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Sunderland AFC fans let down by a mindless few have donated £500 to veterans' charities after Preston Cenotaph was defaced following the Black Cats fixture in Lancashire.

Sunderland AFC supporters have looked to restore their reputation following the moronic actions of a few Black Cats fans who defaced Preston’s Cenotaph war memorial in May.

Following the incident, fans set up a fundraising campaign to offer to cover clean-up costs and make a donation to local veterans' charities.

Over 5,000 SAFC’s fans travelled to the final game of the season against the Lilywhites and they were sadly let down by the actions of a few after slogans like 'SAFC' and 'Mackems' - together with vulgar references to North East rivals Newcastle - were graffitied on walls surrounding the Cenotaph.

The Council immediately called in a clean-up squad to remove the graffiti.

The act left Black Cats fans mortified with many going onto the Preston North End supporters' forum PNE Online to apologise for the actions of the mindless few.

One post even suggested starting a GoFundMe page to cover the cleaning costs and in some way make amends for the grossly disrespectful act.

In the aftermath of the fixture a Mr or Ms A White set-up a Go Fund Me page with the aim of raising £500.

Their fundraising statement said: “If, like me, you were disgusted by the graffiti left on the Cenotaph by moronic SAFC ‘fans’, and would like to in some small way help restore the fantastic reputation of our travelling support, then a small donation will help in repayment of costs incurred by Preston City Council.

“Anything we raise over these costs will be donated to the British Legion.”

A graffiti clean-up squad was sent out to clean-up the graffiti.

After reaching their fundraising target an updated message was yesterday (Monday June 13) posted on the Ready to Go Sunderland Message Board.

The post read: “The money you all kindly donated is now with the Dig In charity and the Royal British Legion.

“Thanks once again to all those who donated and have once again put us right up there as some of the best fans in the country.”

The monument's expensive Portland stone wall was defaced.

Based in Preston, Dig In offers group gardening, carpentry and photography workshops, as well as more general support, to both serving personnel and military veterans and their families.

Following the donation, the charity posted a message on its Facebook page which said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Sunderland AFC supporters from their Ready to Go forum for the very kind donation of £250 towards our work supporting veterans.

“This group of supporters raised the money after an unfortunate incident occurred following a recent football match in Preston in which the Cenotaph was vandalised.

“It is really heart-warming to know that one unfortunate incident is in no way representative of the vast majority of fans.

“The generosity of those fans is much appreciated by us.”

Following the incident, Sunderland AFC condemned the actions of those responsible.

A club statement said: "Sunderland AFC has a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of anti-social behaviour.

"The club strongly condemns the unacceptable conduct of a small minority of individuals in relation to this incident and is committed to supporting the local authorities with their enquiries."

Sunderland AFC fans donate £500 after vandalism of Preston Cenotaph