This is my club..

Taken from an unofficial Newcastle match report after yesterdays nil all bore with West Ham:

Anyone who bought a season ticket for the the first time will doubtless have been questioning their own sanity as they trudged out of St.James' on Saturday.

The final whistle was greeting with some booing, while that old favourite "sack the board" got a brief airing outside the main entrance.

But most fans simply suffered in near -silence, neither cheering nor booing, just seemingly resigned to being yet more of the same turgid rubbish that made last season virtually unwatchable.

How long they'll stay quiet though remains to be seen.

Another year of over priced depression. The Newcastle Chronicle were just as optimistic:

Beneath clear blue skies and amid a light summer breeze, Newcastle proved that storm-clouds remain on the Tyneside horizon.

And the mood of the natives after this bore draw was black enough to suggest the wind of change could soon blow through the United dug-out.

Against a side promoted via the play-offs, favourites for relegation, fielding a 39-year-old up front and reduced to 10 men for most of the second half, United drew a depressing blank.

For Graeme Souness, the forecast looks bleak.

If the Magpies manager and hierarchy had not realised the latent resentment among fans at a summer of near-inertia after a year of decline, it all but boiled over after yesterday's final whistle.

So I get myself to London to support the team I have loved for well over a decade and they thank me with the excitment and drama of a potential relugation battle. Bastards! Yes, I am bitter - but still for some paradoxical reason reason, it only serves to make me more determined to stay loyal.