Newcastle United news: Steve McClaren admits he should have been more assertive at St James' Park

The former England manager was replaced by Rafael Benitez but he could not avoid the drop

Steve McClaren was sacked in March (2016 Getty Images)

Steve McClaren, the former Newcastle United manager, has admitted his spell at St James’ Park was a failure, accusing some players of only performing in matches against the bigger clubs.

The 55-year-old was dethroned in March after leading Newcastle to just six victories in 28 Premier League matches before relegation under successor Rafael Benítez last month.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I'm frustrated with my time at Newcastle and especially with the way it ended I went in with my eyes open and I knew the situation I was getting myself into, but the mistake I made was that I compromised too much.

“You have to go in and lead and manage. I compromised too much especially early on, instead of saying, 'we need this, we need this, we need this'.

"They've gone down because we conceded too many goals and didn't recruit centre-backs, and we didn't recruit enough strikers, we had injuries and bad luck and the main thing is the mentality.”

McClaren suggested some within the Newcastle dressing room lacked the motivation to play against the weaker Premier League sides, preferring to test their abilities against those at the top of the table.

“The mentality of the team was that they would play well against top teams, but they couldn't win the games they should have won against the lower teams.

“They've decided to go with Benítez and I hope they've allowed him control of everything - most importantly he can control recruitment and maybe change the policy of the time which was only recruiting players under 25 and I think that restricted the recruitment process.

“You need experience and that wasn't possible, and I think with Rafa being in there he will be allowed to take control.”