Newcastle boss looking for fans' backing against Bournemouth

McClaren’s side are second-bottom of the Premier League ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Bournemouth.

The club’s beleaguered head coach was jeered by supporters as he headed for the dressing room after Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Stoke City.

Newcastle’s 1,622 travelling fans had loudly backed their team at the Britannia Stadium.

But McClaren – whose job is on the line after seven successive away defeats in all competitions – knows many supporters want a managerial change.

And he has appealed to fans to stay behind his side against 15th-placed Bournemouth, who have eight points more than United.

“We can talk about other teams dropping points, but it’s about what you do,” said McClaren.

“We have to get to a certain amount of points, and we came to Stoke to try to grind out a result.

“We nearly did that, and on Saturday we need to go and grind out a result at home. We need 52,000 supporters behind us, like they were at Stoke. They’re going to become very important.”

McClaren felt his players showed they were up for the fight in the match against Stoke, which was played in atrocious conditions.

“We’ve had quite a few of these games – must-win matches – with a lot of pressure on now,” he said.

“We have to deal with that. We’ve dealt with it before, and we have to deal with it again.

“It will be ongoing now. As the number of games goes down and down, there’s going to be more high-pressure situations.

“But we’ve been in this position all season and we have to show we can handle it. We’ve got to fight our way out of the position we’re in. We didn’t get anything at Stoke.

“But I think we started to do that there (against Stoke).”