However, Tim Krul’s season-ending knee injury means that the Magpies could now be receptive to any potential deals involving keepers.
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He said: “If you’re together and they know you’re doing the job and you’re doing it right and you’re doing the right things and the players are responding, then wherever you are – be it Newcastle or whatever – they’ll say, “You know what, we’re on the right lines”.
“He’s a vital player, very important and he’d get us 18 or 20 points a season the way he plays”.
“To lose that is devastating”.
“Even before Karl Darlow got injured there was a possibility of sending him away on loan”. In the last day or two, he’s been a little bit down, but that’s football and he’ll recover.
And he believes he will be allowed to get on with it and will not be sacked – yet.
He said: “There’s always scrutiny on you, isn’t there?”
“We’ve got to make sure we do the right things and do the right job and go through the right process and if the club can see that…”
“We’re asking the medical department to be working overtime but they’re pulling out all the stops trying to get all the lads out”.
Meanwhile, Manchester-based referee Anthony Taylor will take charge of Newcastle’s Sky Sports Super Sunday clash with Norwich City this weekend (4pm).
“He’s in as good a condition as you can be without actually playing”, McClaren told reporters. “He missed pre-season, but he’s certainly been training in the last few weeks”.
‘The first eight games were very hard, very tough.
“Janmaat’s trained for the last couple of days, and Colback, Haidara and Dummett have all trained too”, confirmed McClaren.
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“We’ll keep them working this week and hopefully they can perform their magic and get them out for us”. “They’re all available for the weekend”.
