Steve McClaren’s refusal to countenance Newcastle United’s three-game offer to save their season appears to have convinced Mike Ashley to look elsewhere for a permanent manager this summer.

It is thought the Derby County head coach has burned his bridges at St James’ Park after he was sounded out on Sunday about replacing John Carver, the interim head coach, after Newcastle’s eighth successive defeat left them two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League.

McClaren on Wednesday pledged his future to resurrecting Derby’s promotion cause next season after the erstwhile Championship leaders’ dramatic fall from grace was concluded on Saturday with a 3-0 home defeat by Reading that sent them crashing out of the play-off places.

The crisis at Newcastle, after two players were sent off in a 3-0 collapse at Leicester City, has barely been steadied by Monday’s statement that Carver is to see the job through till the end of the season after McClaren, their first choice to take over in the summer, appeared to become available unexpectedly early.

But the former Middlesbrough manager, who lives in Yarm in the north-east, was still “in mourning” on Sunday, his 54th birthday, and in no fit state to make the kind of major career decision the Newcastle owner sought.

It is believed Ashley let McClaren know it was a case of now or never, so unless the Sports Direct tycoon has a major change of heart and comes back on bended knee with the offer of Premier League football and a hefty salary, then Newcastle will have to find their next head coach from elsewhere. David Moyes, Michael Laudrup and Frank de Boer are favoured by bookmakers.

Newcastle first wanted McClaren to succeed Alan Pardew in January but were told the former England manager was committed to completing Derby’s promotion campaign. Injuries to Chris Martin, their leading striker, and George Thorne, the midfield anchorman, and their deputies, have since cost the club dearly.

“I hear the speculation and I see the speculation,” McClaren said on Wednesday. “There’s been a lot of it and I will reiterate what I have said to the board and the players, that I am 100% committed to finishing the job here at this moment.

“I wouldn’t be sat here otherwise talking and planning and trying to get over the anger and disappointment of the past couple of days. It’s been tough. I’ve met the players and staff today and I’m meeting the board tomorrow. My total focus and commitment is on Derby County, 100%. The speculation is out there; the truth will be in Newcastle.”

Asked directly if he had turned down Newcastle this week, McClaren said: “This is about Derby County, not Newcastle. Head up north if you want to find out about that.

“This is not a bad team overnight nor a bad club overnight. That’s why I want to stay here and finish the job. Despite the doom and gloom, I’ve still got the energy and the vitality.

“It’s been frustrating and disappointing for everybody. We need to rebuild. People mustn’t forget what the last 20 months have been like. For 18 months we had a great campaign, then Wembley [where Derby lost 1-0 to Queens Park Rangers in the play-off final] and then another good campaign but March and April have been two bad months.

“My message to the supporters is that there’s a great determination here from the top to the bottom to build on what we’ve been doing.”

McClaren’s stock has remained sufficiently high since he was first approached when Alan Pardew walked out on New Year’s Eve for Ashley to still want a man who has supervised Derby’s descent from top to eighth after a run of two wins from 13 games.

Notwithstanding Derby’s disappointments, jumping ship the day after misplacing a Championship play-off place would have represented a huge risk for McClaren. As one top manager warned him, Derby may represent a better career option. With 30,000 crowds, ambitious owners, great facilities and a flow of loans of top young players, the grass may yet be greener in the Peak District than in the north-east.

How satisfied McClaren would have been with the terms or the structure at St James’ Park, where player acquisition seems to be out of the head coach’s hands, is a moot point if Ashley has had a change of heart after McClaren’s representatives rebuffed an SOS call on Sunday.

So it is left for Carver to seek some order within the chaos at Newcastle and grind out the couple of points that may be necessary to avoid relegation. He and McClaren took tea last week, when Carver called in at the clubs’ under-21 game.

As McClaren starts making plans for next season, he doubts whether Newcastle will be joining him in the Championship. “It’s not my priority,” he said. “I’ve got great respect for Newcastle as a football club. I know the hugeness, I know what Newcastle means and I’ve known JC for a long while.

“He came down last week. We had a cup of tea in the office and he talked enthusiastically about the club. John has got into a difficult situation – he’s really up against it – but he was talking positively.

“He’s a Newcastle man. If everyone had the same passion that he’s got for the job, they’d not be in that position. He’s trying to drag everyone along. I wish him well and I think they should be OK.”