Steve McClaren admits he has no idea if he will be sacked as Newcastle manager

Steve McClaren admits he is in the dark about his long-term future at Newcastle

STEVE MCCLAREN admits he is in the dark about his long-term future at Newcastle.

 

His struggling Magpies outfit face in-form Liverpool on Sunday with the pressure mounting having shipped eight goals in their last two games.

McClaren has neither sought nor received assurances from managing director Lee Charnley since the 5-1 thrashing at Crystal Palace.

As the man who appointed McClaren in the summer, Charnley will carry on backing him in the face of increasing hostility from fans.

But the Newcastle boss hasn't a clue what club owner Mike Ashley, who has the final say, is thinking.

 

Asked if he thinks a regime, which previously stuck with predecessor Alan Pardew in the bad times, will stick with him, he said: "It's football, so you never know. You go into every job knowing the impatience of football and you need results.

"We know what the situation is and it's game to game and we're fighting for the next result."

McClaren has won only two league games as Newcastle boss but despite admitting his side have gone backwards in recent weeks, he has not demanded guarantees about his own position in a meeting with Charnley this week.

"I wouldn't ask for that and I wouldn't expect to receive that," he added. "It was a normal, routine weekly meeting that we have to catch-up. It was a chat."

And McClaren doesn't fear defeat at the hands of Jurgen Klopp's ramptant Liverpool will make or break him.

 

He said: "I'm here, doing a job and that's it. We've got a game on Sunday and I'm not thinking, 'Phew, I need this or I need that'.

"I know what the process is and we know what needs doing.

"Will we be given time? We need to get results and keep that going. We know that but like everything, we do the right things every day, we do the work and we try to give the players the confidence they need."

Confidence was a word McClaren used 34 times in yesterday's press conference. He admits it is fragile right now with a losing mentality ingrained at the club.

“In the cold light of day five wins this year doesn't bode well for confidence and that's one of the things we have to turn around.

 

Newcastle were humiliated by Crystal Palace last Saturday

"Many people are saying these players don't care or don't try but it really is as simple as confidence.

“We all have to live with criticism and we have to stick together and know that we will come through it. Nobody is happy at this football club.

“We have lost the last two games and not performed very well and it’s a remarkable turn-around from three weeks ago when we left Bournemouth with smiles on our faces thinking we had turned the corner.

“That’s typical of football. Confidence can be eroded and can go as quickly as it comes and that’s what we have got to believe, that the next game is always an opportunity to build a performance, get a result and all of a sudden, then confidence comes flooding back.

“We felt three weeks ago we were very nearly coming through it and we are back in it again. We have to claw our way back up to the top, see some light and keep going.”