Fans inside St James' Park had their eyes drawn to something on the pitch ahead of Newcastle v Villa

While the result definitely wasn't what any United supporter inside St James' Park wanted on Saturday evening, as Newcastle slumped to a 0-1 defeat to Aston Villa, there was some excitement for any Sam Fender fans in attendance. And that's because a message appeared on the pitch that strongly suggested the People Watching singer will be back at the stadium next year.

Having suffered a humiliating return to Premier League action on Monday night, when they slumped to a 4-1 hammering by Coventry in their first game in three weeks, NUFC were desperate to return to form on home turf on Saturday, in front of a full house at SJP However, they ended the night empty handed, thanks to a first half strike from Villa's Johan Manzambi, the very player United came close to signing over the summer.

After Wissa fired wide in the 79th minute, Villa should have made it 2-0 not long after and, while they didn't double their lead, they did hold on to make it a miserable return to St James' for Mattias Jaissel's men. Certainly not a good night for Newcastle under the lights but there was one big takeaway from the game that had nothing to do with football and everything to do with Sam Fender.

As anyone in Newcastle will tell you, the atmosphere all around town at at fever pitch when Sam and his band played St James' Park in 2023 and again in 2025, and, amid growing speculation he's about to be officially confirmed as a Glastonbury headliner for next summer, it also looks like a return to SJP might well be on the horizon.

After Fender fans were put on high alert by a post on Sam's website with the logo SF 27 and a form to fill out for the latest updates, a message appeared pitch side at St James' at the Villa match, reading 'Proper Massive SF 27.'

The message was first seen as NUFC players were seen arriving for the game and then quickly did the rounds on social media as fans flooded into the stands and took pictures of it. Sam at SJP in 2027? Yes please!