst if other results went against them, it could even be mathematically certain for either of them.
If you could have written the script, it wouldn’t have been better.
Fact definitely stranger than fiction.
Sunderland went ahead through a McNair goal on 34 minutes.
With only five minutes remaining, the Mackems were still in front.
On 86 minutes former Sunderland striker Darren Bent pounced to score only his second goal of the season.
The farce only got better, as two minutes into injury time, Boyce put the visitors in front!
Sunderland weren’t taking this lying down though and made sure there was a final hilarious punchline…
Only five minutes of extra time had been added but into the sixth minute Sunderland equalised, only for the referee to then rule it out, apparently for handball.
Sunderland went down and ‘enjoying’ Burton had taken on a whole new meaning.
As it happened, whilst Sunderland ended up rock bottom of a league once again, Burton were also relegated alongside them.
Once again, the Sunderland fans got the chance to ‘enjoy’ Burton and now they could beat the likes of them every week in League One.
The script yet again didn’t let Newcastle fans down, as Burton beat Sunderland 2-1 and then drew 1-1 in April 2019, those lost points helping to ensure Sunderland missed automatic promotion, the Wearsiders missing out in the play-offs.
In the 2019/20 season, Burton came to the Stadium of Light on 26 November 2019 and won 2-1, the game at Burton not getting played as the season was cut short with Sunderland’s final position eighth, once again, no promotion from the third tier.
Last season (2020/21) a rare good day for Sunderland as they won 3-0 at Burton but a 1-1 home draw against them helped ensure that once again the mackems missed automatic promotion and then failed in the play-offs.
This ensuring a fourth season in a row in League One, the same division as Burton.
The 2021/22 season and Sunderland faced Burton in August. Burton winning 1-0 at home against the mackems, scoring with their only shot on target. The Mackems actually winning the other five of their six opening League One matches.
Last night (22 February 2022) it was Burton visiting the Stadium of Light, Sunderland going behind before a last gasp equaliser gave them a point. However, a draw not much use as it means only two points for the mackems from their last six matches and now zero chance of automatic promotion and hopes of even a play-off place dwindling fast as other clubs have games in hand.
For Newcastle fans it is a bit of a strange experience. Sunderland now so wrecked, that enjoying their situation has now become a bit of an empty feeling, up to a point…
Not one of those Mackems who were shouting ‘Enjoy Burton’ six years ago, could have ever imagined just how badly they would be forced to eat those words, time and time again.
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