The touchline antics of Gregory and his minions were appalling and our favourite lard-arsed fourth official Winter did little to dissuade the Villa manager from becoming his team's 12th man as he continually entered the field of play. If you count Rennie and the trainer, Villa were often able to boast 14 on the pitch. 

Colin Calderwood deserves specific mention for his feigning injury and persistent provocation of Shearer. How this poor imitation of a defender managed to avoid a booking or mild dismembering from crowd or player remains a mystery. Hopefully he will get his comeuppance one day....

In conclusion:

1. Basketball returns to Tyneside - physical contact now seemingly been outlawed by FIFA.
2.Rennie must be removed from the Premiership ref list immediately. He's a nice bloke apparently.... 

(Exit Mackenzie in a fit of rage, off to harangue the good citizens of Prague.)

Right, second go from "the other one" (Biffa):

There's not much else to say about Rennie or the thuggish Villans led by the evil dictator Gregory, prancing around in his "technical area" like Martina Navratilova after a double dose of steroids, except that cause of race relations on Tyneside couldn't have been harmed further if the Whitley Bay White Knights were giving away used tenners outside Eldon Square. 

Mention must be made of the demise of "Local Hero" as the walk-on tune. Instead we were treated with a medley of the Chemical Brothers followed by Fatboy Slim with "Right Here, Right Now", a racket of sufficient magnitude to blow a couple of speakers in the Leazes End....

As for the team, I hope that Rudi still had enough fire in him to treat the players in the dressing room to a reprise of the outburst directed at Rennie. Although it is tempting to side with the manager and cheer him on as he sidestepped Winter and confronted the complicit official, it isn't the most dignified response, given the highly-charged atmosphere. 

United can probably count themselves lucky that a slightly less demonstrative element now inhabit the seats round the pitch, otherwise Rudi's example could easily have spurred a pitch invasion with severe ramifications. 

However the antics of the referee shouldn't hide the fact this was a miserable encounter played out between two sides who looked as if they were ending a long season, not starting one. 

While injuries limited Rudi's options, I desperately hope that Robert Lee was unfit and not just banished to the sidelines, as his presence would surely have stabilised the midfield and allowed us to play without Carl Serrant, who just isn't up to the job. 

Of those who played, Franck Dumas did reasonably well in a more advanced role than expected, while Kieron Dyer showed rare touches of pace and vision after his introduction. And had Alain Goma's first half header gone in rather than hit the bar, this could have been very different.