NATHAN Brown knows from personal experience how quickly things can turn ugly when the expectations of football fans are not fulfilled.
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During his original incarnation as an NRL coach, at St George Illawarra (2003-08), the same supporters who cheered for him during a 172-game playing career waved "Down with Brown" banners at home games, demanding his head. For good measure there were "Oust Doust" placards, aimed at the man who appointed him, chief executive Peter Doust.
Dragons followers are renowned as being particularly rabid, and some may say they are never happier than when they are disgruntled.
The Novocastrian faithful, in contrast, accepted from the outset that Brown needed to be given time to rebuild a club at its lowest ebb.
At the end of the 2015 season, when Brown was appointed, the Knights were already wooden spooners. Newcastle spent two more campaigns in the competition cellar before emerging last year to claim the 11th rung on the competition ladder.
Before a ball was kicked in 2019, however, it was widely accepted that Brown had a quality roster at his disposal and was now in a position to be judged on his results.
Most looked at Newcastle's squad and agreed the top eight was achievable, and possibly even the top four.
Yet inconsistency has cruelled them. A five-game losing streak was followed by six successive wins, then six consecutive defeats.
They have beaten five teams in the top eight, but have lost to five of the bottom six teams, including a 38-14 thrashing from last-placed Gold Coast.
With three rounds remaining, the Knights are still theoretically in contention for a top-eight finish.
But given they will need to win each of those games, and hope other results fall in their favour, it would appear Newcastle are more chance of missing out than qualifying for their first finals series since 2013.
Failing to reach the play-offs would have left both Brown and the club in an unenviable position.
Newcastle officials could have continued backing him, pinning their hopes on a strong start to next season.
But if performances were still underwhelming, the pressure on the powers-that-be would have escalated with each loss, and a mid-season sacking would have loomed large on the horizon.
Brown has been around long enough to understand that the worst-case scenario was a realistic outcome. Speculation that the club had started considering alternatives is unlikely to have provided reassurance about his job security.
Brown has been around long enough to understand that the worst-case scenario was a realistic outcome.
So on Tuesday he made a decision in the best interests of himself and the club by opting to stand aside at the end of this season.
The timing allows Brown to leave on good terms, avoiding the indignity of being sacked, while giving Knights management ample opportunity to find a replacement who will be able to take the reins for the 2020 pre-season.
It also puts the onus back on Newcastle's players, all of whom were either recruited or retained by Brown. The best way to repay him, if they care, is to win these next three games and allow the coach to leave after a season that constitutes a pass mark.
Brown's overall tenure should not be judged merely on a win-loss basis.
He has now been in charge for 93 games, and his 24 victories equate to a 25.8 per cent success rate.
Most coaches come under scrutiny as soon as their winning ratio falls below 50 per cent. But few coaches in history have started out with a club in such forlorn shape.
Brown inherited a team who finished last in 2015 and had lost the experienced of Kurt Gidley, James McManus, Beau Scott, Clint Newton, Chris Houston, Tyrone Roberts and David Fa'alogo. Kade Snowden lasted just one game before injury forced him to retire.
The Knights won only one game that season, on their way to a club-record 19-game losing streak.
A year later, they picked up five wins, then last season, bolstered by the acquisition of quality imports Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga and Connor Watson, they won nine times.
This season, the arrival of proven performers David Klemmer, Tim Glasby, Edrick Lee, Kurt Mann, Jesse Ramien, Hymel Hunt and James Gavet created a sense of anticipation. The pressure was on Brown to deliver a top-eight finish.
Regardless of whether that transpires, Brown will hand over a roster in far better shape than he found it.
From that perspective, he finds himself in a similar position to his former mentor David Waite.
After it was announced midway through the 1994 season that Waite would be replaced as Newcastle coach by Englishman Mal Reilly, the Knights lost their final seven games to fade from finals contention.
Yet Reilly arrived to take over a team containing the likes of Andrew and Matthew Johns, Paul Harragon, Tony Butterfield, Robbie O'Davis, Adam Muir and Marc Glanville. The rest, of course, is history.
Maybe, like Waite, Brown's real legacy won't emerge until after he has moved on.
