Stream of Sh!tty conscientiousness....

The roller-coaster ride of supporting Newcastle United became ridiculous when the high of beating the current Italian League leaders Palermo was followed swiftly by one of the biggest lows in the club's recent history, less than 48 hours later.

Sheffield United are a side that hadn't won away all season and failed to even score on the road came to St. James Park, had a look for an hour, saw nothing to be afraid of and then went on to deservedly win and take three points from us.

The decision to play on saturday in order to pocket the TV money for this game, rather than put the fixture back to Sunday to allow players suffcient time to recover from a trip to Italy, was diabolical. The false economy of taking a few hundred grand while risking the club's top flight status was a gamble that was never worth taking.

The performance was simply awful in all aspects against a well-organised side with superior fitness who undoubtedly deserved their victory.

Once Webber had headed Sheffield United in front there looked to be no way back for us and Alan Quinn almost compounded our misery when hitting the post near the end - the goal would have sent us joint bottom of the league with Charlton.

Chants of the Shepherd Out and Board sacking variety could be heard inside the ground during the second half and were echoed outside Old Milburn Reception afterwards.

However the object of their abuse was again missing from the game, Freddy Shepherd having been in Spain for this and the Palermo fixture.

Ignoring Tuesday's Carling Cup sideshow, attention now switches to the League fixture away at Manchester City next Saturday - the second time in ten months that we've gone there in turmoil off the field and in disarray on it.

Our recent results mean that Man City's current inconsistencies are of little relevance - a situation also mirroring last season when a poor City side wiped the floor with the rabble previous Newcastle boss Grame Souness presided over for the final time before being fired 24 hrs later.

Whether an injection of attacking pace from Dyer and/or Martins can be added to our squad remains to be seen, but it's plain to see that the roots of our malaise lie far deeper.

Quite frankly we've hit the buffers - and the problems that have been evident for years can no longer be ignored. Local heroes and club goalscoring records in the form of Shearer can no longer mask the decline in this club over a decade.

For every person who boos or chants outside St. James Park there are many more mute onlookers and increasing numbers voting with their feet - unable to criticise their club but unwilling to witness this feckless tripe at first hand.

It's bad enough paying for it, but for some season ticket holders at present it's too much of an ask to bother going, something that hardly bodes well for renewals.

And as for away trips, forget it. A jaunt to the Arsenal ground and two nights on the slash in Germany. Going to Blackburn, Bolton or Everton holds about as much allure as a colonoscopy (sorry Carter).

The casual punters are drifting away week on week and there is a growing level of negativity and gloom from people who remember the dark days of 88/89 when we were relegated - and see unpleasant echoes of it in the current season.

That negativity translates itself into a lack of support for the team. But to talk of a fear factor or a lack of confidence in the players as a consequence of that is just nonsense.

Over-paid, lazy, disinterested so-called professionals aren't going to get away with the sub-standard performances of late that easily.

There's a degree of sympathy for manager Glenn Roeder, who seems like a decent enough bloke fighting to do a job under intolerable circumstances - hence the lack of personal abuse directed at him.

We can find nothing but contempt though from the rank and file towards the Douglas Halls and Freddy Shepherds of the board, their offshore money pits, sports-agent friends and car dealer hangers-on.

Any talk from them about bad luck with injuries etc. has to overshadowed by the continual questionable transfer dealings and the feel-bad factor that now follows us around.

this week some fans published calculations debunking the notion that the current administration have ever invested a penny of their own money into the club, more have grown bored of the bullish boardroom broadcasts and hackneyed platitudes trotted out by friendly hacks.

This defeat merely confirmed the worst fears of many Toon watchers: that our post-Shearer recruitment programme was fundamentally flawed, leaving us ill-equipped to cope with the demands of this season.

This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to plunging into the bottom two of the Premiership, rather a considered conclusion based on the mess we've made of a fixture list that included several eminently winnable games.

Factoring in the coming games taking us into 2007 shows that it's a damn sight more difficult in terms of points collection.

Conclusion - we're f*cked.

A short-term approach would be to blame the losses on Roeder and point to tactical shortcomings, questionable selections and substitution and an inability to inspire certain players as reasons to pay him off.

The appointment of a replacement (relative success Alan Curbishley or anyone of similar status, ie: with nowt better to do) would then see that traditional new manager/ ten game boost take effect.

That would give us enough renewed impetus to collect the points rise to the dizzy heights of mid-table.

Throw in a dispiriting exit in the latter stages of a cup and the only thing that's changed is the price of the sorrow-drowning beers from the last time we went round the carousel.

And from where I stand, people seem less and less prepared to stay on for the ride once again.

In short, the club is dying on its feet; dying from neglect and dying of indifference.

Fans are desperate for a fresh approach, fresh ideas and fresh faces - anything to lift the mood of despondency that has set in since those scarves were twirled last May and Owen lay on a German football field just days later.

The problem with not thinking short-term though is that a long-term view requires vision, planning and strategy. The current incumbents are yet to prove they have any of those qualities.

To sum up, take your money and please just go away. SACK YOURSELF!.