Newcastle's epic season finally ground to a halt at Craven Cottage on Sunday with a disinterested and directionless display that sadly summed up much of the last nine months.

A goal in each half by a Fulham side who didn't need to overly exert themselves to collect three points left United twelfth in the table, replicating what was their lowest position since 2020/21.

The busiest fixture list of modern times concluded on the hottest matchday in living memory; Eddie Howe's players having more drinks breaks than goal attempts as time passed without any hint that a football match might break out.

The hosts were ahead in 20 minutes after Nick Pope was unable to prevent Issa Diop nodding home after Kevin's free kick rebounded back off the Putney End crossbar.

Aside from one Joe Willock effort blocked by Bernd Leno and a timely intervention from Timothy Castagne to prevent Lewis Hall reaching Jacob Murphy's cross, the blue-clad visitors offered absolutely nothing as an attacking unit.

And in what summed up their day, they left the field to a chorus of boos at half time, having spent the five additional minutes in a half-hearted, unthreatening attacking move with no end product. 

Having ruined their own hopes of European qualification after a lean period, the Cottagers shook off their own slumbers to double their advantage with 10 minutes of the second half remaining, substitute Tom Cairney's fine finish from distance aided by United's collective inability to offer any resistance.

Sandro Tonali featured in the warm-up but was replaced by Willock in the starting line-up due to a fitness concern, while both Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier remained unused on the bench on

Those on show contributed little and somehow managed to be even more ineffective in the second half after Harvey Barnes, Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa sauntered on.

On wearside meanwhile, the mackems defeated Chelsea to clinch a Europa League place - aided by the generous donation of six points from Barrack Road, on another two occasions this season when we couldn't be bothered to show up.

On the banks of the Thames, Eddie Howe's also-rans fulfilled a fixture rendered meaningless by their inability to compete in the most mundane of Premier League seasons.  

The abiding emotion at full time here was one of relief, coupled with a genuine apprehension about the direction of a team who look collectively clueless far too often for comfort. In no measure have we improved in a year; the credit afforded to Howe for the cup success 14 months is ebbing away.

Whether removal of the supposed bad apples in the squad will have a positive effect remains to be seen, but the feeling persists that divisions in the squad caused by Alexander Isak's exit remain. History may record that indulging Gordon's whims ultimately proved to be just as destructive.

There's an increasing sense that Howe's dressing room messages are falling on deaf ears, after being delivered on 231 occasions since November 2020. Maybe this is just coming to a natural conclusion, or there is a need for a new voice without changing the manager.

Discontent over team selection, set-up and substitutions persists as supporters deliver their verdict as the manager asked them to with his "judge me" sound bites.

The lack of collective and individual improvement in the team after the fixtures became less frequent is a significant gripe, along with the selection of favoured players to offset a continued inability to integrate last summer's expensive acquisitions. The absence of game management is also up there - once our hallmark in those halcyon days when intensity was our identity, rather than inaction.

After a season that left David Hopkinson's "top club by 2030" boast as hollow as Yasir Al-Rumayyan's "number 1" vow, there's an urgent need those at the helm to regain some credibility and brush off the jibes about our becoming a Mike Ashley redux, happy to just to be there or thereabouts.

They'll stand or fall on whether retaining Howe is compatible with achieving those stated targets, but the question of how adept they would be at replacing him remains a genuine concern to us.

No amount of new screens and flashing lights can compensate for a failure to fix things on the pitch, but a season comprising of domestic games only may prove to be crucial in regaining momentum. Such has been our downturn that adding another chunk of European ties to the workload of this lot really could have had unimaginable consequences. 

As is customary at this point, we'll conclude with our own cyber lap of appreciation for everyone who allows us to keep on keeping on.

Biffa

For Bill Roddham