Toon's ticket farce

Some fans did not receive their season ticket before the campaign's opener against Arsenal

It's the highlight of many football fans' calendars: receiving their new season ticket for the new campaign.

One ticket, or card, represents a year's worth of hope, anticipation and excitement, which will probably ultimately result in disappointment, anguish and looking ahead to the next season, which is "bound to be better".

However, Newcastle United managed to screw up that whole process this summer to leave many fans worried before the season had even begun.

The majority of fans were largely unaffected, with the club announcing existing season ticket holders would keep their existing season tickets for the new campaign.

However, for new season ticket holders, those moving seats or those changing age category, there has been a close season of uncertainty and a long wait to receive their new "season card".

Supporters had enough to deal with this summer, with the sale of fans' favourites, lack of investment, rumoured squad discontent, fan trouble at Darlington, Twitter flare-ups, visa issues and a nightmare trip to the USA which resulted in an injury to Hatem Ben Arfa (apologies if I've missed anything out).

But the Toon Army will still be there in their numbers - with almost 47,000 attending the season opener against Arsenal - despite being treated largely with contempt by the club.

Newcastle's clash with Arsenal will mostly be remembered for the incident involving Joey Barton and Gervinho

New season ticket cards were not issued until less than a week before the first home game, against Arsenal, with many fans not receiving them before the game.

The club's box office telephone line was flooded with fans demanding to know where their tickets were and many were cut off due to the overload. Also, time spent "in the queue" while phoning Newcastle's box office costs money, so some fans who may have had around £5 worth of credit left on their mobile phones were eventually cut off after they ran out of money.

Those who didn't receive their season ticket before the Arsenal game had to go to the box office at the stadium on the day of the game to get a paper ticket, before their card eventually came in the post.

It was yet another shambolic episode to show that, off the pitch at least, Newcastle continues to be in disarray.

The club insisted season tickets were printed and released by a third party, but why couldn't they take care of it all themselves? What are they, amateurs?

Why couldn't tickets have been sent out weeks, even months, in advance, so any problems could be ironed out well before the season?

It's almost as if the club want the fans to desert them.

Fans from the "singing corner" in level seven were uprooted from their seats this summer, angering many who had owned a ticket there for years.

The club gave harsh sanctions following the Darlington pitch invasion

Then, after the crowd trouble which marred the friendly at Darlington, the club banned any non-season ticket holders or non-members from away games, meaning many "occasional" buyers, who may live in other parts of the country and therefore had attended Newcastle games near to them, are now unable to see Newcastle in an away fixture.

The ticket fiasco at St James' Park last weekend meant many fans had to arrive at the ground ridiculously early to ensure they could get in, with most at the very least disillusioned with how they were dealt with.

In addition to the trouble those season ticket holders had, there were also reports others had problems getting in the ground, with several "swipe cards" not working.

Newcastle fans still produced an impressive atmosphere against Arsenal

Those fans who did eventually get in watched a promising 0-0 draw against Arsenal, but even that did not mask the general disillusionment by many fans towards their beloved club.

There is growing anger from the terraces and if the club is not careful, a return to the kinds of protests seen in 2008 after the resignation of Kevin Keegan may not be too far off.

They were disillusioned anyway after the nightmare of a summer their club went through, but episodes like this are only going to make the gap between the club and the fans grow ever wider.

Newcastle fans are among the most passionate and loyal in the country but they are constantly given no reward for it and are now being treated more as customers than supporters.

Their backing on Saturday against Arsenal was as good as ever but the club must start giving them something back before they do finally turn their backs on the club or, more likely, the board.

Fans' patience is beginning to wear thin and this ticket farce - while not widely reported - has made that a whole lot worse with a minority of Newcastle's support.

The ticket situation only affected a relatively small number of supporters but is just another example of the mess the club appears to be in internally.

The happiness of fans should be the most important thing the club ensures but it seems as if supporters are bottom of Newcastle United's list of priorities.