19 Things We Learned From Steve McClaren's BBC Radio Newcastle Interview

19. McClaren Is Not Sure If United Are Ready For The New Season

When asked if he was happy with how Newcastle's pre-season has gone, the new head coach replied:

"We are where we are. Where we'd like to be? We'd like to be further on. "But I think everybody is in the same boat, everybody has a short pre-season and we've had a rough and tough schedule to get through. The players have been fantastic, we've got through. "Could we do with an extra week? I suppose everybody is saying that which is normal in pre-season. "We are where we are and I think we've signed some very good players. Preparation has gone well, I was encouraged by the performance against Monchengladbach and we'll only know if we're ready at 1:30pm on Sunday and the next hour-and-a-half after that."

Not very encouraging words at all, you would have to agree.