NEWCASTLE United's 37-year trophy drought officially ended yesterday - but nobody bothered to tell the club about their success.

When the Magpies were drawn out of the UEFA Cup hat for their last-32 tie with Belgian outfit Zulte-Waregem in yesterday's draw they became the official winners of the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Eleven teams progressed to the UEFA Cup knock-out and group stages from the much-maligned competition earlier this season, but Newcastle are the only side who qualified from the aforementioned competition still left in it.

UEFA stated at the beginning of the tournament that the last club remaining in the UEFA Cup would be crowned Intertoto Cup champions, although Europe's governing body have not yet informed the Magpies or presented them with the trophy.

The club last lifted silverware in 1969 when Bobby Moncur skippered Joe Harvey's side to a 6-2 aggregate success over Hungarian outfit Ujpest Dozsa in the Inter City Fairs Cup.

Newcastle have lifted lesser tournaments in the past, such as the Anglo-Italian Cup (1973) and the Texaco Cup (1974 and 1975) but the Intertoto Cup has more prestige. Just.

Technically United only contested one round of the competition - a home and away leg - defeating Norwegians Lillestrom 4-1 on aggregate.

But they have remained unbeaten in a further eight European encounters and arguably deserve the award for that alone.

Although the news may bring sniggers from the Premiership's big boys, who constantly mock the Magpies' embarrassing lack of silverware in recent years, manager Glenn Roeder says he will be happy to collect the trophy.

"I would imagine that the lads will be pleased to receive it," said the United boss, whose 51st birthday coincided with Wednesday's 1-0 Premier League defeat at Chelsea. "It would be disrespectful to consider it a lesser tournament as some managers do. It would be disrespectful not to say that we will be very happy to receive the Intertoto Cup and move on.

"It's a little bit of a reward for the boys who had to come back on June 26 to play in the competition. I would not want to say anything that would be unkind to the Intertoto Cup.

"A cup is a cup and we have ended up winning it. It's nice. But we now have other important games in front of us."

United play the first leg of their last-32 UEFA Cup tie on either February 14 or 15 in Belgium. If the Magpies negotiate a route past Zulte-Waregem they face the winners of the Fenerbahce or AZ Alkmaar clash in the last 16 of the competition.

Newcastle have already met Turkish side Fenerbahce in the competition, when they enjoyed a 1-0 victory over Zico's team in the group stage at St James' Park, and they will be reasonably confident of overcoming either side.

The United boss is reasonably happy with a trip to the Low Countries next year and admits the draw could have been harsher for them.

He said: "I'm very pleased, firstly because of the travel arrangements. We haven't got a long way to go.

"We could have been going to somewhere like Tel-Aviv and faced five hours on a plane. But this way we have a short hop back home from Brussels afterwards.

"I don't know a lot about our opponents at this moment in time. But if you ask me again in two or three weeks time, I will be able to tell you everything about them.

"We will do the same thorough investigation as we have done on all the other European teams. I think it's a good draw."

Roeder is confident the Magpies can emulate Middlesbrough's UEFA Cup achievements last term, but admitted qualification for the competition through the Premier League this time around hinges on key issues. "It depends on how fit I can keep the squad and the one or two additions I want to make," said the club's former skipper.

"We're looking up the league, towards the top six?

"Last year proved anything is achievable.

"From February to May, we went from 14th to seventh to qualify for the Intertoto Cup.

"We have two home games between now and Boxing Day and we have to take maximum points."