At St James' Park, communion was followed by carnage. Up in the Milburn Stand, a fella with grey hair and a black hoodie was weeping. Kevin Keegan's likeness was being shown on the big screens, the stadium a riot of cards and banners, and everybody was applauding and belting out a rendition of "Walking in a Keegan wonderland." The man in black was wracked and choking, mangling the words, eyes dripping.

Five minutes later, the same fella was on his feet screaming the word "C***" at top volume, bellowing it repeatedly, interspersed with "RAT" for variety: "C*** C*** RAT C***." The object of his attention was Alexander Isak, the striker who left Newcastle for Liverpool a year ago after downing tools and refusing to play, and was now back on Tyneside for the first time.

A peculiar intersection of legend and legacy

Keegan was a fine player for Liverpool, but he was Newcastle's shock therapy, stunning a middling, second-tier club when he first arrived in 1982 and stunning them again when he returned as manager a decade later. He hauled them back from oblivion, pushed them into the Premier League, playing feverish attacking football. He transformed them into strivers and dreamers. Newcastle yearned to win, to fulfil the dream awoken by Keegan — who died of cancer last month — and Isak was part of the team that finally did it, a languid forward with a kiss for a touch who scored at Wembley when Liverpool were beaten.

A first domestic trophy for 70 years made a legend of everybody, and Isak made it all look so easy until he made his own departure so unbearably difficult. Winning became a strange kind of burden. The interesting thing about Isak's £125 million transfer to Anfield — a British record — is how it turned everything sour. Newcastle caved at the last reckoning, spent in desperation and laboured in the Premier League, finishing 12th. Eddie Howe left this summer, exhausted from fighting fires, and other big players have gone.

Liverpool did not do much better out of it. Isak was out injured and then out of form. Arne Slot was out, full stop.

Eras end and begin

Supporters said farewell to their dream-bringer and spat invective at their deserter; St James' echoed to chants of "Isak's a c***, olé olé olé" and "One greedy b*****d." There were hand gestures, finger gestures and clenched fist gestures when Lewis Hall clattered into Isak and then did not acknowledge him. "Newcastle 2.0," as chief executive David Hopkinson has described it, feels like a cleansing, a purge.

Liverpool equalised twice, the second a late penalty which carried a familiar sting, but Newcastle looked the more rounded team, breaking with urgency, even though Matthias Jaissle, Howe's replacement, had only been in the role for three weeks. The standout performer was Yoane Wissa, who was signed after Isak's defection last summer and then barely resembled a footballer. "I want to be here," Wissa told journalists afterwards. On a day of love and spite and contrasts, his words resonated.