A sea of black and white scarves, whirled around by jubilant home fans who taunt their rivals to a point where tensions almost blow. Streets in Riyadh later flooded with those same fans, euphoric with their title talk. This is probably how Newcastle United thought things would rapidly become for them under the ownership of the Saudi Arabian state.
It was actually the scene at a match between two of this city's oldest football rivals on Friday night, the quality and enterprise of which contributed to the sense that the country's new Premier League acquisition have their work cut out registering on the public consciousness here.