Steve McClaren knows he must hold his nerve, keep the faith and remain patient. Newcastle United may be stuck in the relegation zone but recent weeks have seen their manager’s efforts on the training pitches transposed into some increasingly attractive performances.
Bad luck has distorted certain results – McClaren’s team did not deserve to lose at Sunderland and, on another day, would surely have beaten Stoke City – but the 54-year-old accepts that, ultimately, he will be judged on points accrued.
Despite assorted, and legitimate, mitigating factors, one Premier League win all season – 6-2 at home to Norwich City – is not good enough and the former England coach appears suitably anxious to translate potential into another victory at Bournemouth on Saturday. Otherwise morale will become ever harder to sustain.
“Sometimes in football you just have to believe – and we do believe,” he said. “We think we’re going in the right direction now and we have to maintain that confidence and that belief but it’s about getting results. To keep that belief going you eventually need wins. We hope they will come.”
Newcastle’s relentlessly disappointing results should be seen in the context of their manager’s attempts to transform them from a direct pragmatic, counterattacking unit into a more attractive, attacking and possession-based side built on controlled passing interspersed with rapid changes of pace.
Creating this new identity has not been easy but, quietly encouraged by the work in progress unfolding before their eyes, fans have largely stayed supportive.
“You’ve got to establish who you are and I think Newcastle fans want to see attacking football and their team go for it,” said McClaren. “We’re trying to embrace that while also getting the right defensive balance.
“We can go on and be better but it’s just about taking those first steps at the moment. We’re trying to get consistency in style of play and performance. It’s been frustrating but if we keep performing like this we’ll eventually get the rub of the green and the results we deserve.
“The fans have been fantastic with us. We called for patience from day one and they’ve been great. The players have been commenting on that and we’ve tried to embrace it by connecting with those supporters. It’s difficult but we’ll persevere with trying to connect.”
McClaren has short shrift for those who subscribe to the theory that his efforts are doomed to failure as the south’s economic pulling power will inevitably ensure the game’s powerbase moves incrementally ever closer to London.
According to exponents of this thesis, players will be increasingly attracted to playing for southern-based clubs such as Bournemouth, leaving the north-east, especially, increasingly marginalised and irrelevant.
“I’ve moved around, I’ve lived down south and abroad but the north is a very nice place to be,” said McClaren. “The north-east is a very nice place to live. When I was at Middlesbrough we were attractive to foreign players and I think we attract very good players at Newcastle.”
Víctor Valdés, Manchester United’s unwanted former Barcelona goalkeeper, was reportedly keen to come to St James’ Park on an emergency loan this week but fears that Rob Elliot’s groin injury would sideline him at Bournemouth have proved unfounded.
McClaren can only hope Elliot is able to repel everything Eddie Howe’s team throws at him. “I’ve been impressed with Eddie, I like him,” said Newcastle’s manager. “I like his manner and the way his teams play, especially their style of football.
“He goes about the job in such a calm manner. He’s very modern, very attack-minded and has created a good team ethic. What he’s built at Bournemouth to get that club in the Premier League is a great achievement.
“Eddie has the potential to be a future England manager. He plays the game in the right way, with the right style, the right temperament and the right emotional control.”
He is attempting to create something similar on Tyneside. “Our players have looked like they enjoy our style,” says McClaren. “Eventually it will get us results.”
