‘Go up there’: Bent shares how Newcastle fans treated him whilst at Sunderland

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Darren Bent has praised Newcastle United fans and claimed that their supporters were ‘fantastic’ with him whilst he was playing for Sunderland, as he told TalkSport (09/08/20 at 1:55 pm).

The former England striker shared how the fans ‘eat, breathe and sleep’ football up in the North East and if you want to ‘focus’ on your football then playing for clubs like Sunderland and Newcastle is the place to be.

Bent played for Sunderland for a three-year period, leaving in 2011, and it could be argued that other than his early days at Charlton, he played his best football at the Stadium of Light.

Former strikers Jermaine Beckford and Bent were talking about coping when you are away from home and away from your comfort zone, as his move to Sunderland was discussed.

“It was a big club [Sunderland],” Bent told TalkSport. “I knew how passionate they were about football and that was the big thing. I wanted to be out of London – but if you want to focus on your football, go up there.

“If you want to eat, breathe, sleep football, you go to the North East. Even Newcastle United supporters were fantastic with me. I played for Sunderland, yet they showed me a lot of respect. They always wanted to talk to me about football.

“It was just somewhere I could just focus, I could enjoy my football and I was away from everything else. If my friends wanted to see me, they’d come up to me. Ultimately, they made me feel like I was a million pounds. Honestly, it was a fantastic experience, which is why I probably played my best football up there.”

When Bent moved to Sunderland, he had endured an indifferent time at Tottenham and he needed to find his scoring touch again.

There’s no doubt that he found that with the Black Cats, who saw him score 36 times in 63 matches for the club [transfermarkt].

But it didn’t end well because he did leave for Aston Villa in January, who were pushing for Europe at the time, but all in all, he will be remembered fondly by the Sunderland faithful.