10 Key Reasons Why Newcastle Have Chosen Steve McClaren

For the football club whose recruitment strategy is centred around squeezing the best "pound for pound" value from it's signings, its almost a kismet that its new Head Coach didn't require the surrendering of a single, solitary penny.

Alan Pardew's switch to Crystal Palace and McClaren's sacking at Derby couldn't have worked out better for Mike Ashley, who pocketed £2 million in compensation from the Eagles in January with the intention of using it to lure the Rams into releasing the 54-year-old from his contract at the iPro Stadium.

McClaren, however, rejected the opportunity to replace Pardew and the answer was still 'thanks but no thanks' when Lee Charnley came calling again in May with Newcastle in free-fall under John Carver.

It's unknown whether Ashley and Charnley would have returned with another bid to take McClaren to St James' Park had he remained with Derby, but his ejection from the Midlands club paved the way for his cost-free route Tyneside.

McClaren was always the number one choice for the job, contrary to the objections of supporters, and his release from Derby is thought to have subsequently facilitated the sacking of John Carver and Steve Stone, once it became clear that he wanted the Head Coach role.

Perhaps the £2 million was used to pay the severance charge on the five years that remained on Carver and Stone's ludicrous eight-year contracts.