Newcastle United to pay homage to fans lost on MH17

Wellington: Players of English Premier League club Newcastle United will be wearing black armbands in their New Zealand tour games to pay homage to two of their supporters who died in Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in Ukraine. En route to watch Newcastle United`s pre-season matches in New Zealand, John Alder and Liam Sweeney took the Malaysia Airliners MH17. The flight with 298 people aboard crashed Thursday over eastern Ukraine, with no survivors found so far, reports Xinhua.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew paid tribute to the two fans, adding that his side will try to achieve the best possible results during the tour in New Zealand in order to honour the two supporters. "That is what they would have wanted and that is what we want," said Pardew. "Owners and managers come and go, as players do, but the fans are always there," the coach said. "These two guys, in particular, to go to the lengths that they were going to come here, has brought home just how important they are to us." Newcastle players will wear black armbands in their friendly games against Sydney FC Tuesday and against the Wellington Phoenix Saturday.