5 Reasons Why McClaren's Newcastle Are Trying To Emulate Swansea

Swansea City are certainly interesting Newcastle United right now. Not only are they the Magpies' Barclays Premier League opponents this weekend, but they are also a club who the Toon's coaching staff have been effusive in their praise of in recent days. First of all, Newcastle assistant head coach Paul Simpson claimed the Swans "offer a benchmark" of where Newcastle want to be. As well as praising their manager Garry Monk, Simpson also revealed that he admired their players and their passing style. Then, following on from Simpson's praise, Steve McClaren did likewise in his pre-match press conference on Friday. McClaren said:

"It€™s an away test at Swansea who, over the years, have been one of the clubs who lower-league and Championship clubs have modelled themselves on, or tried to. "They are a perfect model for coming up through the leagues and not just consolidating, but going on. "They had a change of manager and the transition was smooth. I think a lot of credit goes to Huw Jenkins, the chairman. He runs that club so, so well. "From the outside we look in and it€™s a club the size of Swansea that everybody needs to follow."

So why are Newcastle's coaching staff so effusive in their praise of the Swans? Here, WhatCulture.com/NUFC look at five reasons why Newcastle United are looking to emulate Swansea City...