On the "Brucie out" chants:

"Look, it's always difficult. I would be sick if I said I quite enjoyed it. It's difficult.

"The frustration is, like any other Premier League club or any other Football League club, if you don't get results then ultimately the manager, head coach, whatever I am, bears the brunt.

"That's what it is, so I have to accept that results haven't been good enough.

"What the disappointment was we played very well at a difficult place last week - as difficult as it was going to get. We played very well and didn't get anything out of the game, which was the frustration.

"It’s not all about me. I’m here to only do what I think is best for the club – and that is manage it as best I can and keep us moving along.

"It’s for other people to answer that (questions about his future). I will continue to do my best. I’m never going to walk away from the challenge of it, that’s for sure. You’re asking the wrong person.”

Asked whether he would consider his position if the abuse he received became detrimental to the team:

"Well then you start looking at yourself, of course but knowing the way I am, it’s not in my nature to walk away from something when we’re in a fight. ‘Oh it’s too difficult so I’m going to walk away’, that doesn’t really register with me.”

He also said:

"Do you not think I want better players? Do you not think I want a better squad to choose from? Do you not think I want the ability to compete at the top end of the transfer market?

"It’s not possible, so I have to accept it and get on with my job as best I can, at this moment. There’s the frustration for everybody concerned, and I’m the same.

"In these difficult moments, I hope my experience of being in it a long time can steer us along that path. It’s not great, I understand that, but that’s where we are.

"The challenge at the minute is just ticking along and make sure that the club stays where it is and we maintain our Premier League status.

"I know for a lot of people that we should be better than that, but that’s where we are at the moment and we have been for a while. That is everybody’s frustration.

"I want Newcastle to be in the top of the league so that frustration is there but I don’t think about, ‘Oh the noise is too bad, walk away Steve’.

It’s not in my nature to walk away from something when we’re in a fight.

Asked about Alan Shearer's comments on Match of the Day, labelling Newcastle a ‘hollow and an empty club’:

"Look, Alan is entitled to his opinion, that’s what he gets paid for, that’s what his job is now.

"What I will say is there is a lot of people and a nucleus of players who have been here a long time, and the club means something to them. There’s a lot of good people who work at the club who have also been here a long long time.

"They want the club to do well and unfortunately at the moment we are not doing well enough.

"All Newcastle fans want to see their team competing at the top of the table, like they did 20 years ago. Unfortunately at this particular moment, we’re not there.

"So there is the frustration for everybody concerned. My job is to keep us — and I knew this was going to be difficult — on an even keel, try and get on with the job and move the club forward as best I can, which is very, very difficult, of course.”

photo: nufc.co.uk