STEVE McCLAREN’S future as Newcastle United head coach hinges on whether the club can recruit an experienced replacement willing to take over for the final ten games of the season.

McClaren’s position became all but untenable yesterday as a large section of the St James’ Park crowd turned against him during Newcastle’s damaging 3-1 home defeat to Bournemouth.

With managing director Lee Charnley watching from the stands, McClaren was serenaded with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and “Steve McClaren – you’re taking us down” as Newcastle suffered a deserved defeat that leaves them a point adrift of safety with ten games remaining.

Charnley did not discuss McClaren’s position in the immediate aftermath of the game, but was involved in a series of board-level discussions today that saw owner Mike Ashley adopt a more hands-on role after delegating the day-to-day running of the club to his managing director towards the end of last season.

Both Charnley and Ashley have been determined to give McClaren every opportunity to salvage an increasingly disastrous campaign that has seen Newcastle claim just six league victories and crash out of both cup competitions at an early stage.

However, there is a growing acceptance that the 54-year-old is now part of the problem rather than a potential solution. Yesterday’s result was damaging enough, but it was the manner in which Newcastle’s players were comprehensively outplayed by one of their supposed relegation rivals that is understood to have caused most concern amongst the club’s hierarchy.

A number of potential candidates are being considered as a stop-gap to the end of the season, but as of this evening, none had offered a positive indication that they were willing to take over.

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Having watched their side stumble to the end of last season with John Carver in an unsuccessful caretaker role, there is a firm determination that McClaren will not be dismissed unless a suitable replacement is ready to replace him immediately.

Newcastle travel to league leaders Leicester City next Monday before hosting Sunderland in a potentially decisive Tyne-Wear derby five days later, and there is an acknowledgement that the preparation for those matches cannot be disturbed by the upheaval of having a temporary head coach in position, even for just a couple of days.

As a result, while McClaren is effectively a dead man walking, he could yet cling to his position until the end of the season if an acceptable alternative proves impossible to secure.

Newcastle’s preferred option would be to appoint David Moyes, but the former Manchester United boss is believed to be reluctant to take over a side in deep relegation trouble at such a late stage of the campaign.

Moyes, who was dismissed from his most recent job at the Spanish side Real Sociedad in November, is keen to return to the Premier League, and has rebuffed interest from Scottish champions Celtic because he would prefer to work in the English top-flight.

He would be interested in a long-term contract at St James’ Park, with an exit clause in the event of relegation, but would demand more of an influence over recruitment than has been afforded to either McClaren or his predecessor, Alan Pardew.

Ashley has long admired Moyes, and the Scotsman has been sounded out about a possible move to Tyneside in the past.

Harry Redknapp is regarded as the most feasible short-term option, and while he has turned down the chance of managing Newcastle in the past because he was reluctant to move from the south coast, sources close to the 69-year-old claim he would be interested in an agreement that stretched no further than ten games.

Redknapp has taken over clubs in deep relegation trouble in the past, most notably when he returned to Portsmouth in 2005, and engineered a positive run of results. He is regarded as the right type of character to inspire a squad that Ashley and Charnley believe to be better than recent results would suggest, and his immediate availability helps make him an appealing candidate. Nigel Pearson and Brendan Rodgers, who are also out of work, have also been mentioned as potential options.

McClaren insists he will not be walking away despite yesterday’s humiliations on and off the field, although he also admitted Newcastle will be relegated if they fail to improve in the games that remain.

“Would I quit? No way,” said McClaren. “That’s for other people to decide. I don’t do that. I have enough experience. I’ve been through this, with chants like there has been today, quite a few times. That’s the perils of being a manager, and especially of this team, this season.”

McClaren did, however, hint that major structural changes might be necessary if the failures of the current campaign are not to be repeated in future seasons.

“When I came here, I said this is a great club, and I still think it can be a great club,” he said. “I think it needs things doing to it, but we can’t do anything about that now."