Spurs fans spotted heading for St James' Park exit just 10 minutes after kick-off

A steady stream of Tottenham fans were spotted leaving the St James' Park away end after just 10 minutes during their first-half capitulation against Newcastle.

Jacob Murphy fired top four hopefuls Newcastle ahead after just 61 seconds on Sunday afternoon when he pounced on a Hugo Lloris parry.

Four minutes later, in-form midfielder Joelinton, who played a key role in their opener, rounded Lloris with ease before slotting away to make it two.

And a matter of minutes later, after some great pressing from the Newcastle forward line, Murphy bagged his brace with a wonderful effort from range.

After the score went from 2-0 to 3-0 in the ninth minute, a number of Spurs fans had seen enough.

As you can see from the footage below, some fed up supporters headed for the St James' Park exits as Newcastle fans celebrated an unprecedented lead.

The Chronicle journalist Lee Ryder gave fans an update on Twitter, saying: "Some Tottenham fans already for the exits," before adding: "Trains at Central Station heading to London gonna be busy right about now."

Things went from bad to worse for the away side, when Alexander Isak netted a quickfire brace in the 19th and 21st minute to hand the Magpies a remarkable five goal lead.

Here's how social media reacted to the scenes.

One fan said: "Those Spurs fans have made a 600 mile, 10 hour round trip on a Sunday to be 5-0 down after 20 minutes," while another commented: "Spurs fans leaving the stadium already. It’s hilarious."

A third wrote: "Feel sorry for the Spurs fans. That walk from where the away fans are back outside the stadium at the end of the game when you've lost feels just as long as the train journey home..."

A fourth added: "Every Spurs fan that’s travelled should be reimbursed. This is disgraceful."

Ahead of Sunday's clash against Newcastle, Tottenham's interim manager Cristian Stellini labelled this week as the "biggest" in their season so far.

"This is the biggest week because we don't have many chances to change the situation," he said. "We have to do it this week.

"It's an important game, we don't have to hide this. We know how important this game is, and all this week. Until mathematically we are out, we have to believe and try to win every game.

"This is the motivation we need to play this type of game because we have to achieve an important target, for the club and for everyone.

"If the motivation arrives from inside of you, you can create energy for the team. This is very important."