Anybody complaining about this match deserves to be imprisoned for life, pronounced Ron Atkinson as he revelled in the best that Sheffield Wednesday can muster. The verdict did seem a trifle harsh on Kenny Dalglish, even if it would spare Newcastle's manager a trip to Stevenage in the FA Cup.
Dalglish looked upon Wednesday's artistry with an expression of granite-faced gloom, as if observing the entire match through a tiny, iron-barred window. The sound of a door slamming shut was the door closing on Newcastle's season.
The perception a month ago was that Wednesday were plagued by the prospects of relegation, while Newcastle's predicament was merely that of a potential Premiership challenger malfunctioning. Today, they are fastened together in mid-table, on 26 points, and it is Wednesday, in the short term at least, who suggest the energy for improvement.
Dalglish's disturbing personal memories of the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies must never be underplayed in considering Newcastle's shoddy attempts to force the switching of their FA Cup tie against Stevenage to St James' Park. But even this recognition cannot alter the overriding impression that Newcastle, and their manager, have mislaid their sense of footballing romance.
Certainly, romance here was Wednesday's alone. Newcastle, disrupted by injury, seek to rectify their season with defensive organisation; Wednesday with elan. Wednesday's incessant flicks and feints, from the likes of Paulo Di Canio, Benito Carbone and Petter Rudi, brought Atkinson unbridled joy. Dalglish would have been more disposed to dwell upon the spurned chances, the three refused penalty claims, the disallowed goal.
If, after a week in which his house was burgled for the second time in a year, Atkinson had incarceration on his mind, Wednesday's abrupt discovery of cohesion was a perfect palliative. Had Di Canio and Rudi had happier fortune in front of goal, had Rudi won a penalty when Darren Peacock hauled him down, or had Andy Booth's robust injury-time header been allowed, the margin of victory would have been deservedly huge.
Rudi was irrepressible on the left of Wednesday's midfield and, in this fixture above all, it was appropriate that someone even ventured to compare the Norwegian to a young Chris Waddle, recognising a similar lanky elusiveness, and a long pass flicked lazily out like a lizard's tongue.
No longer was Rudi the insignificant lightweight of early season. Hillsborough derives much joy from the understanding between Di Canio and Carbone - the Italians combined after 52 seconds for Di Canio's emphatic finish to put Wednesday ahead - but it was the affinity between Di Canio and Rudi which truly prospered.
Newcastle's attempts to rough him up, in a fiery second half of five bookings, were as miserable as the expression on Dalglish's face. Suitably, it was Warren Barton's foul on Rudi that paved the way for Wednesday's winning goal five minutes into the second half. Peter Atherton's header from Mark Pembridge's free kick was chested back into danger by Des Hamilton, enabling Jon Newsome to score from six yards out.
Newcastle's own attacking threat was negligible; pitiable in the case of John Barnes, whose old legs look painfully inadequate when he is asked to play as a central striker.
Youth is faring little better. Jon Dahl Tomasson is showing the strain of carrying an attack lacking Alan Shearer and Faustino Asprilla, and the Dane had missed one gaping opportunity before he accepted a fortunate rebound off the goalkeeper, Kevin Pressman, to equalise midway through the first half. It provided no escape; nor did it deserve to.
Sheffield Wednesday: Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Pembridge, Newsome, Walker, Carbone, Di Canio (Booth 89), Hyde (Humphreys 85), Rudi, Alexandersson. Subs Not Used: Clarke, Stefanovic, Oakes. Booked: Hyde, Di Canio, Humphreys.
Newcastle United: Hislop, Barton (Ketsbaia 80), Beresford, Peacock, Lee, Barnes, Tomasson, Gillespie, Watson, Hamilton (Rush 80), Hughes. Subs Not Used: Given, Elliott, Keidel. Booked: Beresford, Watson.
Referee: D Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill).
