David Moyes' calamitous start as Manchester United manager turned into a full-blown crisis as Yohan Cabaye ended Newcastle's 41-year wait for an Old Trafford win.
The result condemned United to back-to-back home Premier League defeats for the first time 2002.
It meant United have lost five times already this season and that they have collected just two points from their last four games.
Little wonder the reaction at the end was one of anger from the home supporters, who watched virtually the same group of players they booed off today clinch a 20th title by 11 points less than seven months ago.
For Moyes, it is absolutely the stuff of nightmares.
The Scot has been dignified in rolling the heavy blows that have already been inflicted upon him during his short tenure and he retains the unquestioned support of the club's owners.
Yet it seems patience elsewhere has started to wear thin.
When Patrice Evra's clearing header bounced back off Moussa Sissoko, allowing the Newcastle man a free run into the area, before cutting back a perfect cross to invite Cabaye's first-time finish, albeit via slight deflection off Nemanja Vidic, the discontent rippled round all but a small corner of the stadium.
Amid their glee, the Magpies fans delivered two of the cruellest jibes. They suggested Moyes would be sacked in the morning and that United would be accompanying Sunderland into the Championship at the end of the season. And it is true that United are nearer the drop zone than they are the top spot they occupied for so long.
As the whistle blew on yet another goalless first-half for United, it was hard not to feel a little bit of sympathy for a set of players who appeared paralysed by fear.
Seven changes from the midweek defeat by Everton, including the return of Robin van Persie following a four-match absence with a groin strain, should have had a positive impact.
But the additional mobility compared to Wednesday was lost amid the tentativeness of a team who looked scared to lose in front of a crowd on the brink of a very negative reaction.
Too often invention was spurned in favour of safety, which in turn reinforced the defences of a solid Newcastle outfit, who never looked in danger of coughing up the type of goals they did at Swansea on their last outing.
Player-of-the-month Tim Krul pulled off a decent save from Phil Jones in the early stages but had little else to do in the first-half.
Fabricio Coloccini made an excellent clearing header to prevent Vidic getting to Adnan Januzaj's cross, whilst the young Belgian was robbed in the box brilliantly by Yoan Gouffran.
And other than a blatant dive by Javier Hernandez, that was that for the hosts.
Newcastle did not do that much better.
But with Cheick Tiote controlling midfield and Loic Remy remaining on the move, United's defence did not look as settled as Newcastle's.
And when Evra was caught out of position, allowing Remy to slide a brilliant pass through for Mathieu Debuchy, whose thunderous first-time shot was turned away one-handed by David de Gea.
De Gea moments later repelled a close-range Debuchy header to at least ensure United reached the break level.
Moyes appeared to have used the interval wisely, judging by the sense of purpose his side had at the restart.
Krul saved from Hernandez and Januzaj before Evra met a Nani corner with purpose and sent a header bulleting against the post.
Vurnon Anita had no chance to react as the rebound struck him on the hand from barely six inches.
As the ball was flashing straight across goal and the diversion helped take it away to safety, a penalty surely should have been awarded. Instead referee Andre Marriner waved play on, just as he did when Tiote cut down Evra close to the Newcastle goal-line moments later.
Incidents like these tend to be followed by a hammer blow. And Cabaye duly provided it with his 10-yard finish from Sissoko's cross - via Vidic.
The introductions of Wilfried Zaha for his Premier League debut and Anderson looked like the reactions of a desperate man, just as the noise appeared to be when Van Persie turned home what he thought was an equaliser. A brilliant call by assistant referee Sian Massey ruled otherwise.
United continued to push forward but to little effect and when Marriner called time on another sorry day, there were thousands of empty seats.
Those who remained let their feelings be known in a different way.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article