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John Carver has made the bold claim that no manager would have bettered his points tally under difficult circumstances at Newcastle United.

Carver leads his team into a crunch relegation clash at Leicester convinced that he remains in pole position to get the job, despite collecting the unwanted record of seven defeats on the spin – a Premier League watermark for the Magpies.

His record is clearly not good enough to get the job so his claims appear to rest on whether or not the United board believe he has shown signs in a trying situation that he is capable of doing the role. Carver, who initially said he was happy with the squad he inherited, has appealed for a pre-season with a better-stocked squad to prove himself.

And he says that if there is no upturn in form, he would walk away at that point. In the short-term, though, he is mounting a staunch defence of his record.

“I genuinely do feel any manager would have struggled to get a better points tally in these circumstances,” he said.

He was asked whether he felt unfairly written off because of those circumstances? “Absolutely. That’s why I am saying I need a pre-season. when I first took this job, people asked me ‘what are you going to do differently? How are you going to stamp your authority on the team?’ It is very difficult when you’ve had that same group for some time.

“That’s why they are going to freshen it up (in the summer). I see this as an opportunity. What I’m saying is ‘Give me an opportunity, give me a chance’. If I’m not successful after having my opportunity to have an influence on who comes in and do it my way, then I will say ‘You know what, this is not for me, I’m not up to it, I’m not good enough to do the job’.

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“I’ll be honest enough to say that. As it stands at the moment I am giving it everything, working in the constraints that I’ve got. That’s the most frustration I’ve got within myself.”

It has been a hard season, admits Carver. “Let’s be honest, we did not get off to a great start at the start of the season and that was with the better players in the team,” he said. “Then we had that great run and now we have had this dip. As far as I am concerned, I want the opportunity to be able to bring in players I will have an influence on and be part of the process. If I did not think that way, I would be wasting my time.”

United have taken criticism from all corners in recent weeks and Carver has attempted to turn that into motivation, but admits some of that has had little success.

Now he is calling for “mental strength” at Leicester, with Moussa Sissoko and Paul Dummett back in contention.

“We don’t pin it up in the dressing room but we have used things in team meetings,” he said. “It works for some people and not others.

“Before the Sunderland game, we brought in the basketball coach Fab (Flournoy) to talk about his life and when he was brought up in the States and lost his brother when he was 19 and how he had to deal with adversity. We talked about how everybody has a time in their life when they can seize the moment. We tried to do the motivational thing then.

“I will throw things in, like I used the flip flop thing. It only works if you win the football match. At the end of the day, you are going into a game as big as this weekend and no matter what people are saying on the outside, if you are not mentally strong in there to deal with the situation, then that’s a problem. No matter what Alan Shearer is saying, or Rob Lee or Micky Quinn.”