Crystal Palace's transformation into trophy winners was powered by years of operational excellence and fierce support. It does not take long in modern English football to undo such good work.
Memories of FA Cup finals, European glory and home-grown starboys seemed distant after this listless defeat by Newcastle United when the team and their manager were booed by those that remained at Selhurst Park.
A Europa League draw with Besiktas on Thursday was largely encouraging, but this fifth defeat of the season had more in common with the 5-0 humbling by Brighton and Hove Albion, and Palace 's 19 goals conceded is the highest in the Premier League.
Pierre Sage followed the most successful manager in the club's history and has been deprived of several useful tools through fitness and injury, but this match should never have reached the point of hopelessness it did.
Newcastle came to London with four goals conceded in each of their last two away games yet were comfortable winners, breezing into their happy place in the second half. They attacked with precision against opponents who looked disjointed, dispirited and alarmingly sloppy. Palace were dreadful after half-time, losing their way after looking the more dangerous side initially.
"At the end they won, but I think we lost more than they won today," said Sage. He put the defeat down to a bad 15 minutes after half-time, but that overlooked the haphazard way Palace attempted to claw their way back.
These are worrying times for Pierre Sage (right) after Palace's latest defeat - Reuters/David Klein
Adam Wharton and Darío Osorio managed shots which were well saved by Lukas Hornicek. Either could have prompted a rousing effort to revive the match, but momentum dribbled away like the dwindling crowd.
"It's normal that people lose patience when you lose," said Sage when asked whether he was bothered by the growing unease around his club. "Everybody wants to win. I don't have to convince the people around the club, I just have to convince the players to do their best, to compete and continue their improvement.
"The kind of decisions we are speaking about are down to the chairman and owners. For me the noise around the club is only noise."
At its worst, Matthias Jaissle's " vertical football " with Newcastle has so far looked like a tribute to the approach once taken by Joe Kinnear's Wimbledon on this pitch. Here, though, their build-up was more considered and mostly ground-based, although it was ponderous for much of a first half which would have concerned the Premier League's marketing department.
Palace came out for the second half dozily. Their defenders were stuck in standby mode for William Osula's opening goal, when a satisfying body-contorting cross from Jacob Murphy was poked in capably by the striker. He is no world-beater, but offers enough of a threat to upgrade Jaissle's team from toothless to mildly threatening.
"I am really happy that he's getting back on track," said Jaissle of Osula. "He was out for a long time and now physically he's improving. He's a player with huge potential."
There was another snoozed-through alarm for Palace five minutes after the opening goal, when Joe Willock punished a sloppy moment from Jean-Philippe Mateta to score, but VAR spotted he was offside. The cancellation of that goal brought only muted cheers from Palace fans sensing the worst, and their pessimism was well-placed.
Amar Dedic, who spent the first half chasing Palace's Yeremy Pino fruitlessly, emerged as a different and better player after the break. He was rolled in on the overlap by Murphy and found Harvey Barnes with an intelligent square ball which was slammed past Walter Benítez.
Afterwards Sage wandered into a crowd of players and officials shaking hands, seemingly hoping to blend in. Eventually he faced the music, walking towards the dressing room past a thinning clutch of home supporters. Some politely clapped in his direction, others invited him to seek alternative employment.
Pino gives Palace a sparky option in attack but beyond him there is a creeping fear infecting a team who have long seemed capable of rescuing doomed scenarios.
It was never on the cards on Sunday, with too much dallying and too little concentration once behind, and on this evidence Palace are in trouble.
