AFTER yet another season to forget, Newcastle Utd fans say they have had enough. Joe Willis reports.

NEWCASTLE'S 3-1 loss to Tottenham was their sixth defeat in a row, but the game was almost a sideshow to the main event - a protest by angry fans aimed at persuading owner Mike Ashley to sell-up.

The official attendance was more than 47,000 but the numerous patches of grey seating suggest the real number of supporters who filed into St James' Park on Sunday afternoon was much lower - season ticket holders are counted whether they attend or not.

Protesters were hoping up to 16,000 fans would stay away from the game which was screened live on Sky, with the aim being to highlight fans' dissatisfaction and embarrass the owner into acting.

Before the game several thousand fans gathered in the shadow of the Gallowgate to call for the owner to sell up - something he has previously said he would not consider doing until 2016 at the earliest.

Chants of "get out of our club" and "we're rich but we're s**t" could be heard.

The protest was orchestrated by a group of supporters behind the ashleyout.com website. Volunteers from the group handed out 20,000 leaflets before kick-off explaining their aims. So-called 'oustmobiles' - vans featuring Ashley Out banners - were parked up outside the stadium and driven around the city centre.

Back in the ground the mood was not improved by the sight of an aircraft flying overhead during the first half trailing a banner displaying the message "5 in a row Sunderland" - a less than subtle reference to Newcastle's run of derby defeats.

While campaigners may have wanted to see more fans staying away, the message was still getting out with the protest being widely discussed in the national media.

Commenting on Sky, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said he could understand why supporters were so unhappy.

“Since Mike Ashley’s been there, seven or eight years, they’ve been relegated once and could be close again - under Alan Pardew they came close once before.

“He’s balanced the books, he’s made money because he’s a businessman and that’s what he wants to do.

“These people come in and they want to make money, we know that, but don’t you want to be excited yourself? Is he not bored watching Newcastle? I’m getting bored by it."

A spokesman for ashleyout.com said: "This is only the start of a long and sustained campaign to remove Mike Ashley."