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Ahead of another one of those powder keg weekends on Tyneside, it’s worth pausing to contemplate that Newcastle United returned to Steve McClaren this summer for the third time to convince him to oversee the £80million rebuilding job that potentially lies in ruins unless a sharp upturn in form is forthcoming pretty sharpish.

McClaren was the man last January and – if fairly well-sourced reports are to be believed – after the Leicester debacle last season too. Both times he demurred before circumstances finally allowed Newcastle to appoint him in June.

That McClaren entered a club badly bruised by what had gone before is beyond doubt. One source tells the story of a dressing room so fragile that certain players had come virtually resigned to their fate. One of those who left this summer, Sammy Ameobi, let the facade slip when he spoke of Newcastle being “so football-orientated”. “Everything is criticised,” he said. “It’s nice to be out of that scene.” Others have said worse in private.

McClaren felt the necessary route to combating this fatalism was a programme of relentless positivity – a process that was aided and abetted by advisor Steve Black. Indeed the only time he has been short with reporters – unlike one of his predecessors Alan Pardew – was when he felt his words about Tim Krul’s injury potentially costing United “20 points” were twisted.

McClaren did not want to appear to be giving up on Rob Elliot. In the event, he needn’t have worried – the robust Elliot, increasingly a dressing room leader, is the only player who comes out of this sorry dog’s dinner of a season with unqualified merit.

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McClaren is certainly in the crosshairs now – and if Lee Charnley was so sure about appointing him, that certainty must now be ebbing away as United’s relegation predicament crystallises.

Lose on Saturday, I would suggest, and a change is the sensible option. McClaren, after all, has been unable to secure any consistent improvement from the much-maligned John Carver.

Had it not been for the unique way in which United are run – a triangle of power that, in reality, feels the shadow of Mike Ashley over any important decisions they take – McClaren would surely not have been the choice in the first place.

There were better options on the market and there are certainly those available now with more appealing CVs. For a short-term fix, Nigel Pearson, David Moyes and serial winner Rafa Benitez all have more recent success at turning things around than McClaren does.

Newcastle pride themselves on their steadfast support for the manager and sacking Alan Pardew was never seriously discussed after Charnley graduated to managing director. But Pardew, as dreadful as it got at times, never had United in the dire position they sit in now. He always found a way to steer United away from the really choppy waters.

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And he didn’t have £80million worth of talent behind him.

The mathematics is troubling for McClaren. Since February 10 last year (almost 12 months), McClaren has won 12 games, lost 21 and drawn 14 across spells at Derby and Newcastle.

That’s a win ratio of a mere 22% – the fourth worst in the club’s history. John Carver and Alan Shearer were under 20%, Ossie Ardiles crept just over 21%. Joe Kinnear has exactly the same record.

None of those four had £80million of talent and three – Shearer, Kinnear and Carver – were interim options.

Dig deeper and it gets more frightening. United surely need to secure 38 points to stay up (the magic 40 would be insurance), which would require 17 points from 14 games. Let’s say that requires five wins and two draws. Five victories from 14 would be a win ratio of 35% or a win every three games, something McClaren has never looked capable of at Newcastle.

United’s dilemma is as follows: the run-in offers a sliver of salvation. Yes, they can’t win away from home. And granted – they have reverted back to the sort of all-at-sea desperation that we’ve become familiar with over the last 18 months. But the run-in can be seperated into three categories from here on in – winnable games, possibles and long shots.

1. The winnables

There are seven of these. Let’s start with Saturday’s visit of West Brom. Then there’s home games with Bournemouth, Sunderland, Swansea and free-falling Crystal Palace. That’s five home games United have to target. Two away from home – Norwich and Villa – fall into this category.

2. The possibles

Stoke away and Southampton on their travels. Given the way Newcastle have been playing they look unlikely, but on their day United could get something.

3. The long shots

Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Leicester away from home? All can be written off the way things are going. Spurs at home on the final day is a similarly long shot.

The fact is United can get 21 points solely from the first category of games, which would get them to 42. But not, probably, under McClaren – whose formation, strategy and plan was so easily unpicked by Roberto Martinez – a man who looked as under siege as McClaren before kick-off.

McClaren seems like a good man who has coped stoically with the pressure on him. But his team on Wednesday was a mess – unbalanced and without focus. It said it all when the Wyscout report illustrating average positions had five players hogging the centre circle – and not one player on the left in advance of Paul Dummett just outside the penalty area.

In fact, where has United’s left-hand side been all season? And why sign Andros Townsend to whip balls into a striker that you then drop? For all that he’s lauded as a coach of regard, few are getting better under his stewardship.

The problem for McClaren and Charnley is the margin for error is slimming by the week. It feels like now or never. Lose on Saturday and surely United have no alternative but to consider their alternatives?