Why there won't be a banner display amongst Sunderland fans at Wembley

Sunderland are bidding to return to the Championship at the fourth attempt today, as the Black Cats face Wycombe Wanderers in the League One play-off final. Sunderland fans have travelled to London in their droves and they promise to provide a wonderful atmosphere inside Wembley but one thing that will be missing is a planned banner display before kick-off.

Organisers, 'The Spirit of 37' stated that material chosen for the banners had 'failed the safety test' required in order to be allowed to be used in any display inside the national stadium. They wrote in a statement:

"We are unsure why the safety test was not conducted earlier and, prior to this point, we were unaware that the chosen material could potentially fail. We would like to emphasise that no funds have been put towards unusable material."

As some fans had pledged money towards the display, the statement also explained that all funds raised would 'go towards further displays,' similar to the one before Alex Neil 's side faced Sheffield Wednesday in the first-leg of the play-off semi-final.

This will be Sunderland 's second play-off final since the Black Cats were relegated to League One in 2017/18. Jack Ross's side lost to a stoppage time winner as Charlton won promotion to the Championship.