Newcastle can chalk off another year without a trophy after their wretched, spineless Uefa Cup exit against AZ Alkmaar.

Glenn Roeder's desperately negative and naive game-plan was a cast-iron guarantee that it would be 38 years and counting since the distant black and white memories of the Inter Cities Fairs Cup win against Újpest Dózsa.

Newcastle supporters have not been short on suffering, and the alarm bells signalling another inevitable disappointment must have been ringing when Roeder proclaimed before the game that a goalless draw would do his side nicely.

And once the game started, their worst fears were confirmed. Roeder, with a two-goal cushion, sent Newcastle to their demise.

Roeder is only too keen to paint himself as a shrewd, street-smart tactician when Newcastle win, but he should have known Alkmaar, under the vastly superior coaching of Louis van Gaal, do not do goalless draws.

So timid Newcastle sat back and almost accepted their fate like frightened men, hoping to scrape a goal or somehow hang on against a side that looked full of goals and attacking intent.

Roeder shifted some of the blame on to the referee and a lot of the blame on to his defenders.

Strangely enough, not too much of the blame appeared to land at his door.

Sorry Glenn, this one rotted from the top down and you must take your share as well.

True enough, Newcastle were without Michael Owen, as they have been for virtually 15 months, but does one serious injury have such a debilitating effect?

Roeder talks of bringing in defenders, but he has had plenty of time to do that and this is a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

And why was James Milner, a positive influence and arguably Newcastle's best player this season, left on the bench when Roeder surely knew a goal would pile almost insurmoutable pressure on Alkmaar?

Even Emre was thrown into the fray before him, a move that was hardly a raging success.

What would a warrior like Alan Shearer have made of Newcastle's pathetic approach in Holland, seemingly stripped of positive intent and cowering their way out of the cup?

Newcastle play in a big city with big support, but the question remains about whether they are a big club.

They have certainly acted like a big club.

And chairman Freddy Shepherd - for all the criticism - could never be accused of not thinking big in the transfer marker.

The big signings have arrived on a regular basis, namely superstar captures like Shearer and Owen, but trophies have the same effect on Newcastle as kryptonite did on Superman.

Newcastle will only be a truly big club when they have a recent history to speak of and trophies to parade.

Big clubs win silverware on a much more regular basis than Newcastle.

Not every year maybe, but they tend to trouble the trophy room cleaners rather more than once every 40 years.

The fans will continue to turn up, as they invariably do.

But they can no longer rely on boasting about a history no-one can actually remember, the amount of supporters who turn out to greet new signings, or the year they threw the Premiership away because Kevin Keegan started pointing and shouting live on telly.

Newcastle United is currently a middle of the road club that has not won a trophy for 38 years. These are the facts.

And now questions will be asked about whether Roeder is the man who can actually ends this period in the wilderness.

On the evidence of what was little more than a surrender against Alkmaar, that is a question that needs to be pondered very seriously.