It was with quite some fanfare last month that Newcastle United announced that St James’ Park would be housing the “joint-biggest giant screen” on view in the Premier League this season. On Saturday the LED display, 60m off the ground, finally made its first appearance but unfortunately few Newcastle players can have endured such a nightmare home debut.

Shortly before the turnstiles were due to open for the planned 3pm kick-off against Leicester City it was noticed that the screen, pinned to a rather exposed glass and metal structure high in the north-east corner of the Leazes End, was flapping ominously in the gentle October breeze.

As safety concerns kicked into action – and rightly so as the consequences of the giant screen plummeting down on packed areas of seating would surely have been catastrophic – all fans were locked out of the stadium. By now though the digital hoarding had already been switched on, flashing up Sports Direct and Wonga ads to an empty arena.

With more than 50,000 supporters remaining commendably calm, engineers eventually arrived and were winched up to re-attach the screen.

At 3.15pm mounting fears of a postponement were finally quashed. Suddenly, the turnstiles opened, the pre-match music began and players were finally allowed on to the pitch to warm up ahead of a 4pm kick-off necessitated by the 45 minutes needed to filter spectators into their seats to watch Newcastle’s first win of the season as Leicester were beaten 1-0.

It seemed that a gust of wind had dislodged part of the screen’s moorings leaving the visiting Leicester party, who had to negotiate a new take-off slot for their post-match flight back to East Midlands, looking unimpressed when they ventured to the touchline. They were joined by Steven Taylor, the Newcastle centre-half. Recalled for a rare start by Alan Pardew only to find the game then under real threat, Taylor wore the expression of a man all dressed up with nowhere to go.

The referee, Martin Atkinson, could be forgiven for wondering what will happen at his next game, given that nasty surprises are supposed to come in threes. No sooner had Atkinson written his report on the drone strike that caused the abandonment of the Serbia v Albania Euro 2016 qualifier he had taken charge of in Belgrade on Wednesday, than he found himself in this near fiasco on Tyneside.

No matter – at 4pm normal life resumed for Atkinson and the two teams. Fans, meanwhile, were finally able to sample the screen’s “interactive experience”, offering live match transmission and instant replays with the action interrupted only by adverts from Wonga and friends.